Dirk Nowitzki, Jasons Kidd and Mavericks claim NBA championship leaving LeBron James empty-handed this time
Until Sunday night, the star stitched on to the backs of Dallas Mavericks jerseys represented the Lone Star State of Texas from which they hail. Now it has two meanings. With the Mavs defeat of the Miami Heat the NBA Finals, that star also represents Dallas' maiden title triumph.
There will be a temptation to talk about the team that did not win the NBA championship on Sunday. Don't do it. In the years ahead, there will be plenty of time to focus on the "Big Three" players that came together in 2010, the elite core who dominated the headlines, that transformed the Heat into a four letter word that followed other four letter words, at least to fans outside of South Beach.
No, this space is reserved for the Dallas Mavericks, a franchise that entered the league in 1980, once lost 71 games in a single season, and is finally on top of the basketball world. They are winners, capping off their 11th consecutive playoff appearance with that elusive piece of hardware--and they deserve it, because they were the better team, a complete team, unlike their opponents.
Those who labeled the Mavs as underdogs in this series were misguided.
Dallas is a team full of all-stars, who have their own big three in Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry - but it doesn't stop there.
They also had Shawn Marion, Tyson Chandler, Jose Juan Berea and more-serviceable backups are abound, this despite losing their second best player Caron Butler to injury earlier in the season.
Yes, the Dallas Mavericks are a deep, talented club that swept the Los Angeles Lakers en-route to the Finals, and put a team on the floor which Miami could not answer.
Consider that Terry, a guard who comes off the bench for Dallas, scored 27 points on Sunday, allowing the Mavericks to take a lead into half time, on a night when Nowitzki, their all-world German forward, scored just three first-half points. Miami's top bench scorer was Udonis Haslem, who scored 11 points.
Then there is Jason Kidd, who at 38 became the oldest point guard to start in the NBA Finals. Kidd, one of the greatest point men of all time, surprised Miami with his ability slow down the Heat elite, who had targeted him as the weak defensive link. Kidd's offensive play however surprised no one, and on Sunday, his trademark distribution of the basketball yielded eight assists in addition to a pair of timely three pointers.
Now Kidd, who began his career in Dallas over 15 years ago, during much leaner times for the franchise, finally has a ring, as does his teammate, Dirk Nowitzki.
The question with Nowitzki is how do you stop a seven foot forward who runs the floor beautifully and can shoot over anyone from just about anywhere? The answer of course is you don't, and Nowitzki, who rather incredibly is actually the third German to play for the Mavericks (fourth if you count Shawn Bradley), took home the NBA Finals MVP award, completing a dominating playoff performance with ten points in the fourth quarter of Game Six, quashing any chances of a Miami comeback and a decisive seventh game.
The credit extends beyond the players as well. Mark Cuban, the poster child for owners who behave like fans, has always done whatever it takes to help his Dallas team win a championship, and that includes encouraging his management team to go after players such as Tyson Chandler, the big man they acquired last summer, whose interior defense helped clog the paint, and was a big part of the Mavs success.
The head coach, Rick Carlisle, did an exceptional job of keeping a younger and more athletic Miami team from running with the basketball, dragging them into a half court game which played against the Heat's strengths. Carlisle now has a championship ring as a coach to go along with one he won with the Boston Celtics as a player, which puts him in some pretty classy company.
Can Dallas come back next season and do it again? It's unlikely ? they are an older, more fragile team, that had to win now and did. We saw what happened to aging teams such as the San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers in these playoffs. Fresher franchises such as the Oklahoma City Thunder are emerging and change is in the NBA air. Never-mind that Miami, and those players who shall remain nameless, this one time, will be staking their claim to the title for many years to come.
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