The Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks 99 - 95 Thursday at AmericanAirlines Arena. While the Heat (13 - 30) managed to open up a seven - point lead at the end of the first quarter, but a brutal second quarter, which they lost by 16 points, put their chances of winning against the red - hot Mavericks (14 - 28), who came in as winners of three straight games, in serious doubt. But Miami managed to gain back the lead and pull away in the second half on the back of yet another great performance from starting point guard Goran Dragic. Dragic finished with a game - high 32 points on 11 - of - 15 shooting from the field, which included hitting all four of his shots from behind the arc. Tyler Johnson also added yet another solid performance off the bench, scoring an efficient 23 points in 28 minutes as a reserve. For Dallas, they came just short of extending their win streak to four games despite having a solid all - around team effort. Dirk Nowitzki continues his return to form, as he led the way for the Mavericks with 19 points, while Wesley Matthews added 18 points of his own. Harrison Barnes and Seth Curry each added 15 points, while J.J. Barea added 13 points off the bench, but the other four Mavericks that played Thursday combined to score just 15 points. Up next, the Heat will look to extend their win streak to three games against the Bucks on Saturday, while the Mavericks will play again Friday against the Jazz.
["PlayerStat(G,'Wesley Matthews') has 18 Defensive rebounds ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Harrison Barnes') has 15 Defensive rebounds ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Dirk Nowitzki') has 19 Defensive rebounds ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Seth Curry') has 15 Defensive rebounds ,has 4 3-pointers attempted ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'J.J. Barea') has 13 Defensive rebounds ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Goran Dragic') has 4 Defensive rebounds ,has 4 3-pointers attempted ,has 4 3-pointers made ,has 15 Field goals attempted ,has 11 Field goals made ,has 32 Minutes played ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Tyler Johnson') has 28 Defensive rebounds ,has 23 3-pointers attempted ."]