After a trying, decade-long run that consistently placed them along the title’s periphery, the Dallas Mavericks finally claimed their first ever NBA championship last June. The fact that Dirk and the Mavs are the reigning champs still seems like a hazy dream — a vision almost too similar to a storybook to be real, and an image obscured just enough by the lockout to give it that ethereal glow. But the trophy itself is no fantasy, and the Mavs will set out this season to defend their right to another one just like it with every resource at their disposal.

It won’t be easy. Even with an impressive run of low-cost off-season additions, the Mavs are hardly in a position to repeat as the league’s champions:

Losing the “best offense”

Contrary to their offense-first reputation, the Mavericks were a surprisingly balanced team last year, as they finished the regular season ranked eighth in both offensive and defensive efficiency. It was that two-way effectiveness that really pushed Dallas over the top in the NBA Finals; although Dirk Nowitzki was a certifiable terror all throughout the Mavs’ playoff run, it was the team’s defensive flexibility that allowed them to corral LeBron James and Dwyane Wade with the title on the line.

Dwane Casey, the former Mavs assistant who now sits at the head of the bench for the Toronto Raptors, was a big part of that. It was Casey’s system that put Dallas’ many defensive elements into their appropriate context, and turned Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and Tyson Chandler into versatile, switchable, and highly deployable defensive weapons. Dallas just had so much size and mobility across the board, and that positional flexibility gave the Mavs an uncommon success in defending the pick-and-roll.

Things could get slightly tougher without Casey, even though his system has been handed off to assistant coach Monte Mathis. Yet they’re assuredly going to be more difficult without Tyson Chandler, who didn’t receive the long-term security or financial commitment he desired from the Mavs in free agency. Chandler is now a New York Knickerbocker, leaving some combination of Brendan Haywood, Ian Mahinmi, Dirk Nowitzki, Lamar Odom, and Brandan Wright to fill in minutes as Dallas’ defensive anchor. Haywood is still quite underrated in that regard, but even at his best he’s a few steps below Chandler. He’ll battle opponents in the post, do his best do hedge screens, and generally make the right rotations, but Haywood consistently lags behind Chandler in terms of overall defensive efficacy.

It’s the depth at center that could give Dallas more significant problems, though. As is usually the case, Chandler’s one-time backup is ready to step in and produce. But what of the players behind him? Ian Mahinmi may be the most talented fouler in the NBA. Nowitzki and Odom would give Dallas a virtually unmatchable offensive alignment if they played center, but don’t have the same rotational value as Chandler or Haywood. Wright is athletic, but is undeniably a work in progress. Yet that group will have some huge responsibilities when Haywood is resting or plagued with foul trouble, and it’s hard to imagine them living up to last season’s benchmark.

The never-ending quest for improvement

Even though the Mavs will enter the 2011-2012 season having accomplished their greatest goal the year prior, they still face the same pressure that falls on every defending champ: the burden of being even better. Dallas can’t just be as good as they were last season; in order to counter all the moves that have been made, the development of young players around the league, and the more nuanced understanding opposing coaches now have of how to use their respective rosters, the Mavs will need to find some legitimate means toward actual improvement.

And looking up and down this roster, it’s hard to find compelling reason why Dallas would actually be a better team this season. Chandler’s departure obviously hurts quite a bit, as do the losses of Caron Butler and J.J. Barea. But above all, it was Dallas’ decision to value financial flexibility over all else that’s put them in their current position.

The Mavs have done an incredible job of upgrading their roster under these circumstances; the additions of Lamar Odom, Vince Carter, Delonte West, and the aforementioned Brandan Wright are downright gaudy considering their minimal financial costs. But how does the shift in personnel impact Dallas’ ability to field competitive lineups? They’ve bolstered their depth virtually across the board, but what have they given up at center in order to make that possible?

I think at best, you’re looking for a Mavs team that would essentially be a wash in terms of overall quality, as they compensate for some defensive slippage with offensive gain. Yet it’s hard to see — even in that best-case scenario — how the defending champs would meet their burden for improvement beyond their performance last season. Dallas’ moves to date have done well to mitigate some of the team’s free agent losses, but aren’t quite robust enough to completely erase them.

