Michael Finley had 20 points and eight rebounds and Tim Hardaway matched a season high with 17 points off the bench as the Mavericks cruised to a 102-82 victory over the Cavaliers.
Miller separated his right shoulder in Tuesday's win at Houston and immediately returned to Cleveland for tests, leaving the Cavs without their second-leading scorer and the league leader in assists.
 A low angle on Dirk Nowitzki rising toward the hoop. Glenn James NBAE/Getty Images |
Finley made 10-of-17 shots and Hardaway sank 4-of-8 3-pointers as Dallas completed a season series sweep.
"Timmy played great," Dallas starting point guard Steve Nash said. "It was good to get in there and play with him and to feed off of his energy. We tried to get him some open looks as well because he had the hot hand tonight."
Nowitzki finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in 32 minutes. Nash collected 17 points and seven assists and Adrian Griffin had nine points and a season-high 11 rebounds for the Mavs.
"We played well tonight, we had a lot of balance," Nash said. "For the most part, we played well with a lot of energy defensively. You have to play with energy and commitment on defense and we had that tonight."
The Mavericks pulled away midway through the second quarter with a 16-6 run. Hardaway scored eight points during the burst, which gave Dallas a 39-28 lead.
"I thought right at the end of the second quarter, we let it get away from us a little bit," Cleveland coach John Lucas said. "We got closer a couple of times but we could never get over the hump. We were chasing our tail."
Lamond Murray scored 11 of his 23 points in the third quarter as Cleveland rallied.
The Mavericks had a 52-40 halftime lead and scored eight of the first 10 points in the second half to build an 18-point bulge. They had a 64-48 cushion lead with with 7:11 remaining in the third quarter before the Cavs reeled off 10 straight points.
Murray sparked the burst with a three-point play and capped it with a pair of free throws to bring Cleveland within 68-58 with 4:59 to go.
After a jumper by Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas made it 72-64 with 2:26 left, Hardaway nailed a long jumper from the left baseline to give Dallas a double-digit lead for good.
Griffin capped the period with a 3-pointer, the only shot he made in a 1-for-9 performance. Cleveland never got closer than 11 points in the final 12 minutes.
"We were in the game all the way until the fourth quarter," Lucas said. "We didn't make plays down the stretch, and that hurt us. They made shots."
Dallas shot 46 percent (39-of-84) overall, made 8-of-17 3-pointers and held a 48-38 rebounding advantage.
"I thought it would be a tougher game for us," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "Our game plan worked very well and the No. 1 thing is we took Ilgauskas out of the game. We played a small lineup on him and it was very successful. The ball moved real well and we just played a good all-around game."
Ilgauskas scored just six points on 1-of-5 shooting, his worst performance since returning from his latest foot surgery on December 4.
Jumaine Jones had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Bimbo Coles added 13 points for the Cavaliers, who failed in a bid for their first three-game winning streak of the season.
Cleveland made just 3-of-15 shots from the arc and recorded 20 assists without Miller, who averages an NBA-best 10.6 assists per game.
"Without Miller it was tough," Lucas said. "It just showed me we have a whole lot of work to do. We took it on the chin tonight."