"That victory the Miami Heat were looking for last June in Dallas? They found it Sunday.

That additional element to make the game easier? They apparently have found that, as well.

Doing to the Dallas Mavericks' championship celebration what the Mavericks did to their 2011 championship hopes, the Heat got the best of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to roll to a 105-94 season-opening Christmas Day rout Sunday at American Airlines Center.

"It was a good, business, professional win for us tonight to get this thing started," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We understand this is going to be a wild journey."

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In a game played at a decidedly non-playoff pace, the Heat raced to a 28-6 edge in fastbreak points at one stage, pushed their lead to 35 by the opening minutes of the third quarter, and made just about every Maverick but Dirk Nowitzki disappear until the game was out of reach.

"We tried to play aggressive," James said. "We're an aggressive team. I put as much pressure on the defense as I can."

A too-little-too-late rally allowed Dallas to make it respectable late, but by then the Heat likely had turned their focus to Tuesday's home opener at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Boston Celtics.

James led the Heat with 37 points, adding 10 rebounds and six assists. Wade scored 26, with eight rebounds and six assists. James' 37 were the most by a Heat player in a season opener.

No, these were not the same Mavericks who overcame a 2-1 series deficit to vanquish the Heat in six games in the 2011 NBA Finals. Gone were Tyson Chandler and his rebounding and shot-blocking deterrence, J.J. Barea and his chaos-creating speed and DeShawn Stevenson and his big-talk defense against James.

The replacements? Well, put it this way, Vince Carter started at shooting guard for the Mavericks and then watched the start of the second half from the bench, while Lamar Odom was ejected for a pair of technical fouls with 5:06 to play in the third quarter for arguing a foul call, closing with four points on 1-of-6 shooting and four rebounds in his Dallas debut."