If you keep rolling the dice…

On the Mavs’ Media Day, new Maverick Vince Carter may have summed up Dallas’ playoff run best.

“[The Mavs] just made it happen,” Carter said. “It takes a lot of luck and opportunity, and they seized the moment. Could people honestly say they were going to win it at the beginning of the year? No, not really. Not even in the middle of the year. When you put a team like this together that’s committed and when you get a bunch of veteran guys, anything could happen.”

With a team like the one the Mavs had last season, anything could happen. Dallas put itself in a position to succeed time and time again, and rolled the dice. On the ropes against the Portland Trailblazers? Rolled a six. Comeback victory against the Lakers on the road thanks to a favorable call? Rolled a six. Need a knockout punch in Game 4 against the defending champs? Six. A complete blitzkrieg en route to an impossible comeback against Oklahoma City? Another one.

You get the idea, because we all witnessed it: Dallas got every single break they needed in every single series of last year’s postseason, and while that made their championship run one for the ages, it also makes it incredibly difficult to replicate. Dallas is a very good team, but thanks to surges and breaks and explosions at the best possible times, they — if only temporarily — became a truly amazing one. You, I, and the history books will never forget it.

As Carter says, anything could happen. But it’d be silly to expect the same result, even after the Mavs again put themselves in a position to roll the dice with quality regular season performance.

Gotta run!.

Oct 11, 2011 8:00am

David Karp/AP Photo

The Dallas Mavericks’ defense of their 2011 NBA Championship title will have to wait, indefinitely.

NBA Commissioner David Stern canceled the first two weeks of the NBA season Monday after owners and players failed to reach agreement on a labor dispute despite 13 hours of negotiations over two days.

“We remain very, very far apart on virtually all issues,” Stern told reporters in New York Monday.  “We just have a gulf that separates us.”

“We are so far apart.  We can’t close the gap,” Stern said, adding that it’s doubtful a full 82-game season can be played.

The players and owners of the NBA’s 30 teams are fighting over how to divide $4 billion in league revenues, and over the league’s system of rules that govern team payrolls and player salaries.

Opening night was scheduled for Nov. 1 but will now not be played until Nov. 14, assuming the two sides can reach agreement by then.  The cancellation includes 100 games in all.

Representatives for the players and and the owners said they would remain in contact, but didn’t schedule additional formal talks.  If no labor deal is reached by the end of the month, the remainder of the November schedule will likely be canceled as well.

The delay in the season means that the NBA will play less than an 82-game schedule for the second time in recent years.  The league’s last labor strife, in 1999, did not come to an end until the first week of the calendar year, just before the deadline to cancel the entire season.

Under the new delay announced by Stern, each team will lose between six and eight games, costing the teams’ owners more than $83 million in lost ticket sales. The league is expected to lose at least $700-$800 million in revenue for each month of lost games.

Claiming that the nearly all of the league’s 30 teams are facing deficits, the NBA is demanding that players’ current 57 percent share of all “basketball-related revenue” be reduced.

Because of the failure to reach a deal, most players will now miss their first paychecks on Nov. 15, and see their offers reduced because of teams’ lost revenues.

“I think our players have been clear from the beginning that we want to play basketball,” Fisher said.

Derek Fisher, president of the players union, characterized the cancellation as disappointing, but expected.

“This is what we anticipated would probably happen, and here we are,” he said Monday in New York.  “We’ll deal with this with our chin up.”

“I think our players have been clear from the beginning that we want to play basketball,” he added.  “Our players are the best in the world…and that will continue to be our position as we try and find a resolution.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Guard J.J. Barea(notes) has spent his entire five-year career with the Dallas Mavericks, and he’ll be a free agent for the first time whenever the league and its players finally come to a consensus on the next CBA.

