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Miami Heat vs Dallas Mavericks
The Miami Heat are riding a four-game losing streak heading into the final game before the All-Star break. Miami could be heading into the much needed break sitting under .500 and in the final playoff spot as the 8th seed. There's also been a stomach bug illness that has been ravaging the Miami lockeroom with players being in and out of the lineup. The Heat would go and visit the new look Dallas Mavericks who've hit a good streak after the trade.
It was a massive game for Tyler Herro after recovering from a stomach illness hitting the ground running as he dropped 40 points on Thursday night. Kel'el Ware had some impressive dunks one of them being a poster finishing the game with 17 points. The rest of the starting lineup for Miami would struggle scoring with Jaime Jaquez Jr finishing with six points followed by both Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson finishing with five points. Off the bench for Miami would be Alec Burks this time contributing with 12 points.
What was really impressive about the Dallas Mavericks is that all five starters would hit double digits outplaying Miami. Leading the way for Dallas was Dante Exum dropping 27 points followed by former Laker Max Christie finishing with 19 points. Spencer Dinwiddie checked in next finishing the game with 18 points followed by Kessler Edwards who finished with 15 points. Closing out the Dallas lineup was Olivier Maxence-Prosper contributing with 10 points. Leading the Mavs off the bench would be Naji Marshall finishing with 12 points.
The Mavericks had eight players on the injury report with Kyrie Irving nursing a shoulder injury, Klay Thompson with a sprained foot, and the rest out either with injury or illness including Anthony Davis. The Mavericks would just lose Daniel Gafford for the rest of the season after injuring his MCL. The Heat would be without Andrew Wiggins with the stomach illness and Bam Adebayo dealing with a knee contusion. This would be a very short handed game for both teams with the break not coming fast enough to recuperate.
Despite dropping 40 points, Herro struggled at the beginning of the game only scoring two points being one for seven from the field. This was the first time that Exum would lead the Mavericks in scoring throughout 62 games in the last two seasons. Edwards who's on a two-way contract played the most minutes in his career at 40. Miami had a chance to tie the game with Herro going for the three ball being down 116-113 but would come up just short. The Mavericks hand the Heat their 5th straight loss defeating them 118-113.
Up next for the Miami Heat will be a road game visiting the Toronto Raptors.
Written by: Daniel Torres
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