The Heat will travel to the great city of Dallas to play the Mavericks and Luka Doncic on Tuesday night. Both teams have had great success to start the season and are leading their respective divisions with the Heat at 5-1 and the Mavericks at 4-2. Continue reading to find my thoughts and Heat vs Mavericks prediction.
The Dallas Mavericks are still without Kristaps Porzingis but have been doing just fine. They are 4-2 and are 3-0 at home so far. Luka Doncic has played at an MVP to start the year and seems to always thrive in these prime-time games. The Mavericks defense has been lacking at times this year but have been able to win close games.
The Miami Heat are dominating the competition to start the year with an impressive 5-1 record. The additions of Kyle Lowry and PJ Tucker were looked at as decent additions, but it seems to have been game-changing additions for Miami. With the winning culture, the Heat have, I wouldn’t be surprised if they make a deep run into the playoffs.
The Miami Heat Are Very Hot and Continue to Impress
With Tyler Herro as your sixth man, your team is definitely extremely talented. That is what the Heat is made of and much more: talent, grit, and intelligence. I don’t have enough good things to say about this Miami team, and I have them as being a top 3 seed in the Eastern Conference by the end of the year with wins versus the Bucks and Nets already.
They are rolling on a four-game winning streak right now, with the most recent coming against Ja Morant and the Grizzlies. It was just the second time this year they allowed more than 100 points, the other being their only loss to the Pacers. Jimmy Butler led the way dropping 27 points on 8-12 from the field. Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson each added 15.
Miami was able to slow down the inside presence of Ja Morant and company even without their star center Bam Adebayo. They have been shooting lights so far and have had great success to start the year. I don’t see any signs of slowing down from this Heat team against the Mavericks even if Bam is out once again.
Luka Doncic Can’t Be The Only Source of Offense for the Mavericks
The Mavericks have also come out guns blazing so far and are fourth in the Western Conference with a 4-2 record. The reason this isn’t too impressive is that they were blown out by two likely playoff teams in the Nuggets and Hawks and their only wins are against sub .500 teams so far. I will continue to love watching Luka Doncic play but hate seeing this Mavs offense operate.
Speaking of Luka, he flirted with a triple-double last game, recording 23 points, 10 dimes, and 8 boards. They are missing Porzingis and haven’t had the type of influential production that they had from Maxi Kleber and Dorian Smith like they did last year. Time Hardaway Jr. also scored 16 points and two steals as well. The Mavs need to shoot well to have success vs the Heat.
Dallas coaches and Jason Kidd have to find production when Luka Doncic takes a break during the game. Jalen Bruson needs to play much better against the Heat for the Mavericks to have a chance. And not to mention that this Mavericks defense is just not great overall. If Dallas finds ways to score and shoots well, I think they will be able to stay in a shootout with the Heat.
Pick and Prediction
The line has not been released for this game yet, but I think the Heat walk into Dallas and destroy this Mavericks team. The Heat’s gritty defensive play will give Doncic troubles as much as I hate to say it. I believe the Heat win by 8 or more points tonight on TNT at 7:30 ET on Tuesday night.
Pick: Heat by at least 8
