Mavs’ Victory Good For NBA, One For The ‘Ages’
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By DERON SNYDER
You don’t have to be a LeBron James/Miami Heat hater to be glad that the Mavericks won the NBA championship. You don’t have to detest the conspiracy among James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to be happy that Dirk Nowitzki stuck it out in Dallas and prevailed. And you don’t have to despise the Heat’s preseason celebration in Miami to enjoy the irony of the Mavs’ celebration Sunday night in the same arena.
Holding those sentiments might help, but they’re totally unnecessary.
All you really need is a love and appreciation for basketball as it was meant to be played.
“I just want to say this is a true team,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said after Dallas defeated the favored Heat in six games. “This is an old-school bunch. We don’t run fast or jump high. But these guys had each other’s back. They played the right way. They trusted the pass.”
This isn’t to suggest that Miami isn’t a true team. Though many observers foolishly claimed as much, games against the Heat aren’t five-on-Big 3 affairs. No championship squad ever hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy without significant contributions from seven, eight or nine players. Miami would’ve been no different had it won.
While I never bought into the notion that the Heat were less of a team due to their star trio, or they somehow were the “bad guys” for self-directing their careers, there’s a certain satisfaction in the Mavs’ victory.
Nothing against the Heat, but Dallas winning the championship this year was better for basketball and the NBA.
