DALLAS — Even after Monday night’s 3-for-all against the Los Angeles Clippers, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra knew the 3-pointers were going to be harder to come by on Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks.

So, no, there was no easy button in this one, at least for the visiting team, nothing like Monday’s 24 of 46 from beyond the arc.

Instead, for the second time in a week against the Mavericks, 3-pointers and points in general were hard to come by for the Heat, this time resulting in a 118-108 loss at American Airlines Center.

Last week, in defeating the Mavericks at Kaseya Center, the Heat found a way despite closing 5 of 27 on 3-pointers.

This time, it was 11 of 37 from beyond the arc, not enough to offset Dallas’ 16 of 32.

“I felt like it was an opportunity that slipped for us to be able to have that gratification of winning a game where we weren’t making shots,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We made a good comeback there at the end. But through three quarters, there was more discouragement from our missed shots that was affecting our concentration level and resolve defensively.”

And so one game after 140 points against the Clippers, again forced to play in the mud against the Mavericks, with little in the way of offense beyond 22 points from Kel’el Ware, 21 from Bam Adebayo and 20 from Tyler Herro, all in the first half. Ware also had 10 rebounds.

The Mavericks this time had Anthony Davis back after he was out last week with a calf strain. He closed with 17 points and 17 rebounds. Mavericks rookie guard Ruben Nembhard, who began his emergence last week against the Heat, added 15 points and 13 assists.

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday night’s game:

1. Game flow: The Heat led 33-28 after the first quarter, with Herro scoring 12 in the period.

Both teams went for extended stretches with zone defense, with the difference being the Mavericks converting their 3-point attempts, putting them up 64-54 at halftime.

Then, when the Mavericks pushed their lead to 17 in the third quarter, it was their largest lead of the season to that stage, with Dallas taking a 93-80 lead into the fourth.

Through it all, the Heat moved within seven midway through the fourth quarter, sparked by backup point guard Dru Smith.

“I think when we went in there in the second half, that second unit, we were just trying to cut into that lead however we could,” Smith said. “Every time out we’re talking about get it to 10, maybe get it to six.”

A driving Adebayo layup later brought the Heat within 110-106 with 2:54 to play, but that’s when the rally stalled.

“We had several breakdowns and then you could feel our lack of resolve from the discouragement of missing shots,” Spoelstra said. “Yeah, we had a rough night shooting the basketball, but that’s going to happen in this league. And you still have opportunities to find a way to win and I think that was an opportunity that was missed. It would have been a really gratifying win to find a way to get the job done.”

2. Herro early: With Powell out and with Andrew Wiggins limited to a 1-of-7 start, the keys to the offense were handed to Herro, who offered an effective  balance of floaters and 3-pointers in the first half, on the way to 20 points over the first two periods.

With that effort, Herro extended his career-best streak of games with at least 20 points to 15, dating to last season. Herro’s previous longest such steak was seven.

Herro shot 8 of 12 in the first half, with the balance of the Heat 11 of 41. The problem was after a 20-point first half, Herro did not score again.

“They were in the zone a lot, so you have to have the right execution a lot of times,” Spoelstra said. “There was a segment where they finally went back to man. I probably could have done a better job getting the group organized to get him some space and places where he could operate.”

Since returning from September ankle surgery, Herro has scored 24, 29, 24, 22 and then Wednesday night’s 20.

But there was a tangible air of disappointment afterward in not getting more second-half touches.

“I didn’t really have the ball in the second half,” Herro said. “It just didn’t find me. It’s all good.”

Adebayo acknowledged as much, as well.

“We understand the kid can go get a bucket at any time,” he said of Herro. “Just understand that.”

3. Rotation revision: With Powell held out, the Heat not only got Pelle Larsson back after he was sidelined for the second half on Monday night by a foot sprain, but Larsson was in the starting lineup. It was Larsson’s 16th start of the season.

It was the fifth absence of the season for Powell, who missed four previous games with groin strains.

“He’s not quite ready to play,” Spoelstra said, “so we think more treatment will be more helpful.”

The starting lineup was rounded out by Herro, Wiggins, Adebayo and Davion Mitchell, which kept Ware in reserve.

As for the remainder of the rotation, Spoelstra primarily went with a bench unit of Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Simone Fontecchio and Smith.

Ware then played as a closer in place of Larsson.

“He did some good things,” Spoelstra said of Ware, “so we’ll focus on that and then we’ll continue to develop him on all those finer details.”

4. But then . . .: Held out three games ago and then limited to one minute of mop-up duty on Monday night, Nikola Jovic got a chance to play as 10th man, as the Heat offense sputtered beyond Herro.

Jovic entered for the first time with 6:07 left in the second period and played the balance of the half, going scoreless.

He did not return in the second half, as his tumble from the rotation continues.

5. Orlando squared: Up next is the first of two games in Orlando over a five-day span.

Friday night’s game at Kia Center will be a mundane regular-season game, with Tuesday night’s game an NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup, for the right to advance to Las Vegas for the semifinals of the in-season tournament. (Both of the matchups will count toward the regular-season standings.)

“That’s what you look forward to in this league,” Adebayo said of the matchups against the Magic. “You look forward to the competition and the high stakes.”

The Heat lost their season opener in Orlando 125-121 on Oct. 22, with the upcoming matchups giving the Heat three games in Orlando by Dec. 9.