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Mavs and Heat kick off NBA Finals in Miami by The Sports Network
The Heat won the championship back in 2006, roaring back from an 0-2 deficit to win four straight, becoming just the third team to win a title after losing the first two games in the NBA Finals. That series marked both Dallas’ and Miami’s first appearance in The Finals and was the coming out party for Heat guard Dwyane Wade, who was named Most Valuable Player of the set.
Both franchises faced crossroads after the 2009-10 season.
Pat Riley, who moved from the bench in 2006 to the front office in South Beach, was the architect of one of the most successful offseasons in NBA history coming into the this campaign. In addition to re-signing Wade, Riley completed trades for perennial All-Stars LeBron James and Chris Bosh, while successfully re-signing Udonis Haslem and Joel Anthony, and inking a number of solid role players.
Combining Wade with James and Bosh cast Miami as the NBA’s resident villain, especially when LeBron decided to spurn Cleveland on a nationally televised “Decision” that reeked of hubris and narcissism.
“You know, we’ve got a lot of flack this year, mostly because of myself. And we’ve tried to use that as motivation every day we get on the basketball court,” James said Monday. “But just play the game of basketball. That’s all we can do is play the game of basketball at a high level. Play Miami Heat basketball.”
The Heat amassed 58 wins and garnered the second seed in the Eastern Conference with their superstar trifecta before slicing through Philadelphia, Boston and top-seeded Chicago, all in five games.
James and Wade rallied the Heat from a late deficit last Thursday and carried Miami into the NBA Finals with an 83-80 victory over the Bulls in Game 5 of the East finals.
Trailing by 12 with a little over three minutes to play, Wade and James shared the load during a game-altering 16-2 run, which included James putting in a go-ahead jumper with 29.5 seconds remaining.
“We honestly don’t know what happened. It went so fast,” James said. “I want to go back and watch the last four minutes.”
The dramatic come-from-behind win sets up a rematch of the ’06 Finals, as the Mavericks wrapped up the Western Conference a day earlier.
“This was emblematic of everything we’ve been through this year,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We had to go through the fire again. The majority of the game was not going our way, but we’ve built up a lot of resiliency and we made enough plays down the stretch.”
Few remember Dallas superstar Dirk Nowitzki also had a chance to change his address before this season but the German superstar stayed put and controversial owner Mark Cuban did his part to build a solid championship contender around his bell cow.
“Ultimately, that’s where my heart was at,” Nowitzki said of staying in Dallas. “I almost felt like we had unfinished business after ’06. All I needed was reassurance that he was going to keep going and keep building around this team, and keep putting all his resources for us to hopefully be up there one day. Hopefully we can finish strong.”
A game after rallying from 15 points down with under five minutes to go, Dallas rallied from an eight-point, fourth-quarter hole on Wednesday of last week to capture the West crown with a 100-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5.
Nowitzki drained the go-ahead three with just over one minute to play, part of a 26-point, nine-rebound night. Shawn Marion also scored 26 points with eight rebounds and J.J. Barea donated 14 points for Dallas.
“Our goal now is to win four more games no matter who we play in the Finals,” Mavs guard Jason Terry said. “This time around it’s even going to be more special. We’re going to leave it all out there on the floor and this is what you play for.”
Dallas, which also disposed of Portland and swept the two-time defending champion Lakers in this postseason, comes into this series with a more defensive-minded club that the ’06 team, a better coach in Rick Carlisle and a matured Nowitzki, who has a better understanding of how to trust his teammates in big situations.
Wade, who has been battling a balky left shoulder, along with Haslem, Mike Miller and James Jones were held out of contact portions of Miami’s practice on Sunday as a precaution but will all be available in Game 1.
Dallas swingman Caron Butler, who has been out since Jan. 1 after knee surgery, continues to say he might be available at some point.
“I have felt good in my workouts,” Butler said. “I am moving well, I just have to stay on it and see what happens. It’s bittersweet to be on this stage, because obviously, you want to play in the first game. But I still think I have an opportunity to play. I remain optimistic.”
Butler is a very solid defender on the wing, something the Mavericks could certainly use against James and Wade but Carlisle downplayed the likelihood that he would play.
“I don’t know for sure but it’s unlikely,” Dallas’ coach said.
The Mavs swept the home-and-home season series with the Heat in the regular season for the seventh straight time. In fact, after a slow start, Miami went on a 22-2 run with both of those losses to Dallas.
However, the Mavs’ regular season success against the Heat still can’t mask the only previous meeting in the postseason between the two clubs, the ’06 Finals — a setback Nowitzki hopes to rectify.
“We are facing a very tough team, a very good team with a bunch of closers and leaders. And so we’ve got to just go from there and bring our best game,” the All-Star said.
Game 2 in the series will be Thursday, also in Miami.
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