Dallas Mavericks celebrate first NBA World Championship with a lavish Parade – Basketball Update
The city of Dallas cheered in unison on Thursday as the Dallas Mavericks paraded the Larry O’Brien Trophy in downtown. An estimated 250,000 people turned up for the parade in the sports crazy city.
Even the Dallas Cowboys fans, the football team of the city, joined in on the celebrations as Texas rejoiced the Mavericks first title win in their 31 year history.
The Dallas Mavericks eccentric owner Mark Cuban said he will pay the bill for all the celebrations which began from the Dallas Convention Centre in downtown and ended at the home of the Dallas Mavericks, the American Airlines Center.
Cuban and the rest of the Dallas Mavericks entourage were cheered on every corner as fans had been lining up the streets a full four hours before the parade started.
The fans turned up with a lot of energy for the event. The whole city seemed to be draped in the Mavericks colours as people joined the rally wearing Mavericks attire in large numbers. There were also fans who had colourer their
faces or died their hair to represent the Mavericks. One fan even had the NBA Trophy and the date of the Mavs victory shaved onto his head.
Inside the American Airlines Center the celebrations continued, however only Dallas Mavericks season ticket holders were in attendance. The crowd celebrated the success and cheered the most for Dirk Nowitzki. The player thanked
his supporters and spoke of his joy,
"It's been an amazing ride, an amazing journey," Nowitzki said. "It's been a lot of ups and a lot of downs. This is the top of the iceberg. It feels absolutely amazing."
The Mavericks German star turns 33 on Sunday and was overcome with joy after finally winning the NBA World title. The forward also won the NBA Finals MVP award.
His contribution was certainly huge for the Mavericks who trumped the star studded Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. The Mavericks went into the series as underdogs against the Big Three of the Miami Heat. However, LeBron James, Dwyane
Wade and Chris Bosh were put in the shade by some thrilling performances from Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavs had veteran players like Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion. All of these are in the twilight of their careers and none had won an NBA ring despite being terrific players. However, they came together and
despite being written off by most analysts produced a marvellous display in the Finals to secure the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
The Mavericks had also lost to the Miami Heat in their only other NBA Finals appearance back in 2006, so the victory this time around seemed extra special to them.
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