Heat 110 Mavericks 104: Game 9 Review

Returning to the scene of his greatest triumph 2011 Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki played his best game of the young season, scoring 28 points on only 12 shot attempts. Unfortunately 2012 and 2013 NBA Finals MVP LeBron James played his best game of the season, scoring 39 points on only 18 shot attempts leading his Heat to a 110-104 victory over Dirk's Mavericks.

Both teams started out well in an entertaining first quarter. Dirk hit 3 threes in the first 5 minutes of the game as the Mavs took a 32-31 lead after one. The 2nd period told a different story as repeated Mavs turnovers, a problem all night, gave the Heat a double digit lead at one point that was 8 at the half.

The third quarter found the Mavericks fighting back and briefly taking a lead, but again the Heat responded and Miami took a 86-78 lead into fourth. The final period saw the Mavs pull close repeatedly only to have the brilliant play of James (14-18 FG, 10-11 FT) and costly turnovers be their undoing. In all the Mavs turned it over 24 times, 19 of which were steals for Miami, 8 from Dwyane Wade alone to go along with his 17 points.

Besides Dirk Dallas also got 20+ points efforts from Vince Carter (21) and Monta Ellis (20). On the other side Miami got good play off the bench from Norris Cole and the ghost of Rashard Lewis who had 11 points each. Cole's contributions were especially important considering the ejection of starting point guard Mario Chalmers for a flagrant foul 2 elbow to Dirk in the fourth period.

Even they though they got the loss, there were a lot of things to be encouraged about for the Mavs. Despite the catastrophic turnover number they were able to hang right in there with the two time defending champions. If they can get the turnover problems cleaned up, which should happen as the team gets more comfortable playing together, they might be able to compete with any team in the league on a more consistent basis.

Team Leaders
Points: Nowitzki, 28
Rebounds: Dalembert, 9
Assists: Calderon, Blair, 5

Player of the Game: Dirk (8-12 FG, 3-5 3PT, 9-10 FT)

Stat of the Game: 24 Mavericks turnovers and 19 Heat steals

Quote of Note: ''If we go out and compete every night at this high level and turn our turnovers down, we can beat anybody in this league,'' Monta Ellis

Next Up: The Mavericks (5-4)  finish over their Florida back-to-back when they face the Orlando Magic (4-5) at 6:00 Saturday night.