The Dallas Mavericks are the NBA Champions, after beating the Miami Heat 105 - 95 in Game 6 at American Airlines Arena in Miami.
In a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals, where the Heat won the Larry O'Brien Trophy at the American Airlines Center in front of the Mavericks home crowd --- on Sunday, June 12, 2011, it was a different story, the roles were reversed.
The celebration on the court at the AAA was for the Mavericks, and the gold trophy is coming home to Dallas.
The Dallas Mavericks led every quarter of Game 6, and in the words of the announcers, the fourth quarter belonged to the Mavs.
When it was over, Mavs owner Mark Cuban ran onto the court to hug coach Rick Carlisle.
Age and experience were on the Mavs side. The veteran team never acted like the outcome was a given, taking every quarter and every game one at a time.
The Mavericks won four of the series' last five games, a turnabout that could not have been sweeter
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
Jason Terry scored 27 points, Nowitzki added 21 on Sunday night.
The difference-makers were everywhere: from Ian Mahinmi and his stepback jumper and third quarter buzzer-beater to DeShawn Stevenson and his three 3-pointers in the first half; from Brian Cardinal making a 3 and drawing a charge to J.J. Barea improving to 3-0 as a starter.
With Dallas leading the series 3-2, the teams returned to Miami and put on quite a show. They traded big runs, traded the lead several times and even traded shoves during a timeout midway through the second quarter.
One of the biggest highlights of the night was in the second quarter, after the Heat scored on an 11-0 run and took the lead. Dallas tried cool things off by calling timeout. As the teams went to the bench, Haslem walked off with his fist raised, Stevenson bumped into him and soon mouths and bodies were moving. Chalmers ran in and Stevenson shoved him. Teammates tried restraining guys and nearly everyone was on the court before officials could regain control.
After watching replays, officials called technical fouls against Haslem, Chalmers and Stevenson. Dallas wound up with one free throw and began edging back toward the lead.
Mark Cuban's franchise has its first title in its 31st season.
