LeBron James scored 24 points as Miami Heat eased past the Dallas Mavericks 110-95 Thursday.
James also chipped in with nine rebounds and five assists, while Dwyane Wade added 19 points, grabbed five rebound and dished out six assists.
"I'm just playing within the game," the Associated Press quoted Wade as saying. "My job is to do a little bit of everything right now."
James extended his streak of scoring a minimum 20 points to 23 games, and is one short of Karl Malone's record of starting an NBA season with 20+ scores. Malone scored 20+ scores in 24 straight games opening the 1989-90 season.
"I'm just very comfortable and confident in my ability," James said. "I put a lot of work into my game. It's always good when you put in the work and implement that into a game situation."
Chris Bosh had three steals in the game against Dallas. He added 17 points and chipped in with seven rebounds, while Shane Battier had 13 points as the Heat played their second road game since Nov. 17.
The Heat started off well outscoring Dallas 31-20 in the first quarter.
"We don't want to give a team too much confidence at home. We understand this team was short-handed," Wade said. "We wanted to come out here on the road and make a statement."
For the Mavericks, Jae Crowder scored 15 points, while Dahntay Jones and Bernard James had 12 points apiece.
In the second quarter, the Heat again netted 27 points to the Mavericks' 22, and with it fiving them a big 16-point lead at halftime.
"Much better team than we were. We know each other," James said. "We can close our eyes and where we're going to be offensively and defensively."
Dallas are struggling without their top player Dirk Nowitzki, who hasn't played this season due to injury.
"They're so much better now since they've been together and there's a lot to be said about being together," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "Right now one of our struggles, we have a group that hasn't been together too much. ... And it's been challenging."
The Heat again outscored Dallas 33-19 in the third quarter to extend their lead. In the fourth quarter, with the Heat taking their foot off the pedal, Dallas found some rhythm and scored 34 to Miami's 19 points, but the game was already over by then.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
