DALLAS -- LeBron James drove for an emphatic dunk during a decisive fourth-quarter run and went skipping to the bench after a Dallas timeout. Detroit Tigers Shirts . The Miami star has sure had fun against his old nemesis this season. James scored a season-high 42 points and the Heat tuned up for a showdown with Oklahoma City by beating the Mavericks 117-106 Tuesday night. The 10-time All-Star was nearly impossible to stop in the first game after the break, topping his previous season high of 39 points in a win over Dallas in Miami in November. This victory completed Miamis third straight season sweep of the Mavericks -- six consecutive wins -- since losing to them in the 2011 NBA Finals, James first season after his celebrated signing with the Heat. "He is great and we know he is great," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "He scored a bundle of points on us last time and he was even better tonight." James scored the first eight points and 10 overall in a 14-0 run that put the Heat up 106-95 after they trailed by one entering the fourth quarter. Miami came out of the All-Star break by winning for the sixth time in seven games heading into James duel with Kevin Durant on Thursday night in Oklahoma City. Its the last game of the Heats second six-game road trip, a season high. "Im still tired," said James, who had 22 points in 33 minutes in Sundays All-Star game. "But when Im on the court, Ive got to try to make things happen." Dirk Nowitzki had 22 points to lead the Mavericks, who couldnt follow up a win at Indiana, the other top team in the Eastern Conference, in their final game before the break. The deciding run started when James, who also had nine rebounds and six assists, stole a pass from Shawn Marion in the backcourt and pulled up for a tying 3-pointer. After hitting another 3 over Marion to put Miami ahead for good, James drove for a dunk following Mario Chalmers steal of a pass from Devin Harris. James made four of eight from long range after getting warmed up with a couple of dunks in the first quarter. "When we turned it over, he was gone," Marion said. "After his fourth open-court dunk, the basket started feeling a little bit bigger for him. He just started taking pull-up 3s." The Mavericks, who are in a tight battle with four teams for the final three playoff spots in the West, went without a field goal for 6 minutes after a four-point play by Vince Carter, who scored 15. Dallas missed seven shots and had three turnovers while Miami pulled away. "We played hard the whole night," Carlisle said. "We tried to keep it going and get some traction, but we had some untimely struggles. Lets put it that way." Chris Bosh scored 22 for Miami and Dwyane Wade had 13 after missing the final two games before the break with a foot problem. Chris Andersen scored a season-high 18, including his second 3-pointer of the season for Miamis final points. Chalmers had 10 points and nine assists for the Heat. "When Bird is playing like that, we are so much more of a dynamic team," Wade said of Andersen. "When Bron is driving, he can see over the defence and he can find Bird for a lot of those lobs." James scored 19 points in an entertaining first half that included an alley-oop dunk on a pass from near midcourt by Wade, a breakaway slam and the buzz of anticipation for another alley-oop that instead was a simple layup from Chalmers when Monta Ellis, the lone defender, chose to guard James. Early on, the Mavericks looked primed for the only visit of the season from the two-time defending champions. Nowitzki was on pace for a triple-double in the first half with nine points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Harris found Brandan Wright with a fancy pass for a running dunk that was thrown straight down, barely making a ripple in the net. Nowitzki finished with nine rebounds and seven assists. NOTES: Fans about 10 rows from the court were briefly distracted from the entertaining first half when two men were led out of the arena in handcuffs after an apparent fight early in the second quarter. ... The crowd included four of the Dallas Cowboys biggest stars: QB Tony Romo, TE Jason Witten, WR Dez Bryant and RB DeMarco Murray. Stitched Tigers Jerseys . Players suspended during the season for a performance-enhancing drug violation will not be eligible for that years post-season. In addition, discipline will increase from 50 games to 80 for a first testing violation and from 100 games to a season-long 162 for a second. A third violation remains a lifetime ban. Detroit Tigers Store . You can watch the game on TSN at 7pm et/4pm pt and listen to the game on TSN Radio 690 in Montreal. After starting the month of November on an 0-3-1 slide, the Canadiens have recorded wins in three of their last five outings (3-1-1). https://www.cheaptigers.com/ . In a matchup of teams battling head-to-head for the final playoff spot in Major League Soccers Western Conference, the Whitecaps run to the post-season took a hard hit when FC Dallas blew open a tie game with two goals in the final minutes for a 3-1 victory Saturday night.Leicester Citys Jamie Vardy has been banned from shooting drills during training sessions by manager Claudio Ranieri. Vardys goals have been crucial to Leicesters remarkable title push this season and he took his tally for the campaign to 21 with two second-half strikes in the victory over Sunderland last weekend.According to the England striker his manager will not allow him to participate in shooting drills as a precautionary measure to keep him fresh for the Premier League run-in. I dont really get the chance to practice that much on my finishing because we have our shooting drills early in the week when the gaffers wanting me to rest my legs, he said.So normally, when theres a bit of shooting, the gaffer tells me to go inside. Ill keep doing that if it means Im saving my legs - and goals - for games. Team spirit is key at Leicester, according to Vardy Ranieris side have embraced their role leading the pack and Vardy credits thee spirit in the squad as a key component to their success. Detroit Tigers Gear. Foxes tickets ￡15k a pair Re-sale ticket prices soaring for Leicesters final home game We are always laughing. Its the same group of characters we had at the start of the season and to be honest with you thats the good thing about us. Its a squad and we are tight knit, he added. Thats how we have been from day one. Were only looking ahead to the next game. Next week. Thats all we have done all season, one game at a time.Leicester have won their last five games and will be hoping to extend that streak when they host top-four hopefuls West Ham at the King Power Stadium on Sunday, live on Sky Sports. Also See: Who could Leicester draw? Leicester tickets ￡15k a pair Are Leicester getting lucky? Foxes still have work to do ' ' '