Team Effort Propels Miami Heat Over Dallas Mavericks 106-85

It's been a long month of March for the Miami Heat, but there might not be a better remedy for the weary Heat as some home cooking, oh yea, and some revenge against the Dallas Mavericks. In a rematch of last year's NBA Finals, the Miami Heat surged during the second half of Thursday night's contest and defeat the Mavs by 21 points, 106-85.

During the 2006 NBA season, Pat Riley coined the term "15 strong" to represent the Heat's all-around team effort. The Heat rode that mantra into the Finals, and finished the season with a championship. Ironically, the Heat's first true "15 strong" effort this season came at the hands of those same Dallas Mavericks that they took the championship from that year. The Heat had six players in double figures, including 36 bench points.

LeBron James and Chris Bosh led the Heat with 19 points and 9 rebounds apiece; LeBron also contributed 5 assists. Dwyane Wade added 16 points, as did Udonis Haslem, and Norris Cole had one of his strongest performance in recent days with 10 points.

On the flip side, Dirk Nowitzki led all scorers with 25 points; Dirk, however, shot 1 for 9 in the second half as the Heat pulled away in all phases of the game. Brandon Wright and Vince Carter each had 11 points, and Lamar Odom seemed to snap out of his malaise and scored 12 points and generally played with uncharacteristic energy.