NBA Finals Wrap-Up

Dwyane Wade posing for the cameras after hitting a 3-pointer in Game 2

Lebron James and Dwyane Wade's premature celebration in Game 2

The Miami Heat led by 12, Dwyane Wade was in the corner, falling out of bounds as he threw up a shot that looked impossible. The shot went in, giving the Heat a 15 point lead. Wade left his arm up, posing for the cameras. Teammate Lebron James ran up to Wade, pounding on his chest in excitement.

I think it's fair to say that moment in Game 2 of the NBA Finals was the moment in which the entire series shifted. The Heat were the aggressors up to that point, the Mavs had been playing weak, soft basketball. But something happened as the Heat were celebrating, the Dallas Mavericks woke up! And like waking Godzilla, they weren't too happy.

Miami was celebrating as if they had already won Game 2, they had just won Game 1, and in their minds were about to take a 2-0 lead back to Dallas, and try to win the series on the road. There was one rather big problem however...there was over 6 minutes left to play in Game 2.

Dallas came roaring back, playing lock-down defense, hitting one big shot after another, while Miami realizing there was a threat started trying to run down the clock. That didn't work. Eventually Dirk Nowitzki made the game winning shot with just a couple of seconds remaining.

What would follow in the next 4 games was Miami crumbling when it mattered most, missing big shots, big free throws, playing sloppy defense, committing big late game turnovers. Dallas capitalized by doing the exact opposite, Dirk and Jason Terry making big shots, Jason Kidd playing great defense and taking care of the ball, Tyson Chandler getting huge rebounds. While Miami did win Game 3 on the road, they did their best to give that game away too, if not for a last second Dirk miss this series could have been over in Dallas last Thursday.

If you read my NBA Finals preview (which you can do by clicking here) you saw me say that the Heat were going to win in 5 Games. I stand by that, I truly believed they should have won in 5 Games if Lebron, Wade, and Bosh played up to potential. But I did put a disclaimer in my preview, I said the Heat would win if Lebron and Wade played the way they played all Post Season long, and not let the Spotlight of the Big Stage blind them. They were blinded. Lebron James especially, never can I remember such a superstar of any sport coming up that small in the championship, it wasn't just that Lebron wasn't scoring, he also wasn't playing defense, he wasn't passing the ball well in late game situations, he wasn't even making his free throws.

Wade and Bosh had decent enough series, we won't hear much about how they played in the Finals. Lebron James however, thats a different story. That's two times Lebron has been to the Finals, and he still has nothing to show for it. This is the guy who calls himself "King James", this is the guy that has "Chosen 1" tattooed on his back, this is the guy that elected to wear number 23 and steal Michael Jordan's pregame powder toss ritual, and this is the guy that wanted to have a 2 hour special call "The Decision" on ESPN just to announce the team he would "take his talents to". So over the next couple of days and weeks, we will hear a lot about how Lebron failed on the biggest stage of his career and how even with the help of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh he still couldn't get it done. I for one can't wait to hear all of it.

So, congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks, they faced arguably the 4 greatest superstars in the NBA (Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade and Lebron James) on route to winning their Title, the first title for some guys that really deserved it Dirk, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and Jason Terry. They played great team ball, and they deserved this title very much. The only downside is this will be looked at more as a Miami Heat collapse than a Dallas Maverick victory, but I'm sure the Mavericks fans, players, and coaches could care less about perception, they are just happy to have won.

At the end of the day, I was wrong with my prediction, but I could care less, I'm just happy to see Lebron James and his Heat lose. Its not completely that I'm a "Hater" of Lebron or the Heat, its just that I don't like a lot of the things about the Heat, I don't like the way they came together, I don't like the privileged attitude they played with night after night, as if the title was just due to them and I didn't like the way the celebrated every mini-milestone they ever had, and I'm pretty sure if the Heat could do it all over again, they would have waited until Game 2 was over to celebrate their win, not with over six minutes remaining.