J.J. Barea and Dirk Nowitzki share a fun moment with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who has a tight grip on the championship trophy. Nowitzki is craddling his Bill Russell Finals MVP trophy. Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images (Click on pic to buy it)

Written by

Jude Thaddeus L. Bautista

After the Finals Game 1 win by Miami, everyone was writing off the chances of the Mavs. It was Sir Charles Barkley who correctly called it, “I see Dallas winning it in 6.” Everyone who listens to the Chuckster knows that he always makes wild predictions. But this time he hit the nail on the head when no one else dared do it. The other analyst, Greg Anthony voiced the opinion of most NBA observers in picking the Miami Heat.

Charles Barkley (center) was in Saturday Night Live 35 airing in JACK TV in the Phil. SNL 35 regular cast mates from left is Kenan Thompson and Andy Samberg.

Mark Cuban shakes the hand of Donald Carter

I’m not going into the play by play of Game 6 the way I usually do because, everyone can get it in a lot of other sites. What I’d like to get into is why I believe the championship is so special. One of the first and most important is that no one thought they could do it. During the regular season the Spurs had the best record. The Lakers was in position to give Phil Jackson a championship send off. OKC had a lot of bright young stars. No one picked the Mavs. In fact Rick Kamla quoted Coach George Karl as wanting to meet Dallas in the playoffs, believing they would be easier to eliminate. In every series they had, their opponents were always favored to win against them.

from left current Mavs owner Cuban (w cap) insisted Dallas Mavericks founder Donald Carter recieves the trophy from NBA Commissioner David Stern w mic

During the ceremony, one thing that made me admire owner Mark Cuban was his requirement to involve the original owner and founder of the Mavericks Donald Carter in it. Mark Cuban asked David Stern to hand the Larry O’Brien trophy to Carter.

Savvy veterans Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd pose with the most coveted hardware in the NBA. Nowitzki shows off his Finals MVP trophy, and Kidd holds the Larry O'Brien championship trophy. Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images (Click on pic to buy it)

Kidd explained his experience in his rookie years with Dallas, “This is huge for the Carter family. For the down years that Dallas had to still be a part of it once Cuban bought the team. Just to see this day come, they’re on cloud nine. We’re so happy for them and what they’ve done for the franchise.Dallasbefore only won 27 games, once Cuban took over he set the bar high of winning 50 games. To finally cross the line of the marathon in first place is huge.”

J.J. Barea, who came up big with 15 points in Game 6, enjoys a close encounter with the championship trophy. Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images (Click on pic to buy it)

Cuban was always known as being outspoken sometimes overly criticizing playoff rivals or his perceived bad calls. He imposed an unlikely ban on himself since the beginning of the Lakers series to let his players and coach ‘do the talking.’ On the Heat side GM Pat Riley also showed a lot of class by personally going down to congratulate Rick Carlisle and Cuban.

Members of the Heat and Mavs get into a skirmish at halfcourt as a timeout is called. Marc Serota/Getty Images (Click on pic to buy it)

An interesting graphic that was displayed during the post game press cons and analysis was the number of Mavs players with 10 or more seasons WITHOUT winning a championship. It was clear to me that this was Jason Kidd’s 17^thseason and was the only time he won a championship which alone made it special. A total of 9 Mavs included Dirk with 13 seasons. Magic Johnson won his first cup in his rookie year, Jordan took five seasons.

List of Mavs players who logged in 10 seasons or more without winning a championship

Jason Terry smiles at the Podium

Jason Terry honored his idols from Gary Payton to Dr. J, “For me I just think about where I come from that’s the inner city ofSeattle, growin up many nights on the playground. Emulating the greats Isaiah Thomas, even my hometown hero like Slick Watts, Downtown Freddie Brown, Magic, now I’m in the same breath as those guys. They’re champions. Dr. J text me before game 6, he said hey son it’s your time. I responded to him, I want to be a champion, just like you and now I am.”

Shawn 'The Matrix' Marion hugs former team mate Dwyane Wade

Veteran Brian Cardinal, a.k.a. "The Janitor" and a key role player, gets his turn with the championship trophy. Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images (Click on pic to buy it)

The perception was that the Mavericks were a whole team working together battling the Miami Heat’s three superstars. An indicator is bench production: scoring 43-20 in Game 6. The bench was there for the Mavs not just in game 6 but in almost every game they won. Jason Terry is just one of them. JJ Barea ofPuerto Ricowas instrumental especially in game 6 when he broke down the defense with his penetrations and timely treys. Ian Mahinmi made the last second shot to end the first quarter. Both Mahinimi and Brian Cardinal, would most probably not even play if Brendan Haywood wasn’t injured.

Brendan Haywood celebrates with a championship belt. Victor Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images (Click on pic to buy it)