FKLifestyle: The Other Team In The West

Since Michael Jordan’s departure from the game the Western Conference has dominated the NBA Finals, with 9 out of the 12 championships since 1999.The San Antonio Spurs and The Los Angeles Lakers have been the dominant teams – with 4 and 5 championships respectively. But, throughout the years there has been one other team to make a little noise in the west and that is the Dallas Mavericks.


More After The Jump

Dirk and his Mavericks have been heavily overlooked despite their accomplishments. Being the only other team in the west to make the finals – 2005-2006 Season – and Dirk being the league MVP of the 2006-2007 season. Much like how the 90’s Chicago Bulls killed the dreams of numerous teams, Lakers and Spurs killed the dreams of the Mavs. Then, the one chance they had at a championship was shot down by the Miami Heat in the 2006 Finals  – what this year's finals was a rematch to. But not only has Dirk’s dreams of a championship been killed by this western dominance but the same goes for the now Maverick, Jason Kidd. Kidd led the New Jersey Nets to the finals in 2002 and 2003 to lose to the Lakers and Spurs respectively. Not to mention that Rick Carlisle was the Assistant Coach of the Indiana Pacers when they lost to the Lakers in the 2000 Championships. So, these Dallas Mavericks had losses to avenge.

This year was Dirk & Kidd’s turn to kill some dreams. After not being recognized as a playoff team in the past the Mavericks came to play this post season. After getting past Portland they already did what was thought to be the unthinkable by basketball fans. They then proceeded to the second round and SWEPT the defending champion Lakers, a complete shock to the basketball community, proving that they came to care of business this year. The OKC Thunder series was a great and entertaining series but Dallas came out on top as the Western Conference Champs and headed to face the Miami Heat.

Playing against what has been referred to as one of the best trios (Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, & Chris Bosh) in the NBA's history, the Mavericks showed that they had heart. Led by All-Star Dirk Nowitski they won the franchise's first title and continued the dominance of the Western Conference. They have been fighting for years and Dirk finally got recognition as one of the greats of the game, as well as future hall of famer Jason Kidd gaining his first championship after 17 yrs in the league. The roll players like Chandler, Terry and Barrea definitely deserve some recognition as well, because they had a lot to do with this championship, i.e Terry with 27 points in the Championship game. The 2010-2011 Dallas Mavericks deserved this Championship, Congratulations!