DALLAS (Ticker) -- At this point, even challenging one of the NBA's best teams is a positive sign for the Miami Heat.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 of his 30 points in the second half and Steve Nash had 18 points and 11 assists as the Dallas Mavericks posted a 103-93 victory over the winless Heat.
The Heat have been one of the worst teams in the league over the last two seasons and lost their first three games under coach Stan Van Gundy by an average of nearly 14 points. But they put a scare into the Mavs before remaining one of three winless teams in the league.
Miami erased an early 11-point deficit and had the lead for most of the third quarter before Dallas scored the final 10 points, highlighted by four from Nowitzki.
"I thought we played pretty well other than the one stretch at the end of the third quarter and that was pretty much the entire ballgame," Van Gundy said. "We were missing some shots and just couldn't match with them during that stretch. Nowitzki got a couple of back cuts and a couple of catch-and-shoots, I thought that was what really hurt us."
"We had that one little lapse in the third," Miami swingman Lamar Odom said. "We really couldn't afford that. That third quarter, our offense gave in just a little bit and then they got hot. Then it kind of disturbed us the whole fourth quarter and kept us from winning."
The Mavericks scored six straight points to take an 82-72 lead with 8 1/2 minutes left and the Heat never got closer than seven thereafter. Nowitzki scored six straight points to give Dallas its largest lead at 92-80 with 5:03 to play.
"(Nowitzki) carried us offensively," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "He looked a little tired, but offensively he was really good. We ran a lot of things for him and when we got opening for him, he made the right shots."
Tony Delk scored 17 points and Antoine Walker had 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Mavs, who shot 51 percent from the floor and buried nine 3-pointers.
"The box score looks good, but I don't think we played that well," Nelson said. "We ran into a hot team or we made them a hot team, I'm not sure. They made shots and I didn't know that it wasn't going to be a nightmare before it was all over."
"They outworked us and outplayed us," Mavericks forward Antawn Jamison said. "But we did a tremendous job when we needed to buckle down."
Miami, which averaged just under 77 points in its first three games, had five players in double figures, led by Udonis Haslem's 20 points.
"I thought tonight was another step forward," Van Gundy said. "We didn't die and we hung in. I thought we played pretty well."
John Wallace scored 19 points for the Heat, Odom collected 17, nine assists and six rebounds and Rafer Alston had 15 points for the Heat, who shot 47 percent (39-of-82) from the field and were 7-of-14 from 3-point range.
"We spoke about hanging with these guys before the game," Odom said. "Of course it's not as satisfying as a win. I thought we played against them fairly well."
Brian Grant had 13 points and 12 rebounds and Haslem grabbed 12 boards as Miami had a 43-36 edge on the glass and scored 21 points off 12 offensive rebounds.
The Mavs got off to a hot start, making eight of their first nine shots to take an 18-7 lead. Delk scored six points during the opening spurt, but Dallas missed 11 of its next 12 attempts, opening the door for Miami's comeback.
