Heat manhandle Mavs in 2011 Finals rematch as season gets underway

By Paul Levine Dec 26, 2011, 8:13 GMT

Los Angeles - The Dallas Mavericks raised their NBA championship banner to the rafters Sunday in a pregame ceremony at the American Airlines Centre before the Miami Heat lowered the boom on them in a rematch of the 2011 Finals.

LeBron James had 37 points with 10 rebounds, Dwyane Wade scored 26, and the visiting Heat manhandled the Mavericks 105-94 in the season opener for both clubs.

'It was a good business professional win for us tonight to get this thing started,' Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. 'We understand this is going to be a wild journey for everybody with all the condensed games coming one after another.

'Our mindset was to come in and focus on tonight. It's not about last year's storyline; it's not about anything else other than trying to establish our season on the right note. And obviously I think we did that for the most part.'

Following an off-season of a labour lockout that lasted 149 days and wiped out the first seven weeks of the season, the NBA returned on Christmas Day with a holiday stocking stuffer that featured five marquee contests to tip off the abbreviated 66-game season.

After the New York Knicks slipped past the Boston Celtics, 106-104, the Mavs opened their title defence. Dallas took out Miami in six games last June to win its first NBA Championship but couldn't handle the Heat's unrelenting attack on Sunday.

'We tried to play aggressive,' James said. 'We're an aggressive team.'

With James and Wade leading the way, the Heat quickly turned the match-up into a mismatch. Miami led by 21 at halftime and increased it to 35 early in the third quarter before coasting home to exact a measure of revenge while snapping a 14-game slide against the NBA Champs over the last seven seasons.

'I'm encouraged. It's different from last year and we're little more together and more comfortable,' said Wade, who added eight rebounds and six assists. 'This is step one and we did a good job today.'

Jason Terry topped Dallas with 23 points, while Finals Most Valuable Player Dirk Nowitzki finished with 21. Newcomer Lamar Odom scored just four points and was ejected in the third quarter for arguing a charging call.

'We played a team that was superior to us today,' Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. 'A lot of the credit has to go to them.'

Elsewhere Chicago Bulls 88, LA Lakers 87: Reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose scored 22 points, including the game-winning floater over seven-foot Spaniard Pau Gasol with 4.8 seconds left to cap a 17-5 closing run, and the visiting Bulls rallied from 11 down in the final 3:44 to charge past the Lakers.

The Lakers had a shot to win when Kobe Bryant drove the right side, but was met by three defenders before Luol Deng (21 points) blocked his five-foot jumper from behind on the final play of the game.

Bryant finished with 28 points but committed eight turnovers while playing with a torn ligament on his right shooting wrist in the Lakers' coaching debut of Mike Brown.

New York Knicks 106, Boston Celtics 104: Carmelo Anthony poured in 17 of his 37 points in the final quarter, including a pair of go-ahead free throws with 16.3 seconds left, lifting the host Knicks past the short-handed Celtics.

Boston's Kevin Garnett missed a jumper at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime.

Amar'e Stoudemire netted 21 points for the Knicks, who led by 17 in the first half but trailed by 10 in the final frame before rallying to end an eight-game slide against their Eastern Conference rivals.

Rajon Rondo had 31 points with 13 assists while newcomer Brandon Bass added 20 and 11 boards off the bench for the Celtics, who played without All-Star Paul Pierce (bruised right heel).

LA Clippers 105, Golden State Warriors 86: Chris Paul scored eight of his 20 points in the final four minutes to go along with nine assists in his Clippers' debut as Los Angeles pulled away to beat the Warriors and spoil Mark Jackson's first game as head coach.

Reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Blake Griffin scored a game-high 22 points and newcomer Chauncey Billups added 21 for the Clippers, who outscored their hosts, 30-18 in the final quarter.

David Lee led Golden State with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Oklahoma City Thunder 97, Orlando Magic 89: Reigning two-time NBA scoring champ Kevin Durant tossed in 30 points, James Hardin added 19 off the bench, and the host Thunder led by as many as 22 in the second half before rolling the Magic.

Ryan Anderson scored 25 points, but perennial All-Star centre Dwight Howard finished with 11 and 15 rebounds for Orlando, which shot an icy 37 per cent (30-81) from the floor.