According to ESPN Dallas, Barea is feeling fairly strongly that he’ll end up returning the NBA champion Mavs. “If you want to go by percentages, I think 75 percent I’ll be back in Dallas and 25 percent something else happens,” Barea said, according to the site. “My first option is going to be Dallas.”

The 27-year-old posted career-high averages of 9.5 points, 3.9 assists, and two rebounds per game last season.

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Source: ESPN Dallas

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Dirk Nowitzki sparked Dallas to a stunning fourth-quarter comeback as the Mavericks fought back from a 15-point deficit to beat the Miami Heat 95-93 and even the NBA Finals series at 1-1 on Thursday.

Nowitzki, who injured the tendon in the middle finger of his left hand in Tuesday’s series opener, scored on a driving lay-up with three seconds remaining to seal a dramatic victory for the visitors.

Miami’s Dwyane Wade launched a 28-foot, three-point attempt at the buzzer but his desperate shot hit the back of the rim, eliciting a collective groan from 20,000 home fans at American Airlines Arena.

“In this league you have to play ’til the end,” said Nowitzki, who overcame a woeful first half to finish with 24 points and 11 rebounds. “This is the finals.

“You can be down 20. You have to keep plugging. You never know what’s going to happen in this league. And we kept on fighting.”

The best-of-seven series shifts to Dallas for the next three contests, with Game Three at the American Airlines Center on Sunday.

Miami looked to have seized control of the game, and the series, with a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter that padded their two-point advantage into a 88-73 lead with just over seven minutes remaining.

Wade, who scored 36 points on a variety of long jump shots, running one-handers and fast breaks, scored nine points during the run, triggering a party atmosphere in South Florida.

“Seeing them celebrate like that, man, it really was disheartening for us,” said Dallas guard Jason Terry, who had eight of his 16 points in the final quarter.

“Then I took another glance at the score and there was a lot of time left. And so in that huddle during a timeout we looked at each other to a man and said: ‘Hey, we have one more opportunity. Let’s go make a run at this.’”

Dallas embarked on a 20-2 run and Nowitzki’s 25-foot three-pointer with 26 seconds left gave the Mavericks an unlikely 93-90 lead.

“I don’t really know what happened,” said Heat forward Chris Bosh, who had just 12 points on four-of-16 shooting. “We had everything going. We had the momentum going.

“They took us out of our rhythm. They showed us some different looks, and we were playing against the shot clock pretty much the whole end of the fourth quarter.”

Miami reserve guard Mario Chalmers nailed a three-pointer with 24 seconds left to knot the score at 93-93, setting the stage for Nowitzki’s game winner.

“Hang out. Hang around. Keep believing,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle added. “This team has been through some difficult situations. We’ve been down big a couple of times in the playoffs.

“We have shown that we have the ability to come back and the guys believe that if we get stops, we’ll always give ourselves a chance.”

Miami’s LeBron James scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds but had five turnovers in a quiet night for the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player.

“We said in the huddle we were up 15, that this team is very capable of coming back,” Wade said. “They’ve proven it. They’ve shown it.

“We didn’t have to score another point to win the game. Our defense is what we lay our heads on. We didn’t play it the way we normally play. They deserved it. And we didn’t.”

The Heat now has to win one on the road to extend the series back to Miami and deny the Mavericks their first NBA crown.

“All year our guys have believed,” said Carlisle. “And tonight was another good example. They had to win the game. It wasn’t easy.”

That’s all the news for today.

An exterior view of the American Airlines Arena before the start Game 1 of the 2011 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks on May 30, 2011 in Miami, Florida.Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images/AFP

By Jun Medina Special Correspondent

It’s a classic matchup between the NBA’s best offensive team against the league’s best defensive squad as the Miami Heat host the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night (Monday in Manila) at the American Airlines Arena for the opening game of their best-of-seven championship finals.

Judging by their playoff performances, the Heat and the Mavs look evenly matched with identical 12-3 win-loss records in the current post-season.

The Mavericks defeated the surprisingly tough Portland Trailblazers, 4-2; swept the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers; and trounced the Oklahoma Thunders 4-1 in their best of seven Western Conference finals.

