Veteran Dallas Mavericks one step away from landing the Holy Grail of NBA
It’s hard to put into words what it meant for the Dallas Mavericks to win the Western Conference Finals, or more appropriately, securing passage to the NBA Finals 2011. The Mavericks have yearned to go back to the Finals since
losing out in the 2006 edition. Redemption is what the franchise is looking for.
Nobody gave them much of a chance, which seems odd because Dallas have a roster stacked full of talent. However the players and the team, do have history against them.
The Mavs have veterans all around, all of whom have incredible stories of falling just short. Dirk Nowitzki is the obvious one. After falling in the 2006 Finals the Dallas forward won the MVP award next year and the Mavericks won
an amazing 67 games in the regular season. Both however, crashed out in the first round of the playoffs at the hands of 8th seeded Golden State Warriors.
Since then Nowitzki and the Mavs have consistently fallen short of expectations in the playoffs and earned a reputation of big game bottlers. It has taken them 5 long years to get back to the Finals and get another opportunity
at the biggest prize in professional basketball,
"Yeah, it's been a long stretch here," Nowitzki said. "Been trying to get back to this stage ever since and fell short a bunch of times. But this is a bunch of veterans who want to play and are unselfish."
Nowitzki was accompanied throughout the ordeal by one Jason Terry. He was there in 2006 too, as starting point guard. And he felt the pain as well. Terry never got over the loss and getting revenge for him has become an obsession.
So much so, that he now walks around with a tattoo of the Larry O’Brien Trophy on his arm,
"I never let it go. Anytime I go to sleep. Anytime I lift my arm up I got the trophy tattooed on me this season. If you look in my locker, it (photo) is right there."
Then there’s Jason Kidd. The second oldest player in the league and the oldest one left in the playoffs. Jason Kidd has a talent that every point guard in the league envies, but a history that no one would want. He admirably led
the New Jersey Nets to the NBA Finals twice, only to lose both times. Now in the twilight of his career, finally surrounded by players who can deliver, he has one more chance win it all.
Shawn Marion couldn’t reach the NBA Finals at all in 9 years with the Phoenix Suns, playing alongside Steve Nash. For him, the Western Conference Finals themselves were a devil to be exorcised, having lost two agonizing ones in
his career.
The story is pretty much the same with the rest of them. Whether you look at DeShawn Stevenson or Tyson Chandler, the Mavericks are a bunch of players that had all the gifts but couldn’t win the great prize that they really ought
to.
All of the big players on this team are edging towards the end of their careers. They know that this opportunity might not come to them again. It’s a desperate time, especially for Nowitzki and Kidd, who would be looking to remove
the unwanted tag of “one of the best never to win a ring”. Now, as the Finals draw near, the players and the franchise have finally got another chance to set things right.
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