Luol Deng scores season-high as the Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks

Deng scored 30 points in the 105-96 win

(NBAE/Getty Images)

Replacing LeBron James was never going to be easy, but British basketball star Luol Deng is staring to do a pretty good job of it for the Miami Heat.

The Heat, last year's losing finalists, lost the NBA's biggest star in the off-season and it fell to the former Chicago Bull to take his place in Florida.

Miami's other stars, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, have taken on bigger roles this season and the Heat have started this brilliantly winning five of their first seven games to lead the NBA's Eastern Conference.

After an inconsistent start to the season Deng scored 30 points as the Heat beat a good Dallas Mavericks team 105-96 on Sunday night.

“We still have a lot to figure out, their game plan today, they doubled Bosh and D-Wade, and we did a good job of moving the ball and had a lot of open jumpers,” said Deng.

Wade, who also added a game-high 10 assists said: "this was a very, very good win - our best win of the year so far. It was a challenge to play six games in nine nights.”

Deng is now averaging 15 points, 2 assists, a block and three rebounds per game so far this season, while knocking in 55.7 per cent of his shots - that would be a career high if he were to continue at that pace.

His minutes are down over previous seasons and coach Erik Spoelstra said before the game that the Heat were still trying to find a way for Deng to fit in.

But it seems that they found a way on Sunday.

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