A day after receiving good news that forward Dirk Nowitzki is getting closer to making his debut, the Dallas Mavericks will be without their All-Star once again when they host the visiting Miami Heat Thursday at 9:30 pm ET.
Nowitzki has been recovering from offseason knee surgery and took a major step forward by participating in full-contact practice drills for the first time Wednesday. Though he said there's no timetable for his return, he's hoping it will be shortly after Christmas.
The Mavericks (12-13) offense carried them to a 107-100 home win over Philadelphia on Tuesday, as the Mavs shot 54.2 percent after going winless on a three-game road trip.
O.J. Mayo scored 26 points and Chris Kaman added 20 while combining to score 17 of the team's final 19 points. Kaman hadn't logged fourth-quarter minutes in the previous five games.
Meanwhile, LeBron James has been the catalyst for a Miami offense averaging 103.1 points, becoming the first player to score at least 20 points his team's first 22 games since Utah's Karl Malone in 1989-90 after netting 22 in Tuesday's 103-92 win over Minnesota.
Wade scored a game-high 24 points for the Heat (16-6), who won despite being outrebounded 52-24.
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