The Dallas Cowboys may be known as America’s team but that title may now belong to the Dallas Mavericks instead.
The Mavericks executed payback to perfection. Five years after losing NBA Finals Game 6 at home to Miami, the Mavs managed to return the favor.
It was a total team effort for a franchise that has never gotten to stand atop of the NBA world’s throne.
All in all it’s a feel good story for a team that many didn’t expect to see playing into June.
With the victory comes the realization of a dream for many veteran Dallas players, that may not have had another chance to win a title.
“When you do something as crazy as I did you have to back it up.” Jason Terry said.
Give Terry all the credit in the world. He came off the bench to outplay arguably the two best players in the NBA.
Dirk Nowitzki has to be feeling blessed: for on a night when he was ice cold, it was his teammates that managed to pick up the slack.
That was one of the best aspects of the Mavericks, they truly were the epitome of a team. At no point did anyone question if they would unravel. They steered through four series that people questioned if they could win. Not just did they steer through it, they came out shining bigger and brighter than any star in Texas.
Miami shot themselves in the foot in many ways: one of the biggest was when it came to rebounds.
The Mavericks managed to get one board after another allowing them to eat up clock and keep Miami from ever making a legitimate run.
The Heat’s Big Three had solid games on Sunday night. Chris Bosh had 19 points, Dwyane Wade added 17 and LeBron James led the team with 21 points.
That’s good production but it’s not great.
In the end too many turnovers and too much confusion seemed to kill Miami’s chances of pushing the series to a Game 7.
When the Heat most needed one of them to get scorching hot they could only muster to a lukewarm showing.
Make no mistake this could have been a totally different game had Miami just capitalized on their free throw opportunities.
The Heat missed 13 free throws in all. Had they made seven or eight of those we could have had the game unfold and end in the Heat’s favor.
As is a team that couldn’t miss a free throw versus Chicago in the Eastern conference Finals came up short because of one of the most basic aspects of basketball.
One would think that you shouldn’t need any more incentive than to win a title.
Dallas sure didn’t. They knew that the odds would have been stacked against them if they were pushed to a Game 7. Thus they came out and took care of business the same way Miami did in Dallas back in 2006.
All night the Mavs seemed to come up with the loose balls and big rebounds. They forced turnovers and had clutch shooting.
Their defensive hustle managed to contain and at times shut down LeBron James.
The Mavericks showed heart and they now get to bask in the spotlight as NBA champions until next season. Something tells me Miami will be back with vengeance, Heat fans can only hope that Dallas will be there for a shot at redemption.