The Heart of a Champion

“The Portland Trailblazers are the low seed nobody wants to face.”

“The Lakers are on a mission to send Phil Jackson out with another three peat.”

“Oklahoma City may win the series if they can take one in Dallas.”

“The Miami Heat have too much talent for the Mavericks to overcome.”

“I told you so.”

Four of these five quotes are what “they” said. The last one is what Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban has had in the little thought bubble over his head throughout the 2011 NBA Playoffs and NBA Finals. Full disclosure: I am not a fan of the Dallas Mavericks. I am a Hornets fan. Being a blogger and not a journalist, I can say that. The Mavericks are a division rival who, frankly, has been a thorn in the side over the years.

I have never been particularly fond of Mark Cuban, even before the Hornets moved to New Orleans. I have often thought of him as new money run amok. More disclosure: I am a LeBron fan and I wanted them to win this series. One would think it would pain me to write this piece. Not really.

No matter how much I love or hate a certain player, team, or personality, I have no problem with telling it how I see it. Dallas overcame hurdle after hurdle, doubt after doubt, and obstacle after obstacle. Dirk Nowitzki, the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals has frequently been criticized over the years for underachieving. Yes, he is a great shooter, but he is soft on defense and in the paint. Yes, he has helped lead his team to a lot of regular season victories and yes he was the 2007 Most Valuable Player, but he and his team always checked out in the playoffs. Dirk took all of the “yeah, buts” and showed them his butt.

Here is the bottom line. The Mavericks swept the two time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. They came from behind, what appeared to be, an insurmountable deficit against the Oklahoma City Thunder, preventing the Thunder from tying the Western Conference Finals at two games apiece. They repeated the feat in Games 2 and 4 against the Heat, trailing by 15 and 9 points in the fourth quarter, respectively.

Those are all hallmarks of a champion. The goal is to win. The goal is to be the last team standing. That is what the Mavericks did. That is how they, and they alone, earned to be the champions of the NBA. 

How sweet it is! 1

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1) Image from The Dallas Morning News