Mark Cuban’s text-message pursuit of LeBron James last summer had James dubbing the Mavericks owner “a very sly guy” on Saturday.
While James opted famously to head to Miami as a free agent, the Mavericks at least gave him a taste of what he missed with a 106-95 NBA victory over the Heat.
Before the Heat’s only game in Dallas this season, James said he knew that Cuban “wants to win — he wants the best for his team.”
PHOTO: EPA
Cuban said his texts to James and to James’ business manager Maverick Carter were simple.
“When he was making his decision, what I told him, and I told Maverick, was that no team had ever blown up a team of all their core, then added a couple of free agents and won,” Cuban said. “It has always taken someone to come into a good team to make it better and put them over the top. That’s what I told him.”
Certainly James and fellow stars Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade have yet to find the perfect balance in Miami.
The Heat arrived in Dallas with a 9-7 record, having ended a three-game losing streak with a victory over Philadelphia on Friday.
James said he tried to turn a deaf ear to outside criticism.
However, the Mavericks gave the Heat’s critics more ammunition as they won their fifth straight contest.
Caron Butler scored seven of his 23 points in a key scoring run to start the second half and the Mavs held on for the victory.
James scored 23 points despite making only 5 of 19 field goals. Bosh and Wade scored 22 points apiece.
While the Heat missed their first 10 shots after halftime, Dallas scored 13 straight points and took a led 64-49 lead when Butler hit a 3-pointer with 7:55 left in the third period.
Dirk Nowitzki had 22 points for Dallas, while Tyson Chandler added 14 points with 17 rebounds.
Miami clawed back from an 18-point deficit in the third, closing within 94-89 on Mario Chalmers’ 3-pointer with four minutes, 24 seconds left in the contest.
However, Chalmers fouled Nowitzki on the next possession and Nowitzki made both free throws.
A poor pass from Wade was stolen by Jason Terry to lead to another Dallas basket.
The Mavericks have won 13 consecutive regular-season games against the Heat since since March 2004.
Their dominance, however, doesn’t include the 2006 NBA finals, when the Heat beat the Mavericks in six games.
Magic 100, Wizards 99
In Washington, Dwight Howard scored a season-high 32 points, including the game-winning putback with 4.3 seconds left, and had 11 rebounds to give Orlando a win over Washington.
Quentin Richardson scored 20 for the Magic, who have won seven of their last eight games in Washington.
Gilbert Arenas scored a season-high 31 points, but his floater at the buzzer hit the back of the rim and bounced away.
Nick Young scored 21 points and Andray Blatche scored 10 points and had 13 rebounds for the Wizards, who ended a three-game home winning streak.
In other NBA play, it was:
‧ Bucks 104, Bobcats 101
‧ Warriors 104, Timberwolves 94
‧ Cavaliers 92, Grizzlies 86
‧ Hawks 99, Knicks 90
‧ 76ers 102, Nets 86
‧ Bulls 96, Kings 85
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