By CHRIS
PERKINS
FOXSportsFlorida.com Heat Writer
MIAMI -- Yes, Monday's Heat-Mavericks game was a special event in Miami, and not just because it matched a team on a 12-game winning streak and a team that had won 14 of 15. You could tell this was a special event because it was an early-arriving crowd.
At about 7:25 p.m., five minutes before the scheduled tip-off, one fan who was among the hundreds walking from a parking garage to AmericanAirlines Arena remarked to another fan, "You're here early tonight, huh?"
"Yeah," the first fan said. "Gonna go to Bongos (a restaurant in the arena), grab a drink and then get to my seat. It's a big game."
That's a true story. Hey, in Miami being in your seat a few minutes after tip-off qualifies as an early-arriving crowd ready to see a big game. And so it was Monday. It was a packed house and the crowd included everyone from comedian Dave Chappelle to former quarterback Dan Marino.
They saw Dallas defeat the Heat, 98-96, to end Miami's 12-game win streak and drop the Heat to 21-9 overall while Dallas improved to 22-5.
Miami's LeBron James (13 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) was close to awful despite coming close to a low-level triple-double. He was 4-for-15 from the field. Dwyane Wade was so-so, finishing with 19 points, four rebounds and seven assists. Chris Bosh was pretty good with 19 points and eight rebounds.
But overall the Heat was sluggish. Mario Chalmers (3-for-10 shooting, fouled out), Mike Miller (0-for-4), James Jones (3-for-7) and Carlos Arroyo (0-for-2) just couldn't conjure up enough magic for the Heat to pull out a last-second victory the way it did Saturday against Washington.
Dallas controlled the tempo and the pace most of the night. Dirk Nowitzki (26 points, nine rebounds) led the way, aided by Jason Terry (19 points off the bench) and Caron Butler (13 points).
But give credit to the South Florida fans. They recognized a big game. On a Monday night. Against an opponent that wasn't named the Knicks, Lakers, Magic or Celtics.
Outside the Triple-A, where you usually get assaulted by scalpers trying to sell over-priced tickets, there was no such offer Monday. There were people looking for tickets but no one selling.
Apparently advance tickets sales were brisk. Anecdotal evidence confirms that. Monday was probably the most people in AmericanAirlines Arena all season. Usually, there are about 2,000 empty seats. But there were fewer empty seats Monday than there were for the home opener against Orlando. In fact, there might have been fewer than 100 empty seats Monday.
The Triple-A still hasn't reached that frenzied pitch you'd like to see with a team of this caliber. It's not an incredibly noisy arena the way it was back in 2004-05, Shaq's first year, or 2005-06, the championship season, or even 2003-04, Dwyane Wade's rookie year when the team caught fire out of nowhere and earned the fourth playoff seed in the East.
But at least there was a big-game feel Monday.
--Dallas' Jason Terry had all 19 of his points in the fourth quarter, which was two points off the Heat opponent record for points in a quarter.
--Dallas won with defense. It held Miami to 40.5 percent shooting and out-rebounded the Heat, 26-18 in the second half. Dallas out-rebounded Miami, 16-5, in the fourth quarter.
--Miami shot a season-high 31 three-pointers. It only made 11 (35.5 percent). The Heat attempted a franchise-record 15 three-pointers in the second quarter. That's not good.
--Caught up with comedian Dave Chappelle for a quick second after the game. Chappelle, an Ohio guy, said he's not mad at LeBron for leaving Ohio and joining the Heat.
"Man, it almost doesn't matter what I think," Chappelle said before adding, "As far as I'm concerned he's an Ohio guy that did good for himself. I've caught three LeBron games in my life. I saw his first game in the Garden. I caught a playoff game in Cleveland and then tonight."
