In 2006, the Dallas Mavericks tasted something that hadn't been able to sink their teeth into since they have been playing in the National Basketball Association a playoff series win against their arch-nemisis, the San Antonio Spurs. In the second round of the playoffs, the Mavericks and the Spurs played a series that might have been the best display of basketball by two almost exactly matched teams the world has ever seen. It had everything a fan could want: two major superstars (San Antonio's Tim Duncan and Dallas' Dirk Nowitski), athletic players with amazing style (San Antonio's Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili and Dallas' Josh Howard, and Jason Terry), the homecoming of recently cut Michael Finley and the match up of the two coaches Gregg Popovich and Avery Johnson. Popovich coached Johnson while he was in San Antonio and the Mavericks took on a very similar style of play to the Spurs once the Little General took over. The series was amazing and went the distance of seven games with the Mavericks winning in overtime on the road in San Antonio, but they weren't done.
In the Western Conference Finals, Nowitski picked up where he left off and proved to be almost unguardable. He torched the Phoenix Suns and the Mavs moved onto their first ever NBA Finals. The Mavs possessed home court advantage and took care of business at home by going up 2-0 on the Miami Heat. The Heat then turned the series around and won the next four games claiming the Heat's first ever NBA Championship. The Mavs will continue to be one of the Western Conference's elite teams so long as Nowitski and Johnson are around.
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