Winning is the only Cure

Two Stars Different Directions

Blog by Mike McClendon

The Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat in 6 games to win the world championship, which is a surprise by many. The way they did it also came at a surprise. They played with more heart determination and will then the more talented Miami heat did. It's like the opening act to a Lil' Wayne concert performing better than Lil' Wayne the headliner would, not hard to do by the way, but I digress. The heat are younger and probably will be in this situation again and again or at least until they trade one of the 3 stars but for the Mavs the time was now and they played with that sense of urgency in every game of the series. Dirk hands down was the best player in the series even though he didn't play well in the first half of game 6, reminiscent of Kobe Bryant's Performance against the Celtics in 2010 Finals where he shot 6-24, just like Kobe in that game, Dirk came up big in the clutch with 10 4th Quarter points. Speaking of the 4th Quarter....

Two of the Best

Mr. James and D. Wade are going to go down as one of the best 1-2 punches to play the game of basketball. The problem is who is 1 and who is 2? Somebody has to be Scottie, damn that, Who the hell was Jordan in this series? Both players went into this series with extreme confidence but neither showed it in clutch moments which is in the 4th period not the first few minutes of the game or the first half. Dominique Wilkins was called the Human Highlight film but all his highlights never got him a ring (He did have to beat MJ, Bird, and Isiah). These two tremendous talents have to mature their already breath taking games and turn them into clutch moments or they will leave a legacy of all was falling short of their goal of a title, I'm sorry, multiple titles. Neither player stepped up and took control of games 4-6. Mr. James getting most of the blame because Wade at least was playing a more consistent "brand" of basketball in this series. We can argue the million and one reasons why these two phenoms came up short but at the end of the day it was simply that the Mavs had the sense of urgency and took control of the series.

Heart of a Champion

Dirk Nowitzki cemented himself in anybody's top 5-10 Power forwards of all time with his performance in this years playoffs and the finals especially, one more ring and he can be considered in the top 3. He was dominate in late clutch moments and proved to his teammates and fans that he had what it took to lead his team to a championship. One of the best purest floor generals in the game, Jason Kidd, was nowhere near what he was when he went to back to back finals in 02' and 03'. They lost both of those series but J. Kidd was, at that time, a little more consistent and aggressive. He did just enough though to help the Mavs in game 5 and 6 after not doing much of anything but taking up space in the previous games. Shawn Marion won't get much "pub" but he was also a key contributor to this championship run for the Mavs, along with the little guy with the big mouth Jason "Jet" Terry. Terry was phenomenal in the last two games and backed up is big heart with his those two big games. Much deserved and warranted championship for the Dallas Mavericks, even though some say Miami loss this ring others believe Dallas took it. I say the best TEAM won and that is usually what happens in a best of 7 series. On to the Next one!