[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Seeing as I have probably written a Bill Simmons-esque Book of Basketball with my posts on this site (Not saying I am in Bill’s league, just giving an idea that my posts probably would make up 600-700 pages, lol), you probably have read quite a bit about my thoughts on things. I had been a proponent for the Heat being title contenders and had hoped they would win, and I was wrong this season. But, I wanted to give a shout out to a Mavericks team that was put together incredibly well and very well coached. I feel this Mavericks team was full of players who had almost gotten there, many of whom were seen as reasons for holding teams back and coached by a guy who had the same rep. Well, I have to say that them winning the championship impressed me greatly, and that they are a very worthy champion, not to mention a great story.

I always felt like Rick Carlisle had gotten some bad deals as a coach, in Detroit especially when he was fired and replaced with Larry Brown. Larry definitely is a coaching legend, and one of the best to ever do it, but Carlisle seemed to show flashes of being a really smart well composed leader. A coach is only as good as his players, but leadership seems to be a theme amongst teams that win in pressure situations. I figured that maybe people did not think Carlisle was a "war time consigliere" (Godfather reference), and would fold in pressure situations like many coaches before him with talented teams. But, I feel he kept his composure and made necessary adjustments that helped his team win this series, which he deserves a lot of props for.

Carlisle seemed like the perfect guy to coach a team full of some NBA ragtags who came together to form a championship team. Dirk Nowitzki was long known as a choke artist in NBA circles. After a pretty poor 2006 finals, where he was held to sub 40% shooting and actually MISSED key Free Throws (which does not happen anymore. Ever.), Dirk was seen by some as soft. The Warriors went right at him in the paint the next year and neutralized him right after his MVP season in 2007, and many thought he lacked a killer instinct. Well, seems like he got the last laugh on that description. Even Jason Terry has long been seen as a tweener guard who many thought could not be the secondary scorer on a championship team. Instead, he proved that he is one of the toughest players to defend in the league due to his speed and shooting ability.

You even look at Dallas role players, many of them had played in situations where they were questioned. Jason Kidd was a team leader for years, but could never seen to get his team over the hump. Many thought he was too old and that his years of being an elite PG were over. I do not think too many teams could have asked for a better floor general to run their offense, not to mention play the solid defense Kidd was known for his entire career. Shawn Marion often was seen as one who disappeared in big games, he was ghost in a few of the Suns play-off series where they were close to competing for a ring. The guy played his role to a tee, played excellent defense and did his usual fantastic job on the boards. He has to be one of the best rebounding SF’s of all-time.

The key to much of the Mavs success however, or at least their step up to becoming elite after having an incredibly similar team last year, was Tyson Chandler in the middle. Talk about a guy who many thought was damaged goods. When OKC declined the Tyson Chandler trade, which by the way would have been for Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith and DeVon Hardin, due to injury concerns, I thought he was damaged goods. I know he was being paid a lot of money, but to get an adequate Center for what they were trading seemed too good to turn down unless there would be something that seriously prevented him from playing. Instead, he had a fairly non-descript season after being traded to Charlotte, than was traded to Dallas for Matt Carroll, Eduardo Najera and Erick Dampier (in other words, peanuts). Still was not convinced he was a championship Center, until he became a fantastic low post defensive presence for a team that had not had one since being competitive and destroyed every match-up he had in the play-offs. Tyson may never have lived up to his incredibly high expectations as the 2nd pick in the 2001 Draft, but he was the defensive anchor this team had been missing for so long and killed every match-up he had in the play-offs.

Overall, the Mavericks were a tremendous team and a great story. They were full of guys that very few people wanted, and many had counted out. Who would have thought JJ Barea would be such an incredible offensive terror, especially in the paint? I may hate his guts, but DeShawn Stevenson played his role incredibly well over the last three games of the series and played great defense. Not to mention, if you would have told me the Mavericks win the championship against the Heat at the beginning of the season without Caron Butler, I would have thought you were crazy. So, props to the Mavs, props to Rick Carlisle and props to Mark Cuban. I may not agree with everything Mark says, or even everything he has done, but at the same time, he is incredibly good to his team and players. More owners should use him as an example of that, the guy cares and without him, Dallas is probably still a bottom team in the league. Great season, very worthy champ.

[cabbycabParticipant]

This was my favorite finals series that I can recall…..right up there with MJ’s first one against the Lakers.  Good to see Dirk get one.  All around great story on so many dimesions as you pointed out.  Jason Terry in particular really showed me something this series. 

[aamir543Participant]

This is the 9th year of playoffs I have watched, and although I dont remember some of the ones from when I was younger, I have a pretty good idea of how those sieres went down, and this was the second best seires I have ever watched (in the past nine years) Therehave been really good ones, Dallas San Antonio in 2006, LA San antonio 2004, every Phionex sieres in 2006, and the Warriors Mavs in 2007. My favorite one has to be Chicago Boston 2009. That was amazing. By the end of the seires, those guys were gased, it was a very physical sieres,as well as an engaging sieres, but this finals, had such an amazing sub plot. 

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