Coup’s Takeaways: Dallas Wins Battle Of Shorthanded Teams Behind Dante Exum’s Season-High Night
- wgclients01
- Feb 14
- 5 min read
1. You get a couple games like this every season. Both teams down to just about the bare minimum roster requirements that allow for a game to be played. Both sides on a back-to-back, both with something real to play for as they fight for a postseason spot.
There’s some beauty in games like these, in players and coaches figuring it out on the fly with what they have available. You just have to look closely to see it at times, because the results on the floor aren’t going to be winning many pageants.
Even with Bam Adebayo out for Miami, the most important absences were Dallas’ nearly complete lack of size, all of their centers and center-adjacent options sitting in street clothes. That’s what made this one about the rim for the HEAT as Jaime Jaquez Jr. got things going in the right direction – albeit with slow-rolling offense on both sides – with his typical spinning, shoulders-first drives.
Kel’el Ware took advantage, too, no player on the floor able to reach the heights that he could, as he even flashed some ball skills, a fake handoff turning into a dunk right over the top of Kylor Kelly. Miami led, 22-21, after the opening period, Dallas putting together just enough random offense, one-on-one drives from a variety of role players, to stay attached.
More of the same in the second, Ware still finishing over the top, the lead exchanging hands with regularity until an eight-point burst from Herro – Dallas’ lack of any size in the paint meant that Herro simply had to get a step on his man to create a relatively clean finish at the cup – pushed Miami back in front, 56-55, by the buzzer.
While the HEAT may have had more of their regular talent available, threes, or the lack of them, are always the great equalizer, Dallas gaining the lead back thanks to a few deep ones falling. Good time for Herro to find his range again, two arc attempts from the same spot helping out as his total hit 27. As Dallas’ shotmaking dried up, Herro’s continued, the HEAT suddenly with their biggest cushion of the night, ahead by seven.
Dallas still had an answer in them, back up one a couple minutes later after a pick-six turnover. Eventually the home team’s run reached 13-0, Kessler Edwards doing damage from three and in the paint, Dallas now up six. Herro worked some magic to hold the line, Miami down just one going into the fourth.
Back-and-forth to open the fourth, Miami putting together enough offense without Herro thanks to Kyle Anderson using his size in the paint. Clutch game, Dallas jumping ahead with just over four to play, then four on a Naji Marshall three after Miami doubled Spencer Dinwiddie and the ball swung around to the weakside corner. It was a 12-0 Dallas run in all, the home group up eight with two and a half to play, the HEAT looking for an answer.
They got one from Herro, a four-point play from the left corner to cut the lead in half. That was followed by a tough Duncan Robinson three, the gap now just three. A technical foul on Dallas helped out soon after, but a Herro three from the right corner, his spot, missed and Dallas was back at the line to make it five with just eight seconds left. Robinson missed the three to give Miami a shot, and that was that, Dallas takes it, 118-113, as the All-Star break looms.
2. The way the Mavericks won this game recalled many similar wins from past HEAT teams, players stepping into roles far outsizing what they’re used to, asked to do far more than they’re used to, and finding ways to succeed.
Seven players in double figures for Dallas, Dante Exum leading the way with 27 points on 13 shots in just 23 minutes. Having the game of his season, Exum hit a pair of threes but did most of his damage in the paint, deliberately working his way into odd angles and small windows, squeezing through with the ball for 9-of-11 shooting in the middle, 6-of-8 at the rim. Max Christie (19 points on 19 shots) and Spencer Dinwiddie (18 points on 13 shots) added some necessary volume shot creation while Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Kessler Edward and Naji Marshall all filled in the margins with cuts and offensive rebounds.
There was a three-point gap, the sort you typically see when the more shorthanded team pulls out a victory, but it was not particularly stark, Dallas hitting just three more from the arc on the same number of attempts.
Ultimately, the greatest differential was the one you can’t do much about, Miami making just 65 percent of their 26 free-throws, those nine misses the difference between a loss and, at the very least, a game where they weren’t playing catchup with threes in the final minutes.
Credit Dallas the same as we have credited Miami in tough spots like this. They found a way.
3. Had Miami been able to pull this one out, size, and Dallas’ lack of it, would have been the story of the night without question. You start with Herro (40 points on 30 shots after a cool opening shift), driving his way into the paint for 11-of-13 shooting, one of his more prolific outings when it comes to damage in the middle. There was Ware, too, 7-of-10 in the paint, though much of his work was done early as Dallas upped their physicality as the game wore on, a body always on Ware as Dallas guards and wings flew in for rebounds. Anderson, too, used his size to his advantage against Dallas’ switches, slowly working through mismatches for finishes in his comfort zone, his length contributing to some second-chance opportunities along the way. Miami had 16 offensive rebounds for 25 points in all, everything they would have needed.
An Offensive Rating of 116.7 would have been enough, too, even without many threes. The issue became the defense, particularly right after Miami’s best moments of the night, Dallas answering with a 13-0 run in the third quarter and a 12-0 run in the middle of the fourth right as the game was slipping away from them. And with the HEAT trailing by multiple possessions in the final minutes they had to rely on the three, Herro and Robinson almost making it work, but the looks remained tough as Dallas took advantage of their size in the way smaller teams do, switching everything on the perimeter to jam Miami up and make those threes contested.