Dallas Mavericks - A Championship Team

Fans from Dallas to Cleveland are rejoicing tonight as the Mavericks beat the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.  The Mavs won the NBA Finals by taking their talents to South Beach and running by the Heat with a "leave-little-doubt" performance in front of Miami's home crowd with fantastic play from Jason Terry (27 points) and J.J. Barea (15 points, 5 assists).  Dirk Nowitzki clinched the first championship for the Mavericks by scoring 10 of his 21 points in the 4th Quarter despite only shooting 9-27 from the field throughout the game.  Each of these Mavericks were significant contributors throughout the season, but I felt the game (and the series) turned when players such as the seldom-used Brian "The Custodian" Cardinal entered the game.  In Game 6, Cardinal played 12 valuable minutes, exhibited tough defense, and hit a key 3-point shot.

"The Custodian" was a small but significant reason why the
Mavericks are the 2011 NBA champs.

More importantly, during Cardinal's 12 minutes the Mavericks outscored the Heat by 18 points!  That was a huge component of the win for the Mavericks because a lot of those minutes were spent with Dirk Nowitzki on the bench.  And that's exactly why the Mavericks won the NBA Championship...as I wrote about here, sure the Mavs won because no one could guard the German, sure the Mavs won because LeBron and Bosh were outplayed by the Mav players who had never won a championship before (Nowitzki, Kidd, Terry, Marion, etc.), and of course, because the 4th Quarter was dominated by the Mavericks throughout the series, but the Mavs are the champions because their "team" beat the 3-headed monster/musketeers/stooges of the Miami Heat.

There will be a lot of second-guessing, criticizing, and overall hating on the Heat this offseason, and there may be many NBA championships in their future, but at least this year Jason Terry will have to cancel that tattoo-removal appointment I (and others) scheduled for him at the beginning of these Finals. 

It was one of the best NBA Finals in recent memory and the Mavericks are truly deserving to be called the Champions.