Dirk Leads the Mavs to a Championship

   LeBron James hit his first four straight shots and had nine points in the first quarter. This looked to be the game we all hoped he would; an mvp performance when he needed it most to force game seven against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals.
    In the end however, James came up short as the Mavericks won game six 105-95 and more importantly the series; 4-2 bringing the first NBA Championship back to Dallas.
   All five of the Heat's starters contributed with James leading the way with 21 points and six assists. Dwayne Wade scored 17, had six assists, and eight rebounds and Chris Bosh also had a solid game with 19 points and eight rebounds.
   Mario Chalmers played well also with 18 points and seven assists, but will probably be remembered for his time-out antics by receiving a technical foul for pushing Deshawn Stevenson when Stevenson pushed Udonis Haslem.
   For the second straight game, the starting five of Dallas simply outplayed Miami. Despite a terrible first half by Dirk Nowitzki, Nowitzki came back strong in the second half finishing the night with 21 points. Jason Kidd also had another strong game scoring nine points and dishing out eight assists and Shawn Marion scored 12 points with eight rebounds.
   Nowitzki got outstanding support from JJ Barea and Jason Terry.
   Barea scored 15 points and had 5 assists. Barea quickly developed over these playoffs as scoring point guard. If Barea can play next year's regular season as well as he did this post-season, the Mavs have found a permanent franchise point guard.
    Terry came up big with clutch shots again for the Mavs scoring 27, with 18 of those coming in the first half.
    Dallas has a stellar team, and these all-around performances in the Finals have shown this. I thought of Dallas a second-class team in the West (along with OK City), but after this post season, Dallas is now I like to think the favorite of the Western Conference again with ease.
   So what happens to the Heat Next?
   LeBron and Wade may not have gotten their ring this time around, but we all know the Heat are going to practice hard in the off-season and be prepared for next year's season (if there is not a lockout). Miami will come out with vengeance, and whether we like it or not, we know they will be back in the finals again next year; hopefully we just see a new LeBron.
   Nowitzki handled the Finals pressure perfectly. The Finals MVP, after the game, ran into the locker room by himself to embrace his 13 year adventure NBA and what it has led to. You have to give him credit for that, and he handled winning with extreme class.
  The 2011 NBA Finals was certainly not disappointing.  We saw a hero rise, while a hero crumbles and we saw six strong and fast paced games. What else could we have asked for? Maybe a better performance from Bron Bron, but he will back.