DALLAS _ The acquisition of Nerlens Noel might not be the first trade Mark Cuban has consummated from outside of America, but it's certainly the most impactful.
Cuban was in England on the day of the NBA trade deadline for an appearance and the Mavericks pulled the trigger on deal that brought in Nerlens Noel. And so far, you can make the argument he should leave the country for every trade deadline.
The Mavericks improved to 2-0 with Noel in uniform with a 96-89 victory over Miami on Monday night. The Heat had won 16 of their previous 18 games, but the Mavericks rode the hot shooting of Harrison Barnes and Seth Curry, plus strong overall play from Dirk Nowitzki.
Curry had a game-best 29 points, the second time in three games since the All-Star break he's unleashed a huge offensive night. Barnes had 24 points and Nowitzki had 12 rebounds to go with eight points.
And Noel had his moments, too.
In the third quarter, when the Mavericks pushed the lead to double figures, he had a lob-dunk on a perfect pass from Wesley Matthews. He also had a highlight-reel block on Hassan Whiteside, the Heat's center for whom the Mavericks made a free-agent play last summer. He had a typically monster game, but the Mavericks' tag team of Noel, Nowitzki and Salah Mejri were competitive.
The Mavericks had led 78-67 late in the third quarter, but the Heat had a five-point advantage after Goran Dragic's 3-pointer with 4:30 left.
The Mavericks scratched back behind Curry, who scored six consecutive points to put the Mavericks in front 90-89 with 1:50 to go. Dragic then turned over the ball and the Mavericks had a chance to pad the lead. They went to Curry, who found Harrison Barnes on an isolation against Tyler Johnson, who fouled Barnes. The shots made it 92-89 with 1:16 left.
The Mavericks forced missed shots by Dion Waiters and James Johnson that could have tied the game and Matthews canned two free throws with 24.3 left to make it 94-89.
And so, the Mavericks stayed undefeated since unveiling Noel as their sixth man.
His arrival also appears to have energized other Mavericks. Dorian Finney Smith has had his two best games in weeks with Noel playing a lot of minutes alongside him.
And it's also re-energized the owner. Before the game, Cuban weighed in on what he's seen from Noel and his thoughts on the thought process behind the trade.
Asked if it was a trade to set up the post-Dirk era, Cuban said: "Well, when Dirk was 25 or 30, the future is defined differently than now. Was it the first move we made that was geared towards post-Dirk? Yes."
Of course, Cuban has seen nothing to make him think it wasn't the right thing to do. And he sees even better days ahead.
"You know coach, he's always going to work to try to add things to guys' games," Cuban said. "I think looking at shot distribution, that 15-footer, that elbow-type jumper, I think he's shooting like 45 percent, which is not bad at all."
Against the Heat, Noel was considerably closer to the rim. His second alley-oop dunk, this one from Devin Harris, helped temporarily slow a Miami ralley, but when former Maverick Wayne Ellington hit a 3-pointer on the next possession, then Dion Waiters hit one after a timeout, the Heat were up 86-84 with under six minutes left.
