Heat Vs. Mavericks LIVE UPDATES: LeBron James Faces Dirk Nowitzki In Finals Rematch
Here we are -- right back where we left off.
It's the Miami Heat verus the Dallas Mavericks.
After the offseason of our labor discontent, the NBA has finally returned with a quartet of marquee matchups on Christmas day. Although the Knicks and Celtics took the honor of starting off the shortened 2011-2012 NBA season, it is the second game of the day that has been the most anticipated. In a rematch of last year's NBA Finals, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs host LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the remainder of the Heat.
During a recent interview with ESPN, James discussed how hard it was for him to come to grips with Miami's loss to Dallas. Well, on Christmas, he gets to watch the championship banner be raised to the rafters in Dallas. How will he respond to that?
By leading the Mavs to a thrilling, career-defining six-game triumph, Nowitzki cemented his legacy as one of the top players of his generation. Can he and Jason Terry open this campaign with the same fire that burned so brightly in them during last year's playoffs?
Follow along with all the action right here:
Miami beats Dallas 105-94.
LeBron finished with a double-double (37 points and 10 rebounds).
Wade had 26 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
Dallas made the score respectable in the fourth quarter and have cut the lead to 11. But this was a blowout.
LeBron gets called for traveling and he immediately turns around to argue his case. It looks like he's trying to say that it was a jump stop but it looked to me like traveling. Dallas Timeout.
Vince Carter misses two free throws and then a 3-second violation is called on Dallas' next possession. 4:30 left in the game and the lead is still 20.
LeBron cuts to the basket and takes a shot to the head. He missed the first free throw and made the second. 20 point lead for Miami.
Miami turns the ball over and Jason Terry hits a short jumper from the baseline to cut the lead to 17. But Wade hits another shot from the post to put it back to 19. 5:25 left.
Jason Terry hits his 4th 3-pointer of the game, this time from the top of the key, and cuts the lead to 19. 6:22 left to go in the game. Miami calls timeout.
Ian Mahinmi draws an and-1 on LeBron James but can't complete the 3-point play. 102-80 Miami.
Jason Terry knocks down a long two-pointer and cuts the lead to 21. Then LeBron takes over and drives to the lane, spins and hits the layup while drawing the foul. TECHNICAL called on Delonte West as well. Will that be enough to get the Mavs fans outa there? Doesn't look like it. Mark Cuban screaming from the bench.
Jason Terry's running floater cuts the lead to 21 and the Dallas crowd is still there and getting into it. There are eight minutes left in the game and the Mavericks fans are still rockin' thoughout the blowout.
LeBron is back in.
Delonte West hits a 3-ointer from the baseline to cut the Heat lead to 25. Anyone smell a Mavericks comeback?.. me neither
Vince Carter looked as if he rushed a long jumper and bricked it badly. The ball hit the right side of the backboard and bounced with to a Miami player. Poor Vince... LeBron sits down and might be done for the game.
LeBron ends the third quarter with a long 3-pointer. He now has 33 points and the Heat are winning 97-65.
LeBron James was on the giving end of an alley-oop to Joel Anthony wide open under the basket. That was in the half court offense too..
Jason Terry knocked down a three to cut it to a 28 point lead. Yeah, 28 points. Miami called a timeout.
LeBron takes it to the hoop and gets fouled by Marion. James made both free throws and now has 29 points in 27 minutes.
In case you missed the TNT pregame show before the Knicks-Celtics game, the network aired an amazing intro video to the NBA season. So if you're bored with this blowout, take a look:
There hasn't been any replay of what happened after the foul. But Odom is out of the game now. LeBron just nailed a 3-pointer while I'm trying to figure out who else has been thrown out of season openers or debuts with new teams...
Even though they're down by 28, the Mavericks are continuing to try and push the temp and get back in the game. But Lamar Odom pushed it a little too hard and got called for an offensive foul, drawn by LeBron James.
It appears that Odom was given two technical fouls and was thrown out of the game.
Mario Chalmers hasn't been so super today but he just made his first field goal of the game with a nice driving layup.
The Mavericks go on a short run with buckets from Dirk and Marion, then Jason Terry hits a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 80-52.
| @ jadande : What do you call that last Heat play? A lob-lob? That deserves a hockey assist. |
Marion looked like he had an easy layup but LeBron came flying in and blocked it. Then on the other end, LeBron made an amazing turnaround jumper off the glass.
And THEN, after another Dallas turnover, LeBron took an alley-oop pass, realized he couldn't dunk it and made a touch pass to Wade who slammed it in. That was one hell of a sequence right there. 78-43 Miami.
Van Gundy says getting beat down like this might be good for Dallas, noting that maybe the Mavs are realizing how ready they actually are for this season and the loss might being them back to reality.
Delonte West made him work for it, but Dwyane Wade was just too much for him and eventually made an easy layup. Then LeBron stole the ball and dished it to Wade on the fast break for another easy bucket. Miami has its largest lead of the game at 71-43. Dallas timeout.
Joel Anthony gets the ball down low and goes up strong with it, drawing the foul on Haywood and making the basket. Free throw is good and Miami has a 67-43 lead.
LeBron opens up the second half by hitting an 18-foot jumper from the left side.
Rodrigue Beaubois misses a running jumper as time expires and the Heat take a 62-41 lead. LeBron had 18 points in the half to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. Wade added 14 while Dirk scored 13 but was just 2/9 from the field.
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The Huffington Post First Posted: 12/25/11 01:25 PM ET Updated: 12/25/11 01:25 PM ET