A Championship-Defining Turning Point

The epic, drawn-out nature of the NBA playoffs usually creates a certain amount of volatility from game-to-game, especially as the teams become more even in later rounds. In some cases, teams that lose a game by 30 points or more can come back to win a series. Such patterns mean that it is not only unlikely, but implausible to find a sort of "line in the sand" moment in a playoff campaign that changed everything about how a team performed.

For the new NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, such a moment can be clearly defined. It happened in only the team's fourth playoff game this season, but the results from before and after the contest are undeniable, as is the change in the team's reputation that it fostered.

On April 23, in Game 4 of the first round, Dallas held a 67-44 lead late in the third quarter. In the fourth, Portland took advantage of Dallas' complacency to pick up a famous win and tie the series at 2. Brandon Roy, bad knees and all, was dominant in the fourth quarter and scored or assisted on 14 of the Blazers' final 17 baskets. The contest came two games after Roy was held scoreless.

In the moments following Game 4 in Portland, there was absolutely no reason to believe the Mavs could make a run at the NBA title. There was tremendous doubt that they could even win two more games to get out of the first round. Many, including some Mavs fans, predicted Portland would win the series before it was played. Game 4 only entrenched that belief for many. Despite a whole new cast of characters for that game and this season as opposed to five years ago, save for Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, the Mavs still carried a reputation of not being able to close out big games from the 2006 Finals.

I have no idea what went on in the locker room after the loss on a Saturday afternoon in Portland, but after that collapse, Dallas proceeded to go 14-3 for the rest of the playoffs. Furthermore, the Mavs won three series in that run against three title-contenders that had top-seven records in the regular season. If such a turnaround wasn't indicative enough of a changing mindset, the Mavs went from the team that couldn't close the deal to the team that made the memorable fourth quarter comebacks. In Games 1 and 3 against the Lakers, Games 4 and 5 against the Thunder and Games 2, 4, and 5 against the Heat, Dallas came back from fourth quarter deficits to win.

In Game 4 against Oklahoma City and Game 2 of the Finals, the comebacks were especially pronounced, 15-point margins for the opposition in each case well into the fourth quarter. In both games, Nowitzki took charge. In Miami, Dirk scored the last nine Mavericks points to pull off a stunning win. Before these playoffs, Dirk still had a reputation among some that he couldn't perform late in games. That was, frankly, total crap. Nowitzki has usually been among the league's best go-to guys in the fourth quarter, but carried a reputation from the 2006 Finals and the first-round disaster against Golden State the following year that wasn't bound to be completely shaken until he won a championship.

While Game 4 in Portland represented a line of demarcation in the 2011 playoffs for the Mavs, the Game 2 comeback in Miami also represented a crossroads, as well. For most of that game, the Heat both took advantage of careless Dallas errors and swarmed defensively. The Mavs looked rattled and probably deserved to be down 98-73, rather that 88-73 with seven minutes left. The fact that they stayed in relative touch with the Heat in that game was a testament to Dallas' new resolve. However, the people that have been following the Mavs all year knew that Dallas had been getting good perimeter looks in each of the first two games, but couldn't knock them down. When the series went back to Dallas, more shots fell.

The only game the Mavs won in the series that didn't involve some sort of fourth quarter fight back was the clincher, Game 6. By the fourth quarter in that game, the Mavericks had broken Miami's will. As was the case in several Dallas wins, good perimeter defense forced Dwyane Wade and LeBron James to take outside shots. Erik Spoelstra became so desperate in Game 6 that a cryogenically frozen Eddie House had to be warmed up to play crucial minutes.

If the Rick Carlisle/Spoelstra coaching matchup were a boxing match, it would have been stopped very early on. Carlisle, who likes for his teams to play zone defense about as much as any coach in the league, changed the tone of the series when he used it late in Game 4. Across the whole series, Dallas actually used a zone less often (on a per-possession basis) than in the regular season. However, when the Mavs went into zone in Game 4, it discombobulated the Heat. Miami scored just 14 fourth quarter points in Game 4 on approximately 22 possessions. The zone was useful to the Mavs because it was used a weapon, and not a standard defensive tactic.

Carlisle's tinkering with the starting lineup after Game 3 putting J.J. Barea in for DeShawn Stevenson, not only allowed for Barea to have an immediate impact on the game, but motivated Stevenson. Even moves that didn't make much initial sense in the series, like playing Brian Cardinal over Corey Brewer, ended up working wonders for the Mavs. Meanwhile, Spoelstra made little adjustment until the final game when Mike Bibby (who started the previous five games at point) was sat altogether.

I've intentionally refrained from talking about the LeBron-Wade-Bosh triad for any length of time because I firmly believe that this is the Mavs' time. To talk about the Heat as much as has been going on implies that Miami lost the series more than Dallas won it. But I would be remiss if I didn't say something about LeBron. Yes, this was a catastrophic series for LeBron, and all of the criticisms being leveled are very fair. I agree with most of them. However, the team was still two wins away from a title, without LeBron having a signature performance in the series. Also, Shawn Marion did an excellent job on James defensively, including some big stops in the fourth quarter of several games.
Could LeBron have been more aggressive? Absolutely. But don't discount just how well the Mavericks played defensively.

Therefore, I'm not sure Miami really needs to blow the team up like has been pontificated in the last couple of days. I'm also not willing to make statements like, "LeBron will never perform in the Finals or win a championship." Time will tell, and no one really has any idea how that legacy will be written.

Nonetheless, LeBron predicting eight championships or more with the Heat at what amounted to the sports equivalent of President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" banner adds to the great amount of hilarity associated with Miami's self-proclaimed failure. It also made the victory that much sweeter for Dallas. Don't get me wrong, the Mavericks winning a title against Chicago, Boston, Orlando or whoever from the East would have been special. But to win it against the Heat, who broke the Mavs' hearts after Wade had significant help from the officials five years ago makes the triumph poetic. Furthermore, it was Miami this time who was heavily favored, and who blew Game 2 in a similar way to how the Mavs infamously blew Game 3 in 2006. In short, the Finals win exercised Dallas' demons in the most fitting way possible.

While Dirk winning his first title and solidifying his status as one of the greatest 15-20 players to ever play the game was a huge story, it's easy to overlook all of the veterans on Dallas' team that won their first title on Sunday night like Jason Kidd, Terry, and Marion. All have been on excellent teams in the past that could never quite close the deal for whatever reason. And in the end, I hope that these Finals are remembered more for those veterans (and some hungry, fiery youngsters, as well) on a true team than Miami's unsubstantiated hubris.

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