Dirk Nowitzki’s Dallas Mavericks have won their first ever NBA title after defeating Miami Heat 105-95 in Florida on Sunday to claim a 4-2 series victory.
Dallas guard Jason Terry scored a game high 27 points, while Nowitzki was named the MVP of the series after another 21 points and 11 rebounds in deciding game.
The Mavericks, who have been a franchise for 30 years, claimed their first ever NBA crown.
It was veteran Jason Kidd’s first NBA crown after years in the game and he was handed the match ball, having lost two finals series before.
The Mavericks lost to the Heat 4-2 in the 2006 NBA finals and the Dallas team was delighted to achieve redemption.
Topscorer Terry said: “I go to sleep with it every night, Dirk and I, the city of Dallas. [Sunday night], we got vindication.”
MVP Nowitzki said: “This is unbelievable. We are a resilient bunch. This team has come back from huge deficits all season long.”
The Mavericks may have shot poorly in the first-half but they hit back in the second stanza. Nowitzki wasn’t at his best until late in the contest, but his teammates put in a brilliant performance to get the side in a winning position. Then Nowitzki took charge and got the job done in the fourth.
On the other hand, for all Miami’s big name stars such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, they couldn’t find the leader to inspire them when the game was up for grabs midway through the final term, as they trailed by 10 points.
Wade said: “We could never get over the hump. When we pulled close, they continued to make shots.”
Bosh added: “We made a lot of mistakes. They wanted it more than we did.”
A deflated Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said: “There’s an emptiness right now. Hats go off to Dallas.
“It was a tough series. Sometimes you just come up short. Crunch time needed to be done. They made bigger plays than us.”
But more than anyone else, Nowitzki (who turns 33 next week) deserved this crown after not having the team around him for so long.
His finals series was excellent too, despite tearing a tendon in his finger in game one, as he averaged 26 points and 9.7 rebounds.
Nowitzki’s Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle hailed the German as one of the greats of the game.
“Dirk Nowitzki is one of the very greatest players in the history of the game,” Carlisle said. “That has been validated here tonight.”
Nowitzki, who won the 2007 regular season MVP crown and has made 10 All-Star trips, finally reached the summit he’s been chasing for so long.
“If I had won one early in my career, maybe I never would have put in all the work,” Nowitzki said.
“This is what I obviously played for. We’re world champions. It’s unbelievable.”