NBA: LeBron's 39 points, Heat's 19 steals, Too Much for Dallas To Overcome

by +FISHER ROYCE

LeBron's 39 points too much for Dallas Mavericks to
overcome. Heat win 110-104. Photo credit NBA 

The Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks 110-104 to improve their "slow start" to a 6-3 record. Both teams were 5-3 entering the game.

The new and improved Mavs had only two players, Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion, that remained from the 2011 championship team that won it on the same court in Game 6. The only team to beat the Heat in The Finals since LeBron James took his talents to South Beach.


Led by LeBron's 39 points, the Heat pull of a late game rally to beat Dallas. Dwayne Wade made a huge contribution with eight steals, of a total 19 for the team, to go along with 17 points. Rashard Lewis and Norris Cole led the bench scoring. The Heat were without Udonis Haslem, Greg Oden, and Ray Allen.

The Mavs bench tied the Heat bench in scoring, but it was LeBron in the last five minutes of the game that sealed the deal. 

Dallas was led by Dirk's 28 points, Vince Carter's 21 points, and Monta Ellis with 20 points. All help keep the game within reach, but turnovers would hurt them. Their 24 turnovers never gave them a chance. They trailed by nine at halftime, with six minutes left in the 3rd they made a move to pull even and took the lead 72-20 with three minutes left in the quarter. 

It was all James in the fourth quarter.

The new Mavericks were "almost there", says head coach Rick Carlisle, "our efforts were good, but turnovers doomed us." He continued to say, "key mistakes cost us the game, but we will keep working to fix it."

Carlisle on LeBron: "He's the only guy that can hit shots like that at the end of the game."

LeBron's 39 points came from only shooting the ball 18 times.

Jose Calderon said, "if given time, this team can be a very good team. This game was a test of this team's character against a good opponent."

I had the chance to catch up with Mark Cuban before tip-off to get his feelings about this new roster. He feels that this team is just as competitve as everyone else in the West. He feels that they will make the playoffs. To do so, they will need to learn how to beat the better teams and win on the road.