The Dallas Mavericks surprised everybody with one of the most memorable playoffs runs in recent times. Back in 2011, they went round after round defeating rivals until they landed in the Finals. The Miami Heat of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were waiting for them in the biggest series of all, considered the big favorites to win it all.
In the end, the Mavs did their thing again and shocked them in 6 games. The fate of series would’ve been different if it wasn’t for one moment that changed the second game and the rest of the series for the Mavericks. Jason Terry recalled in 2012 how an early celebration from Dwyane Wade fueled the Mavs, who had a great run to snatch the second game of the series (via The Dallas Morning News).
“Dwyane Wade passes me as the timeout is called. They’re throwing the air punches. He still has his hand up, like he’s finishing off his shot or whatever. He’s not a shooter. Why is your hand still up, first of all? He’s a scorer. He doesn’t follow through and leave his hand up. I’m looking at him and this rage came over me. I looked at the scoreboard. There’s still six minutes left in the ballgame. This game is not over. They’re celebrating as if they had won the championship. I looked over at Darrell Armstrong, and I said, ‘D.A., nobody likes a showoff.’ As we proceeded to go back out and kick their butt, I think that was the turning point in the series. We put on an exhibition. It was exciting to be a part of it.”
At that moment, Miami took an 88-73 lead over Dallas with 7:14 left in the 4th quarter. After that, Terry would score the next 6 points and the Mavericks went on a 22-5 run to win the game. They got a 95-93 victory, stole the home advantage and one would say, broke the Heat’s confidence.
Miami would only win one more game during the series, while the Mavs won three, winning the NBA championship in a year that they’ll never forget. It’d be interesting to see the real impact of that loss on the Heat; for Dallas, it was the start of their journey to the title.