Spectacular showing
The Heat were just as spectacular, disposing of the Philadelphia 76ers, the Eastern Conference defending champs Boston Celtics, and the Chicago Bulls, the best team in the regular season, by identical scores of 4-1.

Erik Spoelstra, the Heat’s Filipino American head coach, stressed that defense would be the crucial factor in the Heat’s quest for its second NBA title against Dallas, which he described as “the best offensive team in the NBA.”

“We have to rely on our system, our disposition, and the habits we developed as a team—using our speed and athletic ability,” said Spoelstra in a media interview, a video of which was posted Sunday in the Heat’s website.

“We are an aggressive, attacking, physical defensive team,” said Spoelstra, who became the youngest NBA head coach at 37 when he was handpicked by NBA great Pat Riley succeed him as coach on April 26, 2008.

Under Spoelstra’s guidance, the Heat have used their agility and athleticism to the hilt, attacking the rim almost at every opportunity during the playoffs.

In his first year as head coach, the Pinoy hoop strategist immediately made his mark, posting the biggest one-season turnaround ever for a rookie coach in leading the Heat from 15 to 43 wins in 2008-09.

Spoelstra led the Heat to the post-season in 2009 and 2010, but Miami failed to go past the regional playoffs.

Nowitzki’s challenge
He conceded that Dirk Nowitzki, the 7-foot Mavericks power forward and top scorer, would pose “quite a defensive challenge” on the Heat, which is considered the best defensive team in the league.

“There is no magic pill or formula to stop an MVP like [Nowitzki]. He is a great player for a reason. He scores in different ways. We will have multiple players guard him,” said Spoelstra, 40, whose mother, Elisa Celino, is from San Pablo City in Laguna.

Spoelstra’s Heat are slightly favored against the Mavs because of the formidable combination of NBA All-Stars LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in the Miami line-up.

On Monday, the Heat displayed their physical defense during final practice before Tuesday night’s opening game.

Ira Winderman, who covers the Heat beat for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, said Spoelstra was compelled to stop the practice because it was becoming too physical.

“I actually had to cut it short again,” Winderman quoted Spoelstra as saying. “Guys were hitting a little too hard, and a little too amped up.”

Primed for playoffs

Guard “Dwyane Wade” Dwyane Wade later said during the media day at the Triple A stadium that their team was all pumped up for the chance to win another title.

“It was great energy-wise,” Wade said of the morning workout. “It’s the finals. You can tell. Everyone is giddy, excited.”

During the same media event, LeBron James brushed aside comparisons between him and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

“The most important thing is to win a ring first,” said James, who has proved in the current playoffs his ability to deliver for the Heat during crunch time, both at the offensive and defensive ends.

The Heat are favored by odd makers 65-35 to win their second NBA championships mainly because it counts on three of the best players in the series—James, Wade and Bosh.

‘Long grind’ seen
Steeped in defense—like his mentor, NBA great Pat Riley—Spoelstra said the series could prove to be a “long grind” for both teams.

“The key to [victory] is defense and the ability to execute the game plan down the stretch,” said Spoelstra, who has visited the Philippines in each of the last two years as an NBA ambassador of goodwill and to conduct basketball clinics.

Known as much for their formidable firepower, the Heat have demonstrated their ability to limit the output of the best offensive does in the league, like the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls.

Now, they have the job cut for them against Dallas, the league’s best shooting team that also ranks second in assists.

Title rematch
The Miami-Dallas series is a reprise of the playoffs five years ago won by the Heat in six games after losing the first two home games at American Airlines Arena.

Only two players remain on the squads of that 2006 finals series—finals MVP Wade and power forward Udonis Haslem of the Heat and Mavs top scorer Dirk Nowitzki and point guard Jason Terry. The head coaches then were Riley and Avery Johnson for Dallas.

Spoelstra, then an assistant coach to Riley, was part of the experience, but this time he is the one in charge. And he will pit basketball tactics against Rick Carlisle, a highly regarded veteran head coach.

