Miami Heat's Win Streak Snapped At the Hands of Nemesis, Dallas Mavericks

The Miami Heat’s 12-game win streak comes crashing down at the hands of their most notorious enemy, the Dallas Mavericks, as Miami Thrice once again exhibited the disharmonious tendencies of it’s early season struggles.

You could hear the exasperated sighs from South Florida as fans let out their collective breaths, most in shock, as they realized not only has their beloved team’s win streak come to an abrupt halt, but even worse, the Heat’s losing streak to the Mavs has hit a cardiac-arresting 14 straight games.

Indeed, the Miami Heat must continue to search for that allusive win that will break the hold Dallas has on them.

If anything, Miami’s win streak has demonstrated their ability to come out punching from the opening bell and by exhibiting proper footwork and skill, they have run their opponents into the ground. 

The last game against the Washington Wizards was too close for comfort and showed an entirely different Heat bunch and that difference transcended into a loss versus the Mavericks. 

Maybe that difference could be attributed to becoming too comfortable after three weeks of success, or maybe the Heat were nonchalant after playing five games in seven days and just happy that it was coming to an end—but we are talking about their nemesis, the Dallas Mavericks, here. 

This was the team that has beaten them in 14 straight games and completely embarrassed the Heat last month when their chips were down.

Yet, the killer instinct to finish off the enemy was completely missing.  Beating Dallas would have driven an exclamation point home with a message of Miami’s impending dominance, but instead, it is the Mavs who feel that they own the Heat by winning both games this season.

In retrospect, the ostensible truth is that it would have been far better had the Heat lost to the Wizards instead and claimed victory over the Mavericks. 

All good teams lose to bad teams now and then, but good teams simply don’t lose to good teams over and over again and especially not in the carefree manner in which the Heat did on Monday night.

Three weeks of Miami Heat dominance versus mediocre teams for the most part ended with two games of utter stagnation and ill-conceived game plans.  The dominance reflected superior rebounding in copious amounts—the absolute and admitted key to the Heat’s success.  Yet, the Heat matched the Wizards with 44 rebounds and lost the battle of the boards to the Mavs 48 to 44.

"The bottom line is they made bigger plays down the stretch more consistently than we did and hit some big shots," Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. "They executed and got all the necessary open shots or offensive rebounds that led to a wide-open three to really pull away in the fourth quarter." – Foxsports.com

LeBron James’ line for the night was not at all impressive and unbecoming of a king.  He was the obvious heavyweight that shackled Miami’s ankles right from the start which was underlined by a scoreless first half. 

Scoring 19 points on six-of-17 shooting was absolutely putrid, but James’ respectable seven assists and 10 rebounds was also offset by his very sloppy five turnovers.  A sign of complete disconnection.

And the scary thing is that James brought back memories of his paralysis in the playoffs against the Boston Celtics last season, who handed his then Cleveland Cavaliers an early playoff exit.

By comparison, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were eight-of-17 and eight-of-15 for 22 and 19 points respectively.  Wade pulled down four rebounds, dished out seven assists and had three steals with only one turnover, while Bosh pulled down eight rebounds with no turnovers.

But Bosh missed a critical three-point attempt in the dying seconds of the game with the Mavericks up by three.  When you’re a $115 million hired gun, you just have to make big shots against big teams.

After letting Dallas run free on a 13–0 run in the first, it was Wade that grabbed the reins and led the Heat on a 17-0 run that began in the first and ended in the second quarter.

Consequentially, to put Miami Thrice’s ineffectual scoring dominance in perspective against Dallas, none of the three scored more than 20 points if you discount Wade’s three-pointer at the buzzer that was too little, too late.

The Heat’s helter skelter offense depended on three-point plays and they were a pathetic 11-of-31 from downtown.  Why so much dependence on the long ball?  The Heat have two of the most prolific scorers and most efficient drivers in the game in James and Wade.  Why not attack the rim with both weapons?

Starting point guard Carlos Arroyo’s effort was another huge disappointment with a big goose egg to show for points as well as three turnovers and only one assist in 18 minutes.  It also highlighted Miami’s elite point guard problems versus the likes of the Mavs’ Jason Kidd.

When it counted the most, no player invigorated their team as much as Mavs Jason Terry, who scored all of his 19 points in the third quarter after being shutout for the first three quarters.  He was essentially the force that ignited the Mavericks rally. 

MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki lead all scorers with 26 points on poor shooting that he made up through free throws and Tyson Chandler and Shawn Marion combined for 23 rebounds.

Mavs’s seven-foot center, Tyson Chandler, is having a career year and is proving to be an indispensable starter and a versatile defender.  Many teams including Miami are finding out that he is an absolute nightmare to match up with.

The Miami Heat have proved that they are indeed a top-five or top-six team over the last three weeks and that they can certainly contend in the NBA.  A win over Dallas would have been conducive to the notion that the Heat are a top-four team.  That no longer can be said.

Critics will be quick to point out that this season, the Heat have lost both their games to the Boston Celtics and both their games to the Dallas Mavericks whom represent the cream of the crop of the NBA. 

The Heat have also yet to face-off against the other two top teams in the league including the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Until the Heat can beat these four teams on a consistent basis, they will forever be referred to as pretenders.

The next test comes versus the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas day.