SUMMARY
- The Mavericks were led by Dirk Nowitzki during the 2011 NBA Finals against LeBron James' Miami Heat.
- Miami took an early 2-1 lead in the series.
The 2010-2011 NBA Season brought a lot of intensity and flared up emotions. Until that point, the Dallas Mavericks were a strong playoff team but they couldn’t fight into the NBA Finals. In 2010, Kobe Bryant led his team to two back-to-back titles. They were about to make it to the finals once again and Bryant almost achieved his second career three-peat. But the Mavericks won against them in the Western Conference Finals.
Jason Terry closed out Game 6 of the 2011 NBA Finals to win the NBA Championship for the Dallas Mavericks! pic.twitter.com/FhtoQzWPvb
— ThrowbackHoops (@ThrowbackHoops) May 13, 2023
Their opposition, the Miami Heat was the second seed in the Eastern Conference. It was LeBron James’ first year in Miami as well, so there was a lot of pressure coming from their side to lead the team to a championship. The Heat also featured Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Miami dominated the playoffs and went on a 9-0 run at home in the playoffs as well. Everybody had the Heat winning the title that year, but nobody expected a Dirk Nowitzki takeover.
LeBron James had set the tone for the Heat before Mavericks took over
It was Game 1 and LeBron James was poised to set the tone for the series. That year, James had already lost to Derrick Rose in the MVP race and the Miami fanbase wanted nothing less of a title. The Heat’s Big 3 were quite dominant in Game 1 with James tallying 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Wade and Bosh combined for 41 points. Despite their efforts, the game was quite close (84-92). Miami won and extended their home record to 10-0.
Ahead of Game 2, James was heard saying, “If you’re not exhausted tonight after playing this game, you don’t play hard enough.” The forward’s words resonated with the team and they took a massive 15-point lead. But Nowitzki led the Mavericks’ offense with a couple of impressive jump shots to win the game by two points. He recorded an incredible double-double while Wade led the Heat with 36 points. The series was then tied 1-1.
James and the Heat came into Game 3 with the same mentality. They managed to secure a close victory (88-86) and this was a shake-up for the Mavericks that the Heat could dominate on the road as well. However, Nowitzki and the Mavericks recognized that James wasn’t at peak form. James only averaged 17.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 6.8 assists during the series.
Dirk Nowitzki’s offense erupted and the Mavericks won the title
Nobody understood why James wasn’t performing well. Perhaps it was the pressure finally getting in his headspace and throwing him off his game. The Mavericks took their chance during Game 4 at home. The 2x MVP at the time couldn’t get himself going on offense and the Mavericks held him to 3-11 shooting and 8 points. Dallas bench also outscored the Heat’s 28-15. Now, the Mavericks were back in the game with the series tied at 2-2.
In Games 5 and 6, the Mavericks absolutely dominated on both sides of the floor. And if it wasn’t for Jason Terry’s scoring efforts coming off the bench, Dallas would’ve potentially lost to the Heat. JJ Barea also posed as a major threat during those final two games averaging 16 points per piece. Terry averaged 24 points per game in the Mavericks’ final two victories, in addition to Nowitzki’s outburst on offense as well. Dallas held their first and only title in 2011 while upsetting LeBron, who had his worst playoff performance ever.