Greatest moment in each NBA franchise’s history

Dallas Mavericks: 2011 NBA Championship

The Dallas Mavericks had been labeled as an NBA team that was exciting, entertaining, and always in the playoff picture for the 2000s. Even with a run to the NBA Finals in 2006 where they eventually lost to the Miami Heat, the Finals loss only fueled the criticisms of the team that they weren’t going to be able to get the job done and would never win a title while Dirk Nowitzki was their star.

Then came the 2010-11 season and that narrative and those criticisms looked quite silly.

There’s no denying that there was plenty of help in Dallas to help Nowitzki chase the title. A veteran Jason Kidd was back running the point, Jason Terry, Caron Butler, and Shawn Marion were all key offensive contributors, and Tyson Chandler was the defensive anchor for the team as the center of the frontcourt. However, there’s also no denying that those players aren’t winning a championship if Dirk wasn’t brilliant.

Nowitzki had a typical Dirk year during the regular season as he averaged 23 points, seven rebounds and 2.6 assists per game on 51.7 percent shooting and 29.3 percent shooting from three. In the postseason, though, he turned it up and was just inhuman. In 21 postseason games, Dirk put up 27.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, w.5 assists and shot an incredible 46 percent from three.

This wasn’t just a testament to Dirk’s abilities and greatness—though it was that too—but it was also affirmation in Mark Cuban for sticking with his guy in Nowitzki as they took all comers, including the newly formed Big Three in the Finals, and came out with the Larry O’Brien Trophy. There’s no moment bigger than that for Dallas.

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