Dallas Mavericks win 2011 NBA Championship

Today is Dallas' day in the sun.

I could write page after page on why the Heat lost or why they did not deserve this title, but that is a story for another day.

With one final swish, the Dallas Mavericks did what everyone wanted them to do. They scored those final two points to seal a 105-95 Game 6 victory over the Miami Heat that gave them their first-ever NBA Championship, winning the deciding best-of-seven series 4 games to 2.

There hardly was a team that deserved this Title more than the Mavericks. Written off time and time again at every stage of the Playoffs and for every reason imaginable, they came up with the minor upset and finally collected the one missing piece of jewelry from 11 consecutive Playoff appearances.

The Heat came into this game on the back of a tidal wave of question marks. Could their best player, Lebron James, ind his 4th-quarter form? (averaging just 2 points per 4th Q), Did Dwyane Wade have enough in the tank to get his team two more wins. Dallas came in on the back of 2 moral boosting victories in Games 4 & 5. To say Dallas were the better team by far would be a lie. This series had 4 games decided by 4 points or less. The other two, both won by Dallas by 9 and 12 points respectively, were close for 46 minutes before being blown open late.

The Mavericks proved that Miami's strategy of getting 3 superstars is not the only way to build a title-winning outfit. Built around perennial All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavs assembled a supporting cast that complemented the playing style of the German giant. With Jason Kidd at 38 years old running Point Guard dishing out the toughest off passes, Shawn Marion bringing down several key rebounds in every single game of the series. Jason Terry was my difference maker in these Finals, he had 27 points off the bench in Game 6 to lead all scorers in the final duel. Tyson Chandler played one of his best games as a Maverick at Center, fighting for every single rebound and lost cause, he had back-to-back offensive rebounds late in the final period that effectively sent the title to the Texan team.

But special mention must go to the winner of the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award. Dirk Nowitzki. The Dallas forward, constantly belittled due to his lack of a championship ring, can see his critics silenced forever. Several times in this series he pulled off the impossible, sparking and finishing several Maverick comebacks in each series of the Playoffs. On Sunday night, with a 1-10 first quarter and a 1-13 first half for a measly 3 points, it looked like the game could head for a decisive seventh game as the Mavs' main closer was not firing on all cylinders. 11 points in three quarters were all he managed.

Then the 4th quarter began and the switch was flipped. Nowitzki scored 10 in the final period as James and Wade combined for just 11. Two of the best players in the league, failing to deliver on their promise of a title.

In those final few minutes when it became clear that Miami were on the ropes, they transformed back into the team that started 9-8 and lost 5 straight. The players looked lost, out of sync on both ends of the court and all trying to do their own thing. When they should have been driving to the basket to get either a lay-up or at least 2 free-throws (the Mavericks were over the 4-foul per quarter limit), they shot contested, unbalanced three-pointers with 20 seconds left on the shot-clock.

The presentation of the famous Larry O'Brien trophy to the winning team was made more sentimental than celebratory this year as current Mavs owner Mark Cuban invited the original owner Don Carter and his wife to lift the trophy, ending the chase that for Carter, started with a $10 million dream in 1980. Dallas has had to endure the best and worst of times as a sports city. The Mavs posted a franchise-worst 11-71 record in 1993, followed up with a 13-69 the following season. When Mark Cuban rolled up and began pumping money in, many objected. But the nature of the players on this team - hard-working, honest and easy to like - made it easy to root for them to get the championship their investment and owner deserved.

Here's to Dallas.

NBA Finals Special: Dallas and Miami level at 2-2

Dirk Nowitzki, with a sky-high temperature thanks to a raging fever, turned to face the basket with 18 seconds to play, the game tied. He drove to the right, flipped the ball up right-handed and watched it roll in off the backboard. 14.4 seconds later, the Dallas Mavericks had come from 9 points behind late in the 4th quarter to pull level in their NBA Finals showdown with the Miami Heat.

Where did he go? Lebron James' disappointing
performance costs Miami vital win.

While Nowitzki's heroics and the Mavericks second comeback in 3 games will grab many headlines, the real story behind the Mavs' win (and the Heat's loss) is the disappearance of Lebron James.

8 points. In 89 Playoff games, Lebron has not scored as few points as he did in last night's game. It's been 434 matches since he had such a poor performance. In games that Lebron scores 15 or less, his teams have gone 0-8. He had just 4 points in the first half and attempted 1 shot in the 4th quarter, previously known as Lebron James' personal scoring time. It's harsh to pin this loss on James, Miami had 7 fourth-quarter turnovers after having 0 in the third. Wade committed a cardinal sin in fumbling the inbounds pass on the final possession of the game. What James did wrong, however, was allowed his poor offense to affect his normally stellar defense. He appeared lazy and dare I say it, uninterested. Effectively reducing the Heat to a beatable team.

