- Mike Wise, Washington Post: We were witnesses, all right — witness to a flat-out schooling by men who once took their own lumps on the NBA’s grandest stage, who didn’t turn their free agent signings into a WWE Raw event before they had won bupkus, who knew the pain of losing here hurt too much to treat getting out of the second round like Carnival in Rio. And now that Dirk and Dallas’s locker room of redemption has sent the Heat and The Forsaken One into a shell-shocked summer of frustration — one only Dan Gilbert and northeastern Ohio could understand last July when LeBron left without a note (karma’s a killer, young fella) — now comes the lesson to take with him: Of all the things LeBron James could learn from the past 11 months, and especially the past two weeks, none is more important than the message Jason Kidd and DeShawn Stevenson communicated on Sunday night, the night an old point guard, one 7-foot all-star, a hell of a bench and their teammates dropped the game’s most talented trio to capture the NBA championship: Being famous and young guarantees nothing.
- Greg Cote, Miami Herald: Failure. It feels like too harsh a word for this. It feels unfair. But in the real world the Heat created for itself beginning last summer, fail is precisely what Miami did here Sunday night, and therefore this season. It was almost everything that had been advertised. Not enough. It was almost a championship year. Not enough. … The debate on how to judge Year 1 of the Big 3 began at the very instant the realization set in that this NBA season would not end for Miami the way it began last summer: In triumph and celebration. Ten months ago LeBron couldn’t count high enough to describe this franchise’s championship potential. “Not five, not six, not seven …!” he shouted to the giddy crowd packed in this same building and waving those “Yes. We. Did” placards. Not five, not six, not seven … Not one, either. At least not yet. That dynasty is on indefinite hold.
- Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo! Sports: Dallas earned this title, Miami didn’t give it away, and the Mavericks are as deserving a champion as we’ve seen in this league. What a difference a half-decade makes. It took months for us to find out what the Mavericks knew it had in them from the start. Nobody doubted Dallas’ abilities as a fringe championship contender before the season, but it was just one in a group of strong Finals hopefuls from the Western Conference when the season started. Losing what many assumed to be its second-best player [Caron Butler] to a season-ending injury midway through 2010-11, a slow start to finish the regular that actually had coaches hoping to pair up against Dallas in the postseason, few picking it to win the first round, and a second round meeting with the defending championship Lakers all added to that doubt. This wasn’t a team of destiny like Miami, on the vanguard like Chicago, or battle-tested like the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs. This was just an expertly coached group of talented players who, working with the whole as greater than the sum of its parts, just had enough to win it all, with nary a caveat to be found.
- Marc Stein, ESPN.com: On the night he finally found vengeance, eternal validation and the highest measure of victory to wag in the face of anyone who had ever called him soft or mocked his cough, Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t going to let the world see his tears. So he left the scene of his greatest triumph before a single teammate or coach could grab him for a hug, faster than he’s ever hurdled a scorer’s table to bolt off the floor, to sneak back to the visitors’ locker room. To cry alone. “I could already feel the tears coming,” Nowitzki said in an AmericanAirlines Arena hallway, beaming now as he explained the mad dash at the final buzzer that superceded any desire he felt to dance on the court inside this house of old horrors … or to find out how it feels to get a congratulatory man-hug from Dwyane Wade. “I had to recover, bro.” The Dallas Mavericks had to drag Nowitzki back to the podium of champions Sunday night, to hoist the two trophies of his dreams, because he didn’t want anyone to see him like this, inside AmericaAirlines Arena or watching on TV. He admittedly “cried like a baby” back in 2008, upon clinching Germany’s qualification for the Olympics for the first time in his career, but Nowitzki confessed that he was literally shaking with shock in the immediate aftermath of the Mavs’ 105-95 dismantling of the Miami Heat to win the 2011 NBA Finals.
- Greg Stoda, Palm Beach Post: Who’s sick now? [Dwyane] Wade and [LeBron] James had mocked Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki’s cough and illness earlier in the series. And it was Wade who even before that episode had been disdainful of Nowitzki’s 101-degree fever. Whatever it was about Nowitzki that bothered Wade would have been better left ignored. Because the clearest recollection of Wade in this series will be that he was petulant. And the clearest overall review will be that the Heat couldn’t handle the ultimate Finals-series pressure it put itself from the moment of its formation almost a year ago. All that television tape came out for a reason Sunday night as the Mavs beat Miami a third consecutive time. “Their time will come, but now is our time,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. Absolutely true. Who would have thought James would be so ordinary for so many long stretches in the series? And who would have thought Wade, knowing what he knew about James by the time Game 6 rolled around, couldn’t summon greatness? Wade simply couldn’t come up with the needed goods.
