Mavericks Shoot Season-High 61 Percent, But Miami Beats Them

(CTN News) – That’s how desperate Miami was. Dallas was too.

Despite losing to the Mavericks, Jimmy Butler and the Heat helped their playoff position.

Heat beat Mavericks 129-122 on Saturday night, snapping a three-game losing streak with Butler’s 35 points and 12 assists.

Max Strus and Kevin Love scored 18 each, and Tyler Herro added 15. Even though Dallas shot a season-high 61%, Miami won.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra says he wouldn’t have drafted it this way.

Doncic had 42 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists for Dallas. For the Mavericks, Tim Hardaway Jr. had 31 points and Kyrie Irving had 23 points and eight assists.

Wins are wins, Butler said. “I like that we won, even though they shot 61%.”

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Mavs were 7-0 when they shot 54% or better this season, but 30-2 when they shot 60% or better.

Jason Kidd said Dallas’ defense was nonexistent. “We couldn’t get a stop.”

The Heat are trying to get out of the play-in round and the Mavericks are just trying to make it to the playoffs.

The win moves Miami (41-37) closer to securing at least a No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference play-ins. It’s now 2 1/2 games between the Heat and Atlanta (38-39).

Miami is within 1 1/2 games of No. 6 Brooklyn (42-35). It’s still possible for the Nets to finish ahead of Miami if they go 3-2 in their final five games, even if the Heat win out and finish with 45 wins.

Dallas takes a big hit (37-41).

The Mavs are a full game behind No. 10 Oklahoma City (38-40), and the Thunder hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. Dallas and Utah (36-41) only have a half-game left.

Hardaway said, “Just play hard, play desperate, and anything can happen.”

Partly out of necessity, Miami changed its starting lineup. Because of a right hip contusion, Bam Adebayo couldn’t play, so Zeller started and Strus took Love’s starting spot, which he had held since joining the Heat in February.

It paid off right away. Strus made 3 out of 3 in his first shift. At halftime, Love had 13 points and Zeller had 12.

‘K-Love is always about winning,’ Butler said. So long as we win, he won’t complain.”

76-64 at halftime turned into 18 points in the second half, but Miami had to hold on in the final seconds anyway.

Here are some insider tips

Mavericks: Dallas’ streak of three consecutive winning regular seasons ends. 41-41 is the best the Mavs can do. In games where they gave up more than 100 points, the Mavs went 5-16. There was only one offensive rebound for Dallas.

Butler scored 16 points in the first quarter, Mavericks his second-highest total this season. On Feb 4, he had 17 points in the third quarter. For the 24th time in 35 seasons, Miami will finish with at least a .500 record.

Let’s see what’s left

On Sunday, Dallas plays Atlanta, then Sacramento, Chicago and San Antonio at home.

On Tuesday, Miami starts a trip to Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington.

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