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Nowitzki, Mavericks complete sweep of Heat

Feb 23, 2007 - 8:21 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- Without Dwyane Wade, the Miami Heat were no match for the Dallas Mavericks.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points and the Mavericks completed a season sweep of the Miami Heat with their 10th straight victory, 112-100, in a nationally televised rematch of last season's finals.

Dallas pulled away in the second quarter and led by as many as 32 early in the fourth quarter before Miami fought back to make the final score respectable.

"We got caught, obviously in the second quarter," Miami coach Pat Riley said. "They shot 75 percent. I think they had 15 or 17 points in transition. They just made it a track meet and it went from five points to 15 to 20 in four or five minutes and that pretty much was the game."

Miami was making its first appearance in Dallas since winning the NBA title in Game 6 last June. The Finals MVP, Wade is considering season-ending surgery after dislocating his left shoulder in a loss at Houston on Wednesday.

"We've just got to forget about it," Miami coach Pat Riley said. "We're big boys, we're professionals, we've been through this and, we're in a place where they're obviously, highly committed, they want us and they've been waiting for this game. We didn't respond well to the adversity during the course of the game and they just ran it down our throats, so you've got to compete."

Nowitzki added 11 rebounds and Jason Terry scored 16 of his 21 points in the second quarter as the Mavericks outscored the Heat, 39-21, to open a 65-42 lead.

"It was a good effort," Nowitzki said. "Defensively we contested shots, we rebounded and offensively we were really moving the ball well, obviously it helps making shots. Everybody was excellent from the 3-point line. We were looking for the open guy, we pushed the ball. We got great looks in the open court."

Dallas let up in the fourth but still became just the fourth team in league history to have three winning streaks of at least 10 games. The Mavericks are 45-5 in their last 50 games and have all but forgotten about an 0-4 start.

"It's still so early. We've got, whatever, 28 games left," Nowitzki said. "We're doing a good job staying grounded. Avery keeping us focused and like I said, we haven't done anything."

Shaquille O'Neal and James Posey each had 17 points and Jason Williams added 13 for the Heat.

"We just have to pick it up," O'Neal said. "I've been saying the same thing all year. We just have to pick it up. Guys have to be ready to shoot and step into the shot, play better defense and not get into a hole so much. Tonight we got too deep into a hole and we couldn't come out of it."