Some of the post game celebration of the Dallas Mavericks NBA championship. (Thanks WFAA-TV Dallas, TX)
Celebration inside the American Airlines Center. (Thanks WFAA-TV)
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban appears to have slept with the Larry O'Brien trophy. Cuban tweeted: "this will sound weird. Im laying in bed. with the trophy next me."
The only question ended up being: Are there that many Dallas fans or did everyone just want the Heat to lose after they anointed themselves the greatest team in history last summer?
Answer: It was probably a little of both.
The Dallas Mavericks used balance and team basketball to pull away and beat the Miami Heat Sunday night 105-95 on the Heat's home court in Miami.
The series had mostly been about Dirk Nowitzki vs. Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. The last game ended up being Jason Terry, Dirk and the Dallas team versus a bunch of guys who kind of looked like they gave up.
LeBron had 21, Wade 17 and their under heralded teammates like Mario Chalmers made themselves a factor in the game for Miami, but in the 4th quarter it was all-Dallas. Terry put up a 27 point effort and Dirk finished with 21, despite shooting 9-27 in the game.
Unfortunately, this doesn't make Dallas a juggernaut-multiple title winning team. Quite honestly, winning the title this season was a surprise, even to them. Sadly, this is somewhat of an indictment of the Heat more than a crowning of the Mavericks dynasty.
LeBron James continues to be the greatest NBA player with no title. And there were a lot of people rooting against the Heat because of him. Clearly he and to a lesser extent the other members of the Heat franchise should have kept their mouths shut last summer a decision we hope they all regret now. Yeah, signing James was a coup for the Heat, but we say now what we said last summer. Hold a presser, announce the signing and then shut-up and play basketball.
While having three alleged all-stars on your team is great for box office and having ESPN follow you all season, telling you that you should win the title, you still have to win it on the court and clearly, the Heat as constituted, wasn't ready for that.
Your highlights from SI.com/NBA.com
Your post from ESPNEWS and NBA Entertainment just goes even further to show just how much LeBron has gone completely out-of-touch with the rest of us... Specifically, at the 2:53 mark... ((HT: ebonygentleman79))
Someone, and the HQ means quickly, needs to get in front of The Bron and make sure he knows the proper responses in a situation like that...
We're just going to go back to our lives, now...
And while the HQ thinks he was trying to embrace his inner heel, he needs to go about it this way if he's going to try and go all out... ((HT: NWA/WWE/youtube))
The writers have all but made this the series about LeBron James. It isn't. Is the underachievement of a so-called superstar and his superstar teammates a story? Yes.
But the better story is Dirk Nowitzki and his teammates.
The Dallas Mavericks have continued their playoff roll, beating James and the Miami Heat last night 112-103 to take a 3-2 lead in their best of 7 NBA Finals series.
It really bothers us that the story of the Mavericks is being almost ignored in the face of James and his cohorts. Nowitzki, in our minds has proven how elite and how good a player he is and then some in this series. Last night he again led his team with 29 points, including going 10-10 from the free throw line.
Dwayne Wade again led the Heat with 23 and James did chip in with a "Triple-double" and all of the copy space in almost every story.
We just want to know why? Why, national writers, do you ignore the team winning to talk about the failures of the team losing...over and over and over again? We know "Names" sell, but quite honestly, they aren't the story. The story is the better prepared and better playing team and that team is in Dallas.
Please stop selling the opponents of the Heat short. It isn't always about the Heat's "Superstars" falling short. Basketball, like most sports is a team game and many times the better "Team" will beat the "team" loaded with big stars and big egos.
Just my 2-cents.
Game 6 is Sunday night in Miami.
Here's your highlights. Thanks NBAHighlights/YouTube:
OSG fav Dale Hanson of WFAA-TV in Dallas and Bob Ortegel analyze game 5. (Thanks WFAA-TV)
Post game sound with Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler and Jason Terry on one win away from the title. (Thanks NBC Dallas.com)
Maybe the one is better than the three. Dirk Nowitzki fought off a 101 degree fever and coughing fits to score 21 points and lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 86-83 win against the Miami Heat.
The win evened their best of 7 series at 2 games each.
Dirk wasn't great, but because of his sinus infection, he didn't have to be. His teammates picked him up. Jason Terry had 17 and Shawn Marion went all Matrix for 16 points. All told, 5 Mavs here in double figures.
