Dallas Mavericks' NBA Finals Victory Completes Texas Triangle
"Don't mess with Texas" is the battle cry of the Texas Department of Transportation in a reference to citizens not to litter.
After Sunday night, the trademark can properly be adopted by the three NBA franchises in the state of Texas; the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and now the Dallas Mavericks have all have won an NBA title.
The Rockets were first, starting in 1993 with back-to-back NBA championships against the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic.
The Spurs won their first title in 1999, winning 12 straight playoff games and knocking off the Knicks in five. After a Los Angeles Lakers three-peat that included two postseason victories over the Spurs, San Antonio finally knocked off the Lakers in 2003, en route to their second NBA title. Two more titles would follow in 2005 and 2007, giving the Spurs the "Dynasty" title after winning four NBA championships in nine seasons.
The Dallas Mavericks were always the bridesmaid, but never the bride when it came to NBA titles for the state of Texas. Since 2001, the Spurs and Mavericks met in the playoffs five times, with the Spurs winning the series 3-2.
"Soft" was the same label the Spurs had for years, and it only followed the Mavericks soon after.
In 2006, up 2-0 against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, the Mavs were on the brink of taking a commanding 3-0 lead before falling apart in Game 3. Up 13 points with six minutes left, the Heat came back to beat Dallas and won the next three games to win the 2006 NBA title.
The hurt and regret of the loss never left Dallas, and four years later they exercised the ghosts of NBA Finals past.
Miami had not lost a single playoff game at home and had not lost back-to-back playoff games during the 2011 NBA playoffs.
That was until they met the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.
Dallas not only became the first road team to win in Miami, they did it in the exact same fashion that Miami did to them four years earlier. Down 15 in the fourth quarter, Dallas closed on a 22-5 run to defeat Miami evening up the series at one apiece. Down 2-1 in the series, Dallas won three straight games to close out the 2011 NBA Finals, giving them their first NBA title and completing the triangle for the three Texas teams.
As for LeBron James, he's 0-2 in the NBA Finals, with both his losses coming against Texas teams (Spurs in 2007 and the Mavs in 2011).
