And the Winner Is...

So, unless you've been living under a rock, you now know that the Dallas Mavericks are the NBA Champions!

I will be honest. I think it was about a month before the season ended, Dallas went on like a six or seven game win-streak. Jason Terry was interviewed after the game and he boldly predicted on television that the Mavericks were going all the way to the Finals and were going to win.

I sat up on the couch and laughed out loud. "Look at this clown!" I quipped. There was no way at "that time" did I think the Mavs had a snowball's chance in hell of going to the Finals, let alone winning it. Yet, like a carefully crafted script, they swept the Lakers, then beat the Thunder and Texas two-stepped their way into the Finals against the Miami Heat, the team that kept them from hoisting the trophy five years earlier.

I still didn't believe. Five years ago, I watched in disappointment as Dallas gave away that Finals series to a Heat team with an over-achieving Wade and an ailing Shaq. But key players, this time, stepped up, effectively shutting down at least one of the Big Three all of the time. They earned it! And, they are the champions! While, this summer will surely be focused on LeBron James' surprising absence in the Finals. How he was missing in action everytime his team really needed him, Dallas will quietly celebrate being number one. Until next season...