Heat at Mavericks
The Miami Heat dropped four of their last seven games and needed to overcome a 15-point, second-half deficit to down the visiting Charlotte Hornets on Saturday. The Heat will try to tighten some things on the offensive end when they begin a four-game road trip by visiting the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
Miami failed to reach 100 points in any of its last three games and left starters Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside on the bench down the stretch against the Hornets while the second unit stepped up. "We (the second unit) have the white jerseys (in practice) so we call ourselves the 'Platinum Group' and we try to hold ourselves to a platinum standard," Heat forward Justise Winslow told the Miami Herald. "We use our voices even if it's just shootaround. We try to be solid and give up nothing. So, when we're out there (in the game) we try to use that same intensity and same focus, try to shut the other team down." The Mavericks have gone four straight games without hitting the century mark in scoring and dropped the last three to fall 18 games under .500. Dallas squandered a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter on Saturday to suffer a 91-89 loss at Denver.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Miami), FS Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE HEAT (28-21): Miami shooting guard Wayne Ellington will be at All-Star weekend as a participant in the 3-point contest and buried four 3-pointers while scoring 17 points in a team-high 35 minutes off the bench on Saturday. "He's a supremely conditioned athlete right now," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters of Ellington. "He's the top tier. He played probably what, 15, 16 straight minutes at full speed? He ran every wide receiver rout like his life depended on it, and probably more than half the time he was a decoy. And that's why a lot of those plays opened up. He just keeps on running under and he wears the first coverage, second coverage, third coverage down and then just opens up the rest of your offense." Ellington is averaging 19 points over the last four games to raise his season mark to 11.5.
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (16-34): Dallas battled back from a 13-point deficit early on Saturday only to run out of steam after taking back the advantage. "We've just got to be a little better," Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki told reporters. "We've got to be a little smarter, we've got to secure the ball when we have it, we've got to get that one rebound when it's right there, and we've got to have a little better shot selection down the stretch. To steal a game on the road, you've almost got to be perfect down the stretch. We made a couple too many mistakes, but I love the fight." Dallas' offensive slump is coinciding with a shooting slump for Nowitzki, who is 10-of-36 from the floor over the last four games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Mavericks PG J.J. Barea (oblique) missed Saturday's game and is day-to-day.
2. Miami backup C Kelly Olynyk scored in double figures in each of the last seven games.
3. Ellington scored 28 points in a 113-101 home win over Dallas on Dec. 22.