The renovated Dallas Mavericks, with newly acquired Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood, looked to have upgraded. The Miami Heat, on the other hand, did nothing, trade-wise. While it is too early to figure out if the trade by Dallas has paid dividends, they had a game to play Saturday night as they hosted the Heat at American Airlines Center.

The Heat were relatively shorthanded, due to Dwyane Wade limping with a strained calf muscle. That’s 26 PPG they’ve been missing for the past two games. The Mavericks, on the other hand, were relatively healthy. Perhaps the only difference was that Jason Kidd, usually a pass-first shoot-second player, decided to take matters into his own hands as he scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, enabling Dallas to hold off Miami 97-91.

The Heat jumped out to a 52-44 lead before the Mavericks rallied with a 19-5 run over the final 8:07 of the third quarter; Shawn Marion, who scored 6 points during that run, drove for a layup to tie the game at 60. Dirk Nowitzki drained a jumper to give Dallas a 66-64 edge, and Kidd hit a three-pointer to stretch the lead to seven with 1:53 left in the period.

Kidd would connect on another trey that would give the Mavericks a 71-64 lead going into the fourth quarter and then would score his team’s first 11 points of the final period; Mario Chalmers would drive in for a layup to tie the game at 79. Kidd would follow that with another 3, Nowitzki hit two free throws and Haywood put back a miss to give Dallas an 86-79 lead with 2:57 left to go. The Mavericks would seal the win with 9 free throws in the final minute.

Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 28 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block while Kidd added 21 (including three treys) with 5 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 steals and a block; Butler chipped in 20 with 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal while Haywood notched a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards.

Daequan Cook came off the bench to lead all Heat scorers with 22 points (including 3 three-pointers), 4 rebounds and an assist while Jermaine O’Neal added 18 with 13 rebounds, an assist and 2 blocks; Michael Beasley poured in 12 with 3 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal.

Dallas (35-21) plays again on Monday when they host the Indiana Pacers while Miami (29-28) returns home to host the Minnesota Timberwolves Tuesday night.