The Miami Heat lost their first title bid in the Big 3 era, although they shouldn’t have. If you think that though, Shawn Marion says you’re “full of s—“.
The Miami Heat have won quite a bit over the last decade or so, but they should have won more. The Miami Heat Big 3 era is an era that started in infamy, see the pep rally, but at its conclusion had seen the Heat not only win two titles but go on a dynastic run in betwixt.
Again though, that Miami Heat team should have won at least three titles and perhaps even all four during that era. The San Antonio series in the last go-around is the one that they rightfully should have lost.
They had endured a ton of battles against each other in that four-year stretch, while the Heat had also beat the Spurs that previous year in the NBA Finals. It not only seemed like fate for the Spurs but rightfully so and understandable.
Gregg Popovic is one of the best coaches, who had a legendary roster at the time on its last leg, with a Tim Duncan on his last leg, and they had seen the Heat so much that they just knew what they were facing before getting into it. Them winning that last series was almost poetic and although I didn’t like it, it seemed only right.
Now, that means that that first year’s Finals series against the Dallas Mavericks was a fluke to me. They should have beaten the Mavericks that year and there is nothing that can make me believe otherwise.
There is opposition from the other side of that to this sentiment though. Here is what The Matrix, Shawn Marion, had to say on the subject. Mike Fisher brought us these tidbits from the former Miami Heat man himself that was apart of that Dallas Mavericks championship team, via a piece from Fisher in Sports Illustrated.
"“Everybody that picked Miami to win it before it started, we was laughing,” Marion says. “We thought y’all was full of sh–, to be honest with you.”"
That was short but sweet, and also as direct as it gets. He wasn’t finished though. Here is what else he had to say.
"“We was one of the three or four teams at the time, that going into the season, legitimately had a chance to win a championship,” ‘Trix says. “If you didn’t see that, I don’t know what the hell you was looking at. I guess you wasn’t looking at the TV.”"
Well, we were indeed looking at the television. That doesn’t mean that we liked what we saw though or agree with Marion here.
Let’s not kid ourselves, they won that title, fair and square but they shouldn’t have. If they had been facing either of the following three years’ Miami Heat teams, or any LeBron James led team to follow that to be extremely clear, they would have lost that series.
That was LeBron’s first year in Miami and he honestly still seemed to have a bit of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ tentativeness with him. Those letdowns and bad moments that he had fallen into at the beginning of his career. Had he been as aggressive and as fully tapped into the full reach of his powers then, as he was in the immediate next season, the series wouldn’t have been close.
Now, there are those that will make the case that the Dallas series helped him become who he eventually became in Miami and while I would make that same argument being on the other side, it probably would have happened regardless. So, again, no Mr. Marion, you may be the one full of it. As championship-winning former Miami Heat assistant coach David Fizdale would say, “take that for data”!