Tyler Herro scored 24 points in his season debut and Kel’el Ware paired 20 points with 18 rebounds as the Miami Heat defeated the visiting Dallas Mavericks 106-102 on Monday.
Herro missed his first four shots in his first game back from left ankle surgery, before hitting 12 of his next 14.
Ware also had three blocks, while Bam Adebayo contributed 17 points in Miami’s fifth consecutive win.
P.J. Washington had 27 points for Dallas. Max Christie added 15 as six Mavericks reached double figures.
With the score tied at 102, Adebayo stole Washington’s inbounds pass with 48 seconds left, and Herro converted the turnover with a pullup bucket.
The Mavericks had another chance to steal the win when Flagg picked off an inbounds pass from Jaime Jaquez Jr. with 18.4 seconds remaining, but Washington missed a three with 5.5 seconds on the clock, before Adebayo sealed it from the stripe.
It was ugly early as both teams struggled offensively, combining for 14 field goals and 13 turnovers in the opening period.
The Heat shot 8 of 25 (32.0%) and the Mavs 6 of 19 (31.6%).
Washington’s buzzer-beating corner three sliced Miami’s lead to 20-19 at the end of the first.
It was the usually fast-paced Heat’s lowest-scoring opening quarter of the season, as well as their least points conceded.
Dallas moved ahead 29-24 before Miami took control with a 16-3 burst, capped by Herro’s first score of the season, a runner with 4:48 left in the second.
The Heat’s 32-25 quarter pushed their lead to 52-44 at the main break, Miami’s lowest-scoring first half of the season.
The margin grew to 13 points late in the third before Washington piloted a late Mavericks’ rally to trim the Heat’s cushion to eight with a quarter to play.
Dallas continued to chip into the deficit in the fourth, and drew level on Daniel Gafford’s offensive rebound and powerful dunk with 4:33 remaining.
Both teams picked up their shooting in the second half, as the Heat converted 22 of 46 attempts (47.8%), while the Mavericks countered with 22 of 51 (43.1%).
Herro finished 17th in the NBA las season, averaging 23.9 points per game. He also posted a career-topping 5.5 assists per outing in 77 regular season games.
