Mavericks slay Heat to win NBA Championship

Dirk Nowitzki finally got the chance to

hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

So was that as good for you as it was for me?

The Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA Championship in franchise history last night, beating the Miami Heat 105-95 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

Not since the New York Giants beat the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII have I rooted for a team (not my own) as vehemently as I rooted for the Dallas Mavericks to beat the Miami Heat in this year's Finals.

Despite joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh back in July, LeBron James was once again denied that elusive championship -- the title he bolted from Cleveland to win in South Beach.

Yes, the majority of basketball fans out there were pulling for the Heat to lose. But for me, it wasn't all about the Heat going down. Even as a Knicks fan, it was simply tremendous to see the Mavericks win their first title in the manner in which they did.

To see Nowitzki, a sure fire Hall of Famer, get his first ring and shed the memory of an NBA Finals collapse back in 2006 was great. To see his teammate, Jason Terry, go absolutely bonkers throughout this series was the height of entertainment. Perhaps above all else, watching Jason Kidd validate his Hall of Fame credentials and finally win a championship after 17 seasons as a premier maestro at the point guard position was really special.

But most of all, this year's Finals provided us with a truly memorable match-up. I went as far to call it a Good Guys vs. Bad Guys series, with LeBron and Wade reprising the roles of villains, while Dirk & Co. were cast as super heroes.

Ultimately though, Dallas will be remembered as a team built on the intangibles of heart, grit, poise and togetherness. Most importantly, the Mavericks were a true embodiment of the word 'team.'

The Heat, which formed in the most inorganic and contrived of manners, are built on star power. The Mavericks are built on will power. You saw that will power throughout the series, as the Mavericks continually answered the bell in the fourth quarter. Miami, on the other hand, with all its star power, repeatedly withered in the biggest of moments.

As we have officially entered era of NBA super teams made up of super stars, it sure was fun to watch a consummate team beat the likes of the star-driven Heat and win the NBA Championship

I'll be posting plenty more on the NBA Finals tomorrow. For now, I'm off for some much-needed sleep.

One thing is certain though: the nightmare of the Heat winning the NBA Championship is not one I'll be having tonight.

NBA Finals now have Cough-Gate

Dwyane Wade and LeBron James mocking Dirk Nowitzki yesterday before Game 5.

Just hours before Game 1 of the World Series in 2000, played between the Mets and Yankees, I nervously asked my dad whether our Mets were going to win.

"If there's a God in heaven, the Mets will win," he told me.

Well, we all know that series didn't turn out so well for us Mets fans. In fact, I'm still convinced my Dad ticked off the wrong guy upstairs by saying that, but at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I'm left feeling the same way about these NBA Finals between the Mavericks and Heat.

As if the series, which the Mavs lead 3-2, needed to amp up its Good Guys vs. Bad Guys dynamic any more, I have no choice but to take it to a whole level following the video that surfaced just this afternoon.

The footage shows LeBron James and Dwyane Wade mocking Dirk Nowitzki by playfully pretending to cough while covering their mouths as they walked out of AmericanAirlines Arena in Dallas following yesterday's shoot around before Game 5.

Clearly a dig at Nowitzki, who played through a sinus infection and 101-degree fever in Game 4, the video elevates LeBron and D-Wade to a new stratosphere of supervillains.

“Did y’all hear me cough?” Wade said on the video. “Do you think I’m sick?”

So I guess Dirk was faking his sickness or at least embellishing it, right? I don't think so. I guess LeBron and D-Wade missed Dirk's post-game press conference. Heck, I thought I was going to catch something from just watching him on TV.

In the span of about an hour, I've gone from passionately rooting for the Mavericks (not just for the Heat to lose), to obsessively NEEDING the Mavericks to win (and the Heat to lose).

Dirk Nowitzki clearly faking it here.

No, Dirk's 21-point performance in Game 4 wasn't Michael Jordan's "Sick Game," in which he scored 38 points while battling the flu, but Dirk showed a toughness in Game 4 that few thought he had prior to these Finals.

Above all else, the footage shows what the Heat, or at least James and Wade, are all about -- pomp and showmanship. They insist on being the center of attention, for better or for worse.

They see the cameras in front of them. They know Dirk and the Mavericks are going to see the footage, but they're just doing what they've always done since joining forces -- saying and doing stupid things.

Maybe they were trying to channel their inner Jason Terry, who popped off at the mouth following Game 3 but then backed it up in Games 4 and 5.

Either way, I think justice has been doled out, at least for now. Wade injured his hip in last night's game and James continues to flounder in his fourth-quarter neurosis.

What's that called again? That's right, karma.

Maybe next game Dirk should go out in the fourth quarter and chuck up brick after brick and then toss some mysterious powder on the court and magically disappear. That'd be a pretty creative way to mock LeBron, don't you think?

But that's not Dirk. He's not that guy. He's the guy that's one win away from winning the championship that has eluded him for 13 years and I'm sure that's all he cares about.

If the Mavericks can close out the series come Sunday, that should be plenty revenge for Dirk. Then again, who needs revenge when you have a championship ring?