Dallas Mavericks’ 2011 Finals win over the newly assembled Miami Heat ‘Superteam’ is still one of the biggest upsets in NBA history. Heat’s superstar trio of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh was expected to win it all in their first year together. But the underdog Dallas team led by Dirk Nowitzki outplayed them in the Championship round surprising everyone in the NBA community. Recently, Nowitzki admitted that his Mavericks got lucky that year because the Heat trio hadn’t been able to figure things out yet.
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The 2011 Finals MVP confessed on Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s Thanalysis show, that going up against the revamped Heat in the Finals was a Herculean task. While the Mavs had dusted off tough opponents in the Western Conference, they were now dealing with the most stacked roster in NBA history.
Nowitzki believes that they were only able to brave the storm because the superstar trio didn’t have a properly functioning tandem yet. They were still experimenting on the title-winning formula. And the Mavs took full advantage of that.
Had they clashed against the same Heat team in the next few years, things may not have ended in the Mavs’ favor.
“I always say we got a little lucky. We saw them in year one where they had just gotten together. They were not quite sure yet… Is LeBron taking over? Is Wade taking over? Is Bosh taking the big shots?” Nowitzki told Thanasis.
“I think they were working around some of the how to fill those roles and after that they start winning. They won two championships, they went to the Finals four times in a row. We were a little fortunate that we caught ‘em a little on the early side before they really figured it all out,” the Mavs legend added.
Nowitzki’s humble admission makes sense. During the 2011 Finals, James wasn’t able to take over completely because Wade was better acquainted with Head Coach Erik Spoelstra’s offensive system. The team still didn’t have a set hierarchy and a distinct set of roles divided between the players.
But still, the Mavs deserve full credit for fending off a fierce opponent.
The Heat had built a 2-1 lead in the series and had a 15-point lead in Game 4. Dirk caught fire in the last quarter of the game and willed his team to a win by hitting multiple clutch buckets. The tide of the series turned in the Mavs’ favor from that point onwards.