What can be said for certain is that Lebron will come back big time in Game 5 on Thursday night. He's too good a player to let a game like this go unanswered. What makes the difference in this case is that Dallas have game-planned for James, their defense has played him as good as any in the league this year, allowing him just 9 points in the three 4th quarters before Tuesday night. It comes down to his will. We've seen him simply drag the Heat to wins, most recently in the Chicago series where Wade took the back seat. The flip side of James is seen in his games for the Cavaliers against Boston, the famous LeQuit game which turned out to be his final game for Cleveland.

At 2-2, the schedule favors the Heat with 2 of the next 3 in Miami. However, the momentum lies 100% in the hands of the Mavericks. Their offense was in-sync, their defense rivaled Miami's and their bench finally showed up and it was evident. The Heat did not play exceptionally bad through 3 quarters. Very few turnovers, average shooting and very good offensive rebounds. They were even leading by 4 going into the 4th quarter. It was those 7 turnovers and 14 points that killed their chances of taking a commanding lead.

Now, they must return to Dallas again on Thursday night, battle the momentum and pray that the leagues-best-player version of Lebron James shows face on the court.

The keys to a still-young series.

The Chicago Bulls lead the Miami Heat 1-0 in their Eastern Conference Finals match-up.

A lot of experts and pundits alike picked the Heat to win this series and seemed to be writing off the Bulls' chances before the opening tip. Now, these same people are having to revise their opinions quite drastically after Chicago dished out a 21-point battering on a flat-looking Heat squad.

The Bulls certainly played their best ball of this post-season following on from a high performance in Game 6 of the previous series. However, they won't play quite as well again in this series one would expect as the Bulls' bench brought Chicago an incredible advantage for Game 1.

You could also expect that Lebron James and Dwyane Wade will not combine for only 33 points again in this series, they will both go on to have a huge game themselves that could provide the scoring needed to overcome a smothering Bulls' defense. It's not even like Miami shot poorly (47%), even shooting better than the home team's 43%. It was the rebounding that killed the Heat in this one. Out-rebounded 45-33 in the game, 19-6 on the offensive end. Though rebounding was a major issue for the Heat in the season-series between this pair: 131-99 Bulls in 3 games.

Keys to the Series:

Miami:
1. Limit the Bulls rebounding. Rebounding was the killer in this game and it has been all season against Chicago. Their rebounders need to do a better job of getting themselves between the ball and Bulls' players crashing the boards. Easier said than done, but the Heat went small in Game 1 as Ilgauskas and Dampier weren't even in uniform. Expect at least one of them to be activated for Wednesday night.

2. Get into the paint. Chicago also did a good little number on Wade and James as they struggled to get into the lane for easy points and had to settle for contested jump-shots. Bosh was left alone by his defender and Miami did do a good job of finding him inside.


3. Move the ball. Wade and Lebron tend to play a lot of isolated, 1-vs-1 plays that rely on themselves only. This plays right into the hands of a Bulls defense built on stopping this sort of play. Miami had very few assists and this contributed to their downfall. If they can move the ball more they can move the Bulls out of that defensive shell around the paint, opening up space for Lebron and Wade to get into the paint.

Chicago:
1. Limit Turnovers/fast-break points. If the Bulls hadn't committed 8 first-half turnovers, this game would have been a non-contest at half time. The Heat's offense is unstoppable in the open court, they scored their first 4 points on fast-break dunks that looked to set the tone for a long night for Bulls' fans.


2. If you're name is Rose, get to the rim. Derrick Rose took a lot more jump shots than viewers are used to seeing. He needs to do a better job of getting into the paint. When he gets into the paint, the defense collapses around him and this opens up the outside shooters the Bulls have enough of to be dangerous. Another plus of this defensive collapse is that the Bulls can crash the boards so much easier. Rose also attempted just 6 free-throws although this was a game-high. (Wade and James had 4 each).


3. Get more from Boozer. Boozer may have had a good game on first viewing. 14 points though is not his real level. Luol Deng won't be going off for 21 points every game so Boozer's offense becomes that much more important especially considering the Chicago bench won't be scoring just as much again either.

I still stick by my prediction of the Bulls in 7 as the Heat have enough talent to win at least their home games. I think the Bulls team-oriented style will beat the Heat's individual-oriented style: when James and Wade don't get their points the Heat have very few alternatives to ask to make up the difference.