- David Hyde, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: It’s one thing to say this Heat season shouldn’t be a disappointment, because for all the ups and downs, dramas and dramatics, they still came within two games of a title in the Big Three’s first season together. It’s another thing to know this team will be defined by titles. It’s another to say how it lost all those fourth-quarter leads before Sunday. And, well, it’s another to point out who they lost to. Dallas is a tough-minded, strong-willed team. But it won’t go down as a historically great team. It has one big star in Dirk Nowitzki. He’s a great one and played great throughout this series. But, really, who’s their second-best player? Jason Terry? He had a wonderful Game 6 with 27 points, but he’s never has been All-Star. J.J. Barea? He spun through the Heat, but didn’t even start until three games ago. Tyson Chandler? He’s on his third team in three years. … [The Heat] had three of the top four individual talents in this series in a sport where talent always wins. Or almost always. It didn’t this time.
- Randy Galloway, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: The O’Brien Trophy now has a Texas twang, along with a German accent, and somebody needs to attach some airplane wings, Jet-like, as the final touch. Dallas Mavericks, champions of the world. “Unbelievable,” said Dirk. For once, “unbelievable” as uttered in the sports world is an understatement. Not just the improbable, but the impossible came true. … Throughout the NBA empire, the collapse of the Heat will be cheered, and the Fraudulent Three will be jeered. Let it be known, kids, that arrogance, flopping and fake injuries don’t pay. But in the end, this Finals wasn’t about the demise of the premature, self-proclaimed Heat dynasty, although that has been the national story line, and will continue to be. That’s the way the media go, and with some justification, plus, yes, joy. What the Mavericks accomplished, however, over six games takes the NBA back to another time. “Old school” is, and was again Sunday night, the Rick Carlisle description.
- John Krolik, ProBasketballTalk: In the end, what did the Heat in wasn’t a poorly-constructed roster or proper offensive and defensive strategy. It was their mentality. With the Heat’s talent, they should have coldly and methodically carved through the NBA all season long and put Dallas away when they had the chance to win an NBA championship. Instead, they allowed themselves to have a roller coaster of a regular season marked by poor late-game execution and losses to elite teams, gritted through the first three rounds of the playoffs thanks to stifling defense and heroic late-game play, and blew the NBA Finals. The Heat have the right roster pieces to win the championship next season, assuming it occurs. [Erik] Spolestra is more than capable as a coach. Their stars have shown that they are capable of playing together on both ends of the floor. But if they want to reach their ultimate goal, they are going to have to tighten things up next season. They can’t forget to play defense on the nights their offense is rolling. They can’t let teams back into games by committing silly fouls. They can’t try to get caught up in macho posturing in an NBA Finals elimination game. They can’t throw the ball away when it matters most. They can’t miss free throws. In 2011, the Heat showed that they have enough talent to win a champions. In 2012, the Heat will have to show that they have the maturity and discipline to be champions.
- Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports: From the old wooden bar at Flannery’s Pub you can look out the big front window, across Prospect Street and the East 4th parking lot, and see Quicken Loans Arena, former home office of LeBron Raymone James. Late Sunday night, a crowd of Clevelanders gathered here to watch their onetime hero turned all-time traitor, and with each disinterested LeBron offensive possession, each failed LeBron chase down of Jason Terry(notes), each embarrassing LeBron crunch-time turnover, the prevailing emotion was simple. Laughter. They weren’t hating LeBron here. They were laughing at him. LeBron started it, of course, laughing at Cleveland nearly a year ago when he took himself to a Boys and Girls Club in Connecticut of all places to announce on national television that he was taking his talents to South Beach. That South Beach has about a million nightclubs and technically no basketball arena said it all. So on Sunday, Cleveland laughed right back. All over Flannery’s and places like it across Ohio, they cracked oft-told jokes. (“I asked LeBron for a dollar, he gave me 75 cents back. He doesn’t have a fourth quarter.”) … They mostly reveled in the beauty of a night right out of their wildest dreams, LeBron coming up small on the biggest of stages, standing around as lesser talents on the Dallas Mavericks blocked his shortcut to a NBA title, winning the game 105-95, the series 4-2. This was the girlfriend that dumped you getting dumped herself – only live in HD while an entire city toasted her comeuppance.
- Tim Kawakami, San Jose Mercury News: One more stat to feed the fire: LeBron James played 40 minutes tonight, facing elimination, and was a game-worst -24 in the plus/minus. That means Miami out-scored Dallas by 14 in the 8 minutes James was out. Think about that one for a while. Whew. The Heat lost, I think you might have heard. Dallas won, absolutely deserved to win. And James was nowhere to be found, once again, when the game was on the line. He didn’t want the ball–he was a Mickael Pietrus clone when the ball came to him, passing it away immediately and panickedly, presumably fretting that something bad would surely happen if he kept it more than a split-second. Maybe LeBron was right about that bad stuff. (After all, when he was forced to do stuff last night, he bumbled into 6 turnovers. Very Pietrus.)
- Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Players you wouldn’t want to be over coming months? LeBron James has to be No. 1 on that list. What was that? It wasn’t only not scoring when needed, it was not shooting. There are issues there, huge, huge issue. It took 11 months, but he actually has cast himself as a sympathetic figure, almost pitiable.
- Gregg Doyel, CBSSports.com: The Dallas Mavericks are the 2011 NBA champions because their team is a real team, and because their superstar is a real superstar. And if I have to connect the dots for you, fine: The Heat have neither. Neither a real team, nor a real superstar. Not on this night. Not in this whole series. Real teams react to adversity like Dallas reacted in Game 6, and real superstars do the heaviest lifting in the fourth quarter. That was Dallas, and that was Dirk Nowitzki, during a 105-95 title-clinching victory in Game 6. And here are some more dots for you: It wasn’t Miami or its superstars, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, who were mediocre before leading the Heat’s late fold in a 10-point loss at home.
- Linda Robertson, Miami Herald: From the moment the Miami Heat assembled its Big 3, there was the nagging question of who would be the One — the point guard. The lack of a firm or convincing answer came back to haunt the Heat throughout the NBA Finals, and now it will linger into the offseason. Dallas won Game 6 and the championship Sunday, accentuating Miami’s weakness. The Mavericks proved to be the more organized and opportunistic team in their 105-95 victory. Down the stretch, Dallas had a steadying hand while Miami seemed to play helter-skelter. Down the stretch, Miami needed a comeback but kept making mistakes.
- Brian Lowry, FoxSports.com: The NBA playoffs were filled with commercials for summer movies like “Green Lantern,” “Captain America: First Avenger” and “X-Men: First Class,” which is appropriate for a league built around idolatry of its superstars. During the deciding game of the NBA Finals, however, the superheroes in action mostly stepped on their capes, leaving it to role players to save the day – and throwing the media’s chattering class into sputtering chaos. Instead of the legendary crunch-time performances traditionally associated with future Hall of Famers, the prevailing image from Game 6 will be of LeBron James driving into the lane without a clear purpose, Dwyane Wade dribbling the ball off his foot and Dirk Nowitzki clanking jumper after first-half jumper. At the same time, guys whose names aren’t on the list of top-selling jerseys – like Mario Chalmers and tiny J.J. Barea, who looks like he could be playing in my Tuesday-night pickup game – kept making shots and plays. In Hollywood terms – and the league very much resembles the movie business’ two-tiered star system – Game 6 didn’t follow the script. The leading men are supposed to get all the big scenes, not what’s-his-name on the Dallas bench.
- Dave D’Alessandro, Newark Star-Ledger: In the end, they did us all a favor. You’re welcome, Rick Carlisle said. Don’t mention it, Dirk Nowitzki added. Glad you enjoyed the lesson, Jason Kidd crowed. Perhaps some of us didn’t really see it until the scoreboard blinked Dallas 105 Miami 95, but the broader picture stretched beyond the miraculous events at AmericanAirlines Arena, beyond these NBA Finals, and even beyond the deep and shark-filled money trench that runs through the heart of the league and its hype machinery. Here’s the lesson: Teams win. Even the older ones, as long as they’re based on trust, selflessness and mutuality. And, by implication, individuals — no matter how talented — do not win. Don’t say it: We’ve heard this over and over since the Dr. Jack Trail Blazers stunned the Dr. J Sixers in 1977, but sometimes it’s a lesson that bears repeating, especially on occasions such as this one.
- Brian Windhorst, ESPN.com: So fitting was the moment in the fourth quarter when the Heat were trying to cobble together a comeback and Mario Chalmers and [LeBron] James found themselves on a break together. James called for the ball. Chalmers saw him but kept it, trying to beat two Mavs players by himself. It was a brash play by a headstrong and fearless player that was wrong, but it was also a glaring indication of where James’ teammates apparently thought he was by then. Chalmers felt like he could do it better by himself. … James is a multimillionaire now and he’ll still be a multimillionaire after the coming lockout ends. As a two-time MVP, he’s earned it. All these things will provide him plenty of comfort while his performance is eviscerated nationally. “They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy that not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal,” James said. “But they’ll have to get back to the real world at some point.” And there’s the rub. So, too, will James. Eight years in, James is walking away from another season with no ring. In the past he could — and did — with his head high while quietly blame others. Last year, he got away with a series in which he failed to deliver. Now, in the real world, there’s nowhere to hide.
Published On 1:20am, Jun 13, 2011
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