First-time NBA finalists Miami and Dallas will begin their championship series on Thursday after beating the Detroit Pistons and the Phoenix Suns, respectively, in the conference finals.
Two Dallas Morning News columnists review the hard 26 years that Mavs fans have endured to reach this pinnacle. "Winford Boynes tossed in 21 points, Tom LaGarde grabbed 14 boards, and the Mavericks beat San Antonio by 11," Tim Cowlishaw writes1. "I was in a half-full Reunion Arena that night 25 years and nearly eight months ago when Dallas joined the world of big-time pro basketball. Of course, that wasn't the biggest news of the day in Dallas, certainly not to a reporter for the Daily Oklahoman. The University of Texas beat the Sooners, 20-13, at the Cotton Bowl that afternoon in 1980. This would be one of many Dallas events to overshadow the city's new basketball franchise for years to come."
Adds David Moore, "I haven't been present for everything that has happened to the Mavericks through the years. But I've been around long enough to remember Brad Davis' bell bottoms and Jay Vincent's lime green leisure suit. I was in training camp the day coach [deleted] Motta cut a player during stretching exercises. This is a franchise that has seen Keith Grant rise from equipment manager to general manager and coach Quinn Buckner alienate everyone around him. There was Derek Harper dribbling out the clock against the Lakers, then handling his mistake with enough class to win everyone's admiration. There was Rolando Blackman's pure jump shot and Sam Perkins' smooth style."
This year's Mavs team is a different breed: A roster acquired by billionaire owner Mark Cuban and melded into West champions by Avery Johnson is favored against the Heat. Dallas swept the season series, embarrassing Miami, 112-76, at home in February. But Miami won its next 10 games, has gone 34-15 overall since then and is 12-5 in the playoffs (as are the Mavs). Miami Herald columnist Greg Cote looks back at that rout four months ago, and its aftermath. "The season pivoted that night, beginning its remarkable journey from that depth to a height this 18-year-old franchise has never reached," Mr. Cote writes. "Frustrations had been building inside all season as the Heat drifted and sputtered and clanked. That night turned a pressure valve; everything that been held corrosively inside and needed to come out did so with a cathartic hiss after the game."
Predictions
