The Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat 115-90 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, to end their three-game losing streak.

The Mavericks and the Heat are the NBA's second- and third-slowest teams respectively this season. They rely on different weapons to stay top six in their conferences: The Mavericks have the league's fifth-best offense; the Heat are the fifth-best defensive franchise among all 30 teams.

The Heat tried everything they could think to contain Luka Doncic in Friday's game. At the beginning, the team had Caleb Martin guard Doncic by himself on the perimeter. If Doncic called screen from Dwight Powell, who had the most pick & roll plays with Doncic in the Mavericks, Martin would either go under the screen or switch with Bam Adebayo.

As one of the best big men to guard perimeter players in mismatch in today's NBA, Adebayo kept a short distance from Doncic. By doing so, he could both keep Doncic from charging the rim while keeping an eye on the paint.

Doncic targeted Tyler Herro, the biggest defensive weakness in the Heat's starting lineup, on multiple occasions. Another defender would soon join Herro to trap Doncic, forcing him to pass to other Mavericks.

In response to the Heat's above defensive tactics, Doncic shot 4-for-4 from downtown in the first half, punishing Martin for not fighting through the screen to deflect his shooting; Doncic also delivered four assists in the first two quarters while his teammates went 8-for-17 behind the arc, making the Heat pay for double-teaming him; Doncic though missed six of his field goals (FGs) within the 3-point line, he earned six free throws, showing the opponents how destructive he could be when he drove in with the ball.

As a result, the Heat changed their way of guarding Doncic in the second half. Jimmy Butler, who is a much better defender than Martin, took over to cover Doncic on the perimeter; when Adebayo switched with Butler, he would follow Doncic more closely; neither did the rest of the Heat's players double-team Doncic as hard as they did in the first half.

The Mavericks only delivered four assists in total in the third quarter – two from Doncic – thanks to the Heat's change of defense. Nonetheless, the Heat couldn't stop Doncic from dominating the floor via individual attack. Having gone 3-for-6 in the mid-range, he again had 11 points in this period.

The Heat began to do everything they could to keep Doncic from going through the 3-point line in the fourth quarter. He got only four points and one assist before going to the bench. It seemed that the Heat's defense finally worked, but it ceased to matter because the team trailed by 25 points (92-67) after the third quarter.

Failing to contain Doncic was not news since he has been unstoppable for any of the rest of the 29 teams in the league this season. What also cost the Heat Saturday's game was their poor offense. The team struggled in 3-point shooting (4-for-20); their give-and-go system didn't run at all while delivering 15 assists and 15 turnovers.

Butler had been carrying the Heat's offense during most of the time when he was playing, but he couldn't do so on Saturday night. The Mavericks double-teamed him immediately when he drove deep into the paint or had the ball next to the sideline. As a result, Butler shot 3-for-7, all within the 3-point line, to get only 12 points in the game.

Other games on Friday (away teams come first):

Indiana Pacers 111-134 Denver Nuggets

Nikola Jokic sat out Saturday's competition at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, leaving Jamal Murray to run the Nuggets' offense. Murray didn't let his team down, dropping a triple-double of 17 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. Under his leadership, the home team had six players score double-digit points, led by 28 of Aaron Gordon.

Without Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers continued to struggle in playmaking, accompanying 23 assists with 21 turnovers. Their opponents had averaged only 7.3 steals this season, which ranked only the 12th in the NBA. However, they cut the Pacers' ball as many as 16 times on Saturday and extended their losing streak to six games.

Brooklyn Nets 117-106 Utah Jazz

The Nets finally secured their first win after losing Kevin Durant to injury. Kyrie Irving led the team to victory by dropping 48 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday.

Instead of struggling in the first three quarters, exploding late in the final quarter and failing to reverse the situation like he did 24 hours ago, Irving was on full power from the beginning to get 20 points in the first half. As the game entered the fourth quarter at an 86-86 tie, Irving went 7-for-10 from the field, all of which were jumpers, to get 21 points for the Nets to outscore the opponents 34-23 in this period and win in the end.

Memphis Grizzlies 121-122 Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers ended the Grizzlies 11-game winning streak in such a dramatic way at Crypto.com Arena in LA, California, on Saturday. The purple and gold still trailed by one point (120-119) when there were 14.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies' Desmond Bane received the throw-in before Juan Toscano-Anderson came to pressure him.

Dennis Schroder quickly blitzed Bane from his blind spot and stole the ball. He then drove all the way toward the hoop, making a tough layup while drawing a foul. Having made his shot at the free throw line, Schroder made the Lakers lead 122-120 when there were 7.6 seconds left.

The Grizzlies called their final timeout and counted on Ja Morant to launch the final attack. Morant's floater didn't fall, but Wenyen Gabriel was called a foul on Brandon Clarke when he competed for the rebound. As a result, the Grizzlies got two free throws. They were 13-for-16 at the free throw line in this quarter before Clarke walked there. Nonetheless, Clarke missed his second shot. Neither did the Grizzlies grab their 30th offensive rebound.

Having lost on Saturday night, the Grizzlies saw their deficit behind the Wester Conference leaders Nuggets grow to 1.5 games.

New Orleans Pelicans 110-123 Orlando Magic

New York Knicks 124-139 Atlanta Hawks

Golden State Warriors 120-114 Cleveland Cavaliers

Los Angeles Clippers 131-126 San Antonio Spurs

Oklahoma City Thunder 113-118 Sacramento Kings