Meanwhile the mystery that is LeBron James continues. For someone who calls himself "King", he was noticeably absent from this game with 8 points in 46 minutes. Again Dwayne Wade did his best to win the game for Miami, dropping 32 points, but made a couple of late mistakes due in part because Dallas smothered him knowing it would be up to Wade to win the game.
James, is being questioned by more than 1 writer/fan for what is going on with him. After calling himself the "Defensive Stopper", he was barely effective in this game and has taken on a smaller role each game. Granted NBA Basketball these days doesn't have enough room for more than 1 star at a time to take over, James has taken a decided back seat to Wade in this series. The question and possible concern is that he's going to respond to the criticism and try taking back the spotlight, if the Heat want to win, that would be a bad idea.
This is beginning to have the makings of a great series with dramatic finishes.
The Miami Heat were able to hold off the Dallas Mavericks, in Dallas, winning game 3 of their best of 7 series 88-86.
Again, Dwayne Wade was the catalyst for the Heat with 29 points, but it again was the 3rd Beatle, Chris Bosh who ended up with the game winner. Bosh had 18, but continues his struggles from the field, going 7 for 18.
Dirk Nowtizki again was the guy for Dallas with 34, but the vaunted Mavs bench has been less and less a factor as this series goes on. In fact, Dirk really isn't getting much help from anyone during this series. He's arguably kept them in it almost by himself. But Sunday night, he blinked, making a couple of bad decisions late in the game when his team had a chance to win.
Well, who saw this coming? By this we mean the Dallas Mavericks literally stealing game 2 of the NBA Finals from the Miami Heat.
Dallas overcame a 15-point deficit in the 4th quarter and tied the best of 7 series at 1 game apiece. And to say the comeback was a "Stunner" would be understating the meaning of "Stunner". Dirk Nowitzki, bad left finger and all scored 22 of the last 27 points his team scored and reminded those casual observer that the Heat had a tendency all year long of fading down the stretch.
Perhaps the defining moment in this game wasn't even a Mavericks play. It was after Miami's Dwayne Wade had just dropped a 3-pointer from the corner. Wade stood and held the follow through for a long time, as the shot had put the Heat up 88-73.
Dallas wasn't fond of the gesture.
Wade did score 36 for Miami, but none after the 3-pointer. LeBron wasn't a factor despite 28 points, neither was the 3rd Beatle, Chris Bosh. No, this one was the Nowitzki show. Dirk with the fade-away, Dirk passes to an open Jason Kidd, Dirk with the left hand (bad one) finish, Dirk with the driving layup with 3.6 seconds left and all of a sudden...it was over. Advantage Mavs.
Having a couple of days off wasn't necessarily a good thing for the Dallas Mavericks. But it sure didn't slow down the Miami Heat.
The Heat slugged out a somewhat ugly 92-84 victory in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Lebron James had 24 points, Dwayne Wade 22 and Chris Bosh 19 to lead the Heat, who seem like a different team since the return of utility man Udonis Haslem.
It was a tough night for Dallas as star Dirk Nowitzki, despite scoring 27 points going only 7 for 18 from the field. He didn't get much help. Nowitzki also apparently tore a tendon in his left middle finger during the game going for a steal. The injury while annoying, is not expected to keep Dirk from paying in the rest of the series.
Game 2 is Thursday night in Miami.
Your highlights from SI.com:
Dewayne Wade and Lebron James speak. (Thanks CBS Sports.com)
It was over in a "Flash". Okay, not really, but the Miami Heat used a furious late 4th quarter rally to come back and beat the Chicago Bulls 83-80 last night and win their best of 7, Eastern Conference finals series 4 games to 1.
It was LeBron James closing the deal, with help from the other two Beatles, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. James nailed three long jump shots in the last 2 minutes, Wade had 10 4th quarter points and Bosh blocked 4 shots along with scoring 20 points to lead the Heat to the win.
The win sets up a repeat of sorts of the 2006 NBA Finals when the Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks. The same two teams square off again, with the only holdovers being Dirk Nowitzki for Dallas and Wade for Miami.
Game 1 kicks off Tuesday night in Miami.
Here's last nights highlights, courtesy: NBAHiilights:
