But no longer.
There will be those spending too much time on James' continued struggles and the expectations that could not be reached by Miami.
What Dallas proved in winning the franchise's first NBA championship is that team basketball will ultimately prevail, team concepts when embraced by every player will prevail in the end.
Dirk Nowitzki cemented his spot in NBA lore, Jason Kidd would win his first title and Dallas completely humiliated the host Heat in Sunday night¹s
105-95 close out of a series that went six games with the Mavs winning the final three.
Miami's inability to win the championship after leading 2-1 must be viewed as a failure.
So compelling was this series and so stunning at the way it ended with James wretched, Dwyane Wade frustrated at calls that weren't going his way and Miami showing no signs of ever coming together with its backs against the wall.
Even on a night when Nowitzki struggled, he got help from virtually every teammate and when shots were required in the fourth quarter, he would deliver.
And he's now delivered Dallas a title and Miami a blueprint on how to persevere and win.
When he addressed the media, head coach Erik Spoelstra fielded more questions about James than he did on why Miami would lose three straight games after losing a combined three games heading into the final.
When it reflects on its season and on its loss in the championship round, Miami will discover that more balanced is required, especially when a legitimate big is on a roster.
It's debatable how Miami's Big 3 were able to play off each other, but there were too many times when too many turnovers were committed and too few forays to the rim were initiated.
Dallas isn¹t as athletic, didn¹t have the star power of Miami, but it was both mentally and physically tough, the way the Mavs exposed Miami on Sunday the lasting image of this NBA season.
Nowitzki, Kidd, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, go down the Mavs roster and you'll see someone who contributed something, even Peja Stojakovic, who came up so big when Dallas swept the Lakers in the second round.
"We're an old school team," Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle said. "We don't jump as high and we're not as quick."
But Dallas is resilient and it could always get a play from Nowitzki, who officially becomes one of this generation's greatest.
Five years ago, Miami celebrated on Dallas' home floor.
The roles reversed, the series turning when Carlisle went with J.J. Barea as a starter, a move that led to three successive wins, including back-to-back games when Dallas scored more than 100 points.
"I've said this all year, but we had great chemistry," Nowitzki said. "This is a special group and we're world champions.
"It's unbelievable."
All series long, the Mavs¹ zone defence foiled, frustrated and at times made Miami's offence completely futile.
After so many games of watching the same concepts, one starts to question Miami's basketball I.Q., but nothing Dallas resorted to is what anyone would classify as revolutionary.
That zone defence would serve as one of the underlining reasons for Dallas' win.
In three of Dallas' four wins, the Mavs trailed in the fourth quarter, the exception on Sunday when the visitors were head and shoulders the superior team.
"We're just a resilient, veteran team that always kept coming," added Nowitzki. "We never stopped playing and we kept believing in each other.
"That was phenomenal."
Chris Bosh was distraught, but to his credit the one-time face of the Raptors did not offer any excuses.
"In a seven game series, the best team wins and Dallas was the better team," he said.
For James, it marked his second loss on the NBA's biggest stage, the first in 2007 when his Cavs got swept by the Spurs.
In Cleveland, fans will be cheering James' failure, a sentiment many around the league will share given all the attention James brought to himself when he decided to play in Miami.
"It hurts, for sure," he said. "I understand this is a huge stage, but you don't want to perform for anyone except your teammates."
0 comments:
Post a Comment