Shortly before tipoff of the Miami Heat’s home game against the Dallas Mavericks, the team announced Jimmy Butler wouldn’t play with flu-like symptoms. And Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo were already out.
Tuesday night’s game got off to a promising start when Trevor Ariza made his first three shot attempts — all from beyond the arc — before Duncan Robinson hit one of his own. Miami was up 12-3, forcing Rick Carlisle to call a time-out.
That high-octane offense continued the rest of the quarter, as Miami took a 39-30 lead at the end of the first period.