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As the Mavericks raised their Championship banner on Christmas, the Miami Heat were getting ready to play basketball. It showed. The Heat blew the Mavericks out from the start. Their lead ballooning to 35 points, the Heat looked like a team ready to make a title run this season while the Mavs looked like they were still celebrating last year’s. The final score of 105-94 was very misleading. Lebron James led the Heat with 37 points and Dwayne Wade added another 26 as the Heat looked like a team on a mission.

Dallas was led by Jason Terry with 23 points and Dirk Nowitski with 21. “We tried to play aggressive,” James said. “We’re a focused team. We had a great training camp. We came in with the same mindset we had at practice, use our speed and play with mental focus.”

“Celebration or not, we had a game plan and implemented it,” Wade said. “We came out and played a good game.”

Dallas has made several changes to the roster which also could have contributed to the lax performance. Gone are Tyson Chandler and J.J. Barea. Vince Carter, Lamar Odom and Delonte West. “We’re going to have to forge an identity with this team; it’s a different team,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. “That’s work, and it’s going to take honesty, and it’s not going to be easy.”

“We’ve got to get better and it will take a little time to get better,” Odom said. Dallas can hardly be blamed for being distracted by the pomp and circumstance of the first game since their World Championship. Their fans have been waiting 31 years for this day and the game was barely more than an afterthought. Perhaps now that it is over, the Mavs can get back to the business of basketball.

The Heat looks to be in mid-season form. “It was showtime,” said Heat point guard Mario Chalmers, who had the initial pass to James. “That comes from playing a whole season together last year and working out during the off-season with each other.”

The Heat will be hosting the Celtics in their home opener on Tuesday night. After that, they have games at Charlotte and Minnesota and back home against Charlotte. A win over Boston and the Heat could be looking at a 5-0 start. If Lebron keeps playing the way he did on opening day, Miami will be the favorites to win the Championship this year.