LeBron James fired in 17 of his 33 points in the third quarter as Miami Heat torched the injury-hit Milwaukee Bucks 118-95 on Tuesday night.
Michael Beasley added 19 off the bench and Mario Chalmers had 15 with eight assists to help Miami move to 5-3 for the season.
The Heat put in extra work at the defensive end the past few days following Saturday's last-second 107-105 home-court stunner to the Boston Celtics.
It appears to be a step in the right direction for the two-time defending NBA champs, who held the Bucks to 42-per-cent field goal shooting and forced 18 turnovers in their most lopsided victory of the young season.
Miami held a 56-45 halftime advantage after leading by as many as 18 in the second quarter before James caught fire in the third.
The four-time league MVP drilled four triples en route to 17 points, as the lead ballooned to 84-62 heading into the final frame and coasted home.
Gary Neal and John Henson scored 18 points apiece to for the 2-4 Bucks, who were without injured starters Larry Sanders, Luke Ridnour, and Ersan Ilyasova.
Dallas' favourite German Dirk Nowitzki tossed in 19 points and passed league icon Jerry West for 16th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list to help the Mavericks drop the visiting Washington Wizards 105-95.
Nowitzki has 25,197 points for his 16-year career and is expected to pass Reggie Miller (25,279) as the 15th leading scorer in league history.
Trevor Ariza had a game-high 27 for Washington, who slip to 2-5 for the year.
Jordan Hill powered for a career-high 21 points with 11 rebounds in his first start of the season, Nick Young netted 17 off the bench as the LA Lakers pounded the visiting New Orleans Pelicans 116-95.
Stephen Curry had 25 points with eight assists, and the Golden State Warriors shot a sizzling 60 per cent in their 113-95 blowout victory over the visiting Detroit Pistons.
Andre Drummond had 16 points and 14 rebounds for Detroit (2-5) which trailed by as many as 29 en route to its fourth straight defeat.
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