Over the next few days, you're going to hear a lot about how great it is that these NBA Finals feature new blood, how the Pistons/Spurs act had grown tired, and how the guarantee of a brand new champion for the first time since 1978 is great for the sport.
That's all well and good, but how about this: This surprising pairing was meant to be.
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Pat Riley gives Heat owner Mickey Arison his team's first trip to the NBA Finals. (AP) |
It took the final second to tick off the clock in both deciding Game 6s for it to be proved, but signs were there all along. They were obscured by the fact that neither team finished with the best record in its conference, and both looked extremely vulnerable at certain points this postseason. But these teams have impatiently and frustratingly awaited their turn for a few years now.
In fact, failure and uncertainty have molded both and created the matchup. The Miami Heat started off 11-10, underwent a controversial coaching change, were pathetic against the league's top teams and struggled defensively up until the Eastern Conference finals. The Dallas Mavericks fell short of their goal of claiming home court and topping San Antonio in the Southwest Division and squandered a 3-1 lead against the Spurs and a 20-point cushion in Game 7. Somehow, they found the strength to get back to even and prevail in overtime.
"You come into this season, nobody, nobody had Miami and Dallas in the Finals. If you did, you won a lot of money," said Mavericks coach Avery Johnson. "Everybody had two other teams and we just felt we had a chance, and we weren't getting the respect. I think people respect a little bit more what we're doing now."
Dallas overcame their in-state oppressors. Miami wrestled away Detroit's stranglehold on the East. They have each experienced heartache in coming close; Dallas losing to San Antonio in 2003's conference finals and the Heat coming within 1:30 against the Pistons last year.
"Beating the Pistons makes it real," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "If it was any other matchup in the Eastern Conference finals, it wouldn't have been the same."
These are the two teams that deserve to play for the championship, because both have made it their time. They have paid their dues and now both have the baton for their conferences in hand and seem equipped to hold on to it for years to come.
"We've had a lot of near misses, unlucky bounces, suspensions," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "We've had very good teams that I thought were championship contenders. We had a major, major setback with (Alonzo Mourning's) kidney, and when that set us back, it took two years to rebuild. But ever since Shaquille O'Neal showed up on the scene, this team has been a legitimate contender, and we have put pieces around him. Obviously, the drafting of Dwyane Wade and what he has become has sped up the whole process."
Riley went out and controversially shook up his supporting cast over the summer, bringing in a number of big names to surround his two superstars because he perceived a lack of firepower around them. How do you break up a team that came so close? How would a roster filled with so many egos get along? There were plenty of points where that second-guessing was valid, but credit Riley for going with his gut. He was right. He gets the last laugh.
"Jason (Williams), myself and (James) Posey, we wanted to prove that Coach didn't make the wrong decisions," Antoine Walker said. "Everybody on this team made a lot of sacrifices, and it's all coming together at the right time."
Dallas' transformation began with Mark Cuban purchasing the Mavericks and pledging to build a winner. It started to take shape with Don Nelson identifying Dirk Nowitzki as a future star and building around him. Say what you will about both men, but they had a vision and have seen it come to fruition.
"He'd probably be the first to tell you that he had to learn some things once he took over this team to find out what he needed really to get to the next level," guard Jerry Stackhouse said of Cuban. "He's a smart guy. He's not a billionaire by accident, and he found the right pieces to make it work."
