The Dallas Mavericks captured their first NBA championship on Sunday, hitting 11 three-pointers in Game 6 to finish off the Miami Heat, 105-95. LeBron James brought his talents to South Beach last summer, but it was Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs that celebrated there at season’s end. Nowitzki had an uncharacteristic off night, going for 9-of-21 from the field, but netted 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter to ice the Heat for good and culminate his MVP performance. Jason Terry stepped up with a game-high 27 points for Dallas, which won the final three games of the series to become the first team since 1985 — when the NBA Finals went to the 2-3-2 format — to lose Game 3 of a tied series and go on to win the title. James paced the Heat with 21 points, Chris Bosh scored 19 with eight rebounds and Dwyane Wade totaled 17 points, eight boards and six assists. But the vaunted triumvirate had no answer for Nowitzki, especially in the fourth quarter. When the horn sounded, Nowitzki immediately went into the locker room to celebrate in private, though Mavs owner Mark Cuban was plenty demonstrative on the sideline
Written by Joseph D'Amico on June 13, 2011 at 6:09 am