The 2011 Mavericks have one of the greatest Championship story ever
2011 was the year of the Heat, they assembled one of the best big threes of this era and had arguably the best player in the league this time in LeBron James. As most people expected they made the Finals and to most peoples surprise were actually playing the Dallas Mavericks, not the Spurs or Lakers, the Mavericks. Then after shocking them once, they did it again, upsetting the big three in 6 games. The saddest part about this is when people talk about the Mavericks beating the Heat it’s always part of the Heat’s story, not the Mavericks. People have almost started to talk about it like the Mavericks were expected to win this series, which if I haven’t made it clear enough already, they weren’t even expected to make it to the Finals. This Mavericks championship should be part of their story and not the Heat’s, because the backstory of this Finals is fascinating.
In 2006 the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks matched up in the NBA Finals and the Mavericks went up 2 games to start the series, and by the absolute luck of the basketball gods, Dirk Nowitzki missed 2 free throws in last seconds of game three and the Mavericks ended up losing that game as well as the series. After that they didn’t make it back to the Finals for a couple of years, even winning 67 games in 2007 and losing in the first round to a sub-par Warriors team. This team was a very successful regular season but never could seem to get it done in the Playoffs, just like the modern day Clippers. That’s why when they were on fire in 2011, nobody took them serious. Keep in mind despite this hot streak, things got even worse for them with their second highest scorer Caron Butler got injured, which even made people doubt them even more. In the Western Conference Semi-Finals, they started off losing Game 1 and most people thought this was gonna be an easy sweep for the Lakers, then Dirk led them back and they ended winning Game 1 and sweeping the champion Lakers. They almost lost game 4 in the Conference Finals which would have tied the series and gave OKC the momentum, but Dirk led them back and won game 4 and once again the series. Then came the Finals, which still after all they did, people doubted them. Dallas beat them in 6 and capped off one of the best playoff runs of all time with a well-deserved Championship Trophy.
The Dallas Mavericks have one of the greatest playoff runs and playoffs stories, but is not only underrated but underappreciated.
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