The Miami Heat Rewards Program For Valued Fans

In financial circles, the Miami Heat making the NBA Finals is what could be considered a solid return on investment. When the team was cobbled together, an appearance in the NBA Finals seemed like its destiny. Then we saw them play and there appeared to be a chance that they might not even make past the first round of the playoffs. We bought into the Celtics, the Magic, the Bulls. (And by ‘we’ I mean ‘me’ and maybe you, too.)

Yet the NBA Finals, which begin tonight with the Dallas Mavericks looking to pull a “not so fast” on the Miami Heat, feature as much a “team of destiny” angle as has ever existed in the NBA: the league’s one true villain on its final stage, trying to stick its finger in the eye of naysayers; LeBron James, that paper-mâché Jordan (as everyone other than Kobe truly is), lugging his infamous baggage along on the road to immortality. The original storyline, drawn up by pundits back in October, would have had James tangling with Bryant tonight. Having the Dallas Mavericks awaiting him is a wrinkle in the plot, to say the least, and a wildcard in every sense. I’ve search and I can’t find one “expert” who chose the Mavericks to make it this far.

But maybe that’s fitting. The Mavericks are a multi-generational patchwork quilt of NBA talents. Peja Stojakovic and Jason Kidd are both two teams past their trademark squads and two seasons beyond their expected utility. Jason Terry, who still plays with the same enthusiasm he did as a member of the Hawks years ago, has discovered the fountain of youth. Shawn Marion is another nomad, who has played on several different teams (including the Heat and one in Canada, even!). Unfortunately for Dallas, he can offer no useful scouting; the Heat roster has been thoroughly overhauled in the season since he left. I can remember Tyson Chandler being labeled a bust, and a player prone to making boneheaded mistakes in big moments (not that his Chicago Bulls teams had many of them), but he has shed that label going forward. Add in JJ Barea, a player with a knack for weaving his way through the defense and infuriating his opponents. They are too good to be considered “rag-tag,” but it this were a movie, there’d be a fat kid and a pretty freckled girl on owner Mark Cuban’s payroll, too.

Nothing more need be said about Dirk Nowitzki’s play beyond this: he should win the postseason MVP award. He has always been a prolific scorer, but I can’t remember him attacking the rim with such ferocity, and I certainly don’t recall him demanding the ball on every possession. In this stellar postseason run, he’s also proven to be a deft passer and, here’s the shocker, an emotional leader. Five postseasons ago, when the Mavericks coughed up a 2 games-to-0 in the NBA Finals versus Dwyane Wade’s Heat, he appeared downright timid. In sports radio parlance, he choked. But these days he appears to have a swagger to go along with his giant mouthpiece.

If I’m Heat coach Eric Spoelstra, however, I put LeBron James on Nowitzki and that would be that; because if you do not have the quickness to evade James (a la Derrick Rose, who was only slightly effective at it) then you will be effectively marginalized, if not completely shut down. James has been playing that well, and Dirk will be unable to shoot over him. He had better hope that a steady diet of pick and rolls will wear James out or put him into foul trouble. (Neither scenario is comforting.)

Then I would put Wade on Terry, Mario Chalmers and Mike Miller on Barea and Kidd, Bosh on Chandler (dragging him away from the paint when the Heat is on offense) and Udonis Haslem on Marion. After that, it becomes a matter of who else in the Mavericks can step up. (My guess is Marion attempts to rediscover his dominant scoring ways of two teams ago.) The Heat’s defense was fearsome against the Bulls. And much of the Mavericks’ late-game success against the Thunder amounted to them waiting for many Awl readers’ favorite son, “Me First” Russell Westbrook, to stymie his own team’s momentum.

On offense, the Heat can create all kinds of match-up nightmares for the Mavericks. Who is going to be able to check James? Or Wade? Unlike the Thunder series, they can’t focus on denying the Heat duo the ball; those two run the entire offense. They will spread the floor and they will get to the rim, virtually at will. If Mike Miller, who will park in the corner, behind the arc, is shooting well, this may be the series where the Mavericks’ age and lack of speed will catch up to them.

So I guess this is my way of saying that I think the Heat are going to beat the Mavericks in 5 or 6 games. I hope I’m wrong. I want the Mavericks to shoot the lights out and for Lil JJ to create opportunities for his teammates, and for the Heat to run out of gas. And for Dallas to flip the script and become the team of destiny. Just thinking about it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

And yet I have trouble envisioning the Heat losing, especially after they are so close to what I’m sure to them feels like redemption after all the abuse that’s been heaped on them. Except it’s not really redemption. It’s more like a dividend for that loyal fan out there who may not have stuck with them through thick and thin, but did buy a t-shirt two months ago and has a really cool Heat screen saver on his iPad. In other words, as I said earlier, you can look at it as nothing more than a solid return on investment.

Tony Gervino is a New York City-based editor and writer obsessed with honing his bio to make him sound quirky. He can also be found here.

Photo by Keith Allison from Flickr.