Once upon a time, the Heat were the big bad wolf of the NBA. If you said the Heatles first public appearance was a spectacle, you’d be underselling the event by quite a margin. It was a monumental shift in the NBA landscape, as an on-court product and the NBA players’ approach to assessing one’s power. The Mavs played a significant role in Miami’s reign.
The Mavericks, a franchise built on the shoulders of one player, stood tall, incidentally opposing the Big Three and all it represented. Dirk Nowitzki and company avenged their 2006 loss to the Heat to bring home the NBA championship in 2011.