Both teams also feature line-ups that are better and stronger. For instance, Erick Dampier, then starting center for the Mavs now plays off the bench for Miami.

Nowitzki, probably the best shooter among seven-footers to ever play in the NBA, has vastly improved, according to Heat power forward Udonis Haslem, who was assigned to guard the German star in the 2006 finals.

And Novitzki who scored two 40-plus games in the conference finals against Oklahoma, has a strong supporting cast in point guard Jason Kidd, guard DeShawn Stevenson, forward Shawn Marion, big man Tyson Chandler at center.

Miami don’t have a Shaquille O’Neal this time, but they have the Big 3, point guard Mike Bibby and center Joel Anthony in the staring line-up.
Dallas enjoys a slightly deeper bench. But the whole series could boil down to the fact that Miami has three of the best players—Wade, James and Bosh—who continue to play better in the post season.
This writer’s fearless forecast: Miami Heat in six games.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

There is the quick update of the day.

MIAMI (AP)—Reaching the NBA finals typically means a shorter offseason for
the teams involved. This year, the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks realize they
might be looking at a lengthy layoff because labor strife looms.

The collective bargaining agreement expires June 30, and while the league
and players are trying to reach a new deal, they remain far apart on major
financial issues, raising the possibility of a work stoppage.

“Until something is done, nothing is done,” Heat player representative
James Jones(notes) said Monday on the eve of the finals. “We’re looking at a scenario
where we’re riding a high of excitement and the game is thriving, to coming back
to reality and understanding we’re in a labor battle where there may not be
games and players may be locked out.”

In an attempt to block a potential lockout, the players’ association filed
an unfair labor charge against the league last week with the National Labor
Relations Board.

“From what I hear and read and see, we’re going to get locked out,”
Mavericks co-player rep Brian Cardinal(notes) said. “But hopefully that doesn’t
happen.”

Thanks largely to interest in the Heat, the league has seen a big increase
in TV ratings during this year’s playoffs. Any work stoppage would come with the
sport’s popularity at a peak.

“Not thinking about that now,” the Heat’s Dwyane Wade(notes) said. “When it’s
time to think about it, we will. Obviously, it’s something that we’ve known is a
possibility for a while. All of us have done our jobs and if there is, we’ll be
prepared for it.

“But at this point, the game is at its highest. The game is doing great.
We’ve been part of the most-watched games in NBA history. NBA basketball is as
(good) as it’s been in a long time.”

DAMPIER’S TURNABOUT: When Erick Dampier(notes) first saw the players’ parking area
at AmericanAirlines Arena, he was less than thrilled. Like many of the hallways
around the Heat locker room, the sides of the garage are covered in pictures.

Pictures, that is, of Miami’s win over Dallas in the 2006 NBA finals—when
Dampier was a member of the Mavericks.

He’s with the Heat now, and even though he’s endured the ignominious fate of
going from a starter for much of the second half of the regular season to being
out of the postseason rotation entirely, Dampier is pleased just to have another
chance to win the ring that slipped away from him in 2006 when the Mavs won the
first two games of the series before dropping four straight.

Dampier played in 51 games this season, starting 22, and hasn’t appeared for
the Heat since April 6.

“Being on a team like this, you have to sacrifice something,” said
Dampier, who signed with the Heat in November after Udonis Haslem(notes) was injured.
“I just looked at it as, I have to do whatever’s necessary for the team to win.
… Being older, having played this game for a while, it’s only about getting an
opportunity to win a championship.”

Seeing old friends on the Dallas side during these finals will not make the
series emotionally trying, Dampier said. He’s with Miami now, and he made peace
a long time ago with what happened in 2006.

“It’s all about us winning at this point,” Dampier said. “We can
reference back to 2006 all we want to. That doesn’t mean a damn thing if we
don’t win it this year. Those guys won it in 2006 and they deserved to win it.
That’s how I look at it. Here’s our opportunity for us to win. We’ve just got to
go out there and take advantage of it.”

