Heat vs. Mavericks Preview
DALLAS, TX – Dwyane Wade hasn’t been on the winning end of too many games versus the Dallas Mavericks in the regular season over his career. With LeBron James in town, though, things could turn out differently.
Since Wade was drafted fifth overall in 2003-04, the Miami Heat have gone 1-13 against the Mavericks, and they will look to end their 12-game regular-season losing streak against them on Saturday night at American Airlines Center.
Wade, though, did get four more important victories over the Mavericks in the 2006 NBA finals for the franchise’s only title.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Mavericks -2.5 point spread favorites for Saturday’s game against the Heat. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 56% of more than 256 bets for this game have been placed on the Heat +2.5.
Trends say that Dallas is 2-2 ATS versus Miami the past two seasons.
James, who put up 27.8 points per game versus the Mavericks while with Cleveland, scored 20 as the Heat snapped their season-worst three-game losing streak Friday night with a 99-90 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
The two-time reigning MVP has registered at least 20 points in 13 straight games, tying the fourth-longest streak in team history.
Miami (9-7) needed a 12-2 run at the start of the fourth quarter to separate itself from the worst team in the Eastern Conference, but it was just happy to get back on track.
“Not the prettiest game for us all the way through,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But it was an important game to bounce back, and just remember what it was like to win.”
Chris Bosh contributed 18 points and nine rebounds, and is averaging 22.8 points over his last six games. The five-time All Star averaged 21.1 points and 10.2 rebounds against Dallas during his years with the Toronto Raptors.
“We’ve got to get away from worrying about how we get wins,” said Wade, whose 24.9 scoring average versus the Mavericks hasn’t translated into victories. “We have to focus on getting wins. Internally, we can’t worry about blowouts. You’ve got to worry about playing well. I think there was some things tonight we can learn from.”
The Heat have been held under 100 points in five straight games, and will likely need to come out with a strong offensive effort against Dallas, which has limited opponents to 90.5 points per game at home.
The Mavericks (11-4) will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games after knocking off the NBA’s hottest team Friday night.
Dirk Nowitzki continued his impressive stretch with a team-high 26 points, and Dallas ended San Antonio’s string of 12 consecutive victories with a 103-94 win.
“There’s nothing that’s gotten us down so far this year,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’re really together right now.”
Nowitzki connected on 12-of-14 field-goal attempts versus the Spurs and is averaging 34.0 points while shooting 65.4 percent from the floor over his previous three games.
The 7-foot forward has averaged 25.0 points over 22 career starts versus Miami and is feeling good about the Mavericks’ recent run.
“Offensively, there were times in the past where we would force-feed the ball to me,” he said. “But we haven’t done that the last couple of games. We kept moving the rock.”
Caron Butler, who is averaging 12.7 points, spent his first two seasons in the league with the Heat and has scored 18.2 per game against his former team.
Brendan Haywood, who had three double-doubles against the Heat last season, should be back after serving a one-game suspension Friday for violating team rules.
The Mavericks are scoring 92.5 points per game at home compared to 102.3 on the road.
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