FORMER TEAMMATES: Mavericks guard Jason Terry(notes) knows Heat guard Mike Bibby(notes)
well, and not just from scouting reports. They were teammates for two seasons at
Arizona in 1996-98.

“Grilled cheese and French fries—that’s all he would eat back then,”
Terry said Monday.

Terry said he keeps in touch with Bibby, which hasn’t always been easy this
year. Bibby played for three teams during the regular season, and he gave up his
entire salary for next season to join Miami.

Now the 13th-year pro has a chance to win his first ring.

“At this point in his career he has nothing left to do but win a
championship,” Terry said. “This was a great situation for him, and I’m happy
for him. We’re brothers. But when the lights come on Tuesday night, we’ll be
fighting for every inch of this court.”

Terry also seeks his first title. He has spent the past seven years with the
Mavericks and averaged 15.8 points per game during the regular season, mostly
off the bench.

“He’s still playing at a high level,” Bibby said. “He’s being aggressive.
The way he’s playing now is the way I always saw him play when we were at school
together.”

SHOOTING STAR: Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki(notes) is shooting 52 percent from the
floor, 52 percent from 3-point range and 93 percent from the foul line so far in
the playoffs.

What makes those numbers look even better is the fact that he had similar
ones in the 2010 postseason.

Nowitzki shot 55 percent from the field, 57 percent from beyond the arc and
95 percent from the foul line in Dallas’ six playoff games last year. He’s on
pace to become the first player in the last 20 years to shoot at least 50
percent from the floor, 50 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent from the
foul line in multiple postseasons.

Over that span, 15 other players have done so once, including Heat reserve
James Jones in 2009.

And for comparison’s sake, Nowitzki shot just 34 percent from 3-point range
during the 2006 playoffs, when Dallas lost to Miami in the title series.

AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

FP – Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki insists he carries no mental scars from five years ago as his team prepares to battle it out with the Miami Heat for the NBA title.

The best-of-seven championship series starting in Miami on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) is a rematch of the 2006 season decider, which saw the Mavericks fall apart after jumping out to a 2-0 series lead.

Dallas even led game three by 13 points halfway through the fourth quarter before the Heat snatched victory.

Nowitzki missed a chance to tie that game at the free throw line with 3.4 seconds to go.

Nowitzki can’t stop thinking about the 2006 finals loss but denies he’s motivated by revenge.

“It doesn’t really matter that much to me,” Nowitzki said.

“We had a huge chance in ’06 and let it slip away, so we’ve got another crack at it. You never know in this league if you ever get another chance.

“Obviously, it was one of the toughest losses we’ve ever gone through as a franchise.

“To be up 2-0 and not find a way to win another game, that was tough. It took us a long time to get back to this stage.”

One of the key matchups is at power forward where Chris Bosh will go up against Nowitzki.

Bosh will have his hands full with the lanky German, who has missed just two free throws in 61 tries.

Nowitzki posted a couple of 40-point performances over Oklahoma City and averaged 32.2 points per game in the Western Conference finals.

The Heat will be hoping for more of the best from LeBron James, who is in the midst of the best playoffs of his career and has proved his value when post-season games are on the line.

James thoroughly outplayed Chicago’s Derrick Rose in the semi-finals, making some wonder if the league MVP should have gone to James for a third-straight year.

Expectations were always great when Dwyane Wade persuaded James and Chris Bosh to sign with Miami less than a year ago, and the team is now living up to them.

However it wasa rocky start to the season for the Heat.

“We’ve had to go through a lot of adversity,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

“That struggle that we went through in March, where we lost five straight, that helped us. As painful as it was, we had to go through that fire together to be able to gain the confidence where we could be successful now in the postseason.”

Miami’s early season struggles hit a low when they lost 106-95 to the Mavericks on November 22.

The soul searching after that loss resulted in a closed-door meeting where the Heat players ironed out their differences.

Four weeks later, the Mavericks edged Miami 98-96, snapping the Heat’s 12-game win streak.

Miami host games one and two on Tuesday and Thursday before the series shifts to Dallas for up to three games.

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.