It’s been a long road for the Mavericks, but they’re one win away from getting back to the Finals, where a rematch appears inevitable

SCOTT JACOBS

What once seemed like a possibility now feels more like fate.

The Dallas Mavericks have been on a parallel crash course to meet the Miami Heat in a 2006 NBA Finals rematch all post-season.  Since the start of round 2, no two teams have played better.  No two teams have been more clutch.  No two teams are closer to the ’ship as of this present moment.

No two teams would make for a more fascinating NBA Finals.

And after completing an unbelievable 15 point comeback in the last five minutes, before controlling the game in OT, the Mavs are on the cusp of their grand breakthrough, back to the stage where they had their well documented breakdown: the NBA Finals.  One win left and after the way OKC looked after this back-breaker at home, it’s hard to see them having any fight left.  Dallas had no problem closing out L.A. so something tells me they’re going to take care of the Thunder in front of their home crowd, sending off a celebration that will include everything but parade routes — that didn’t work out so well the first time.

Bulls fans, go ahead and yell.  Your team hasn’t played well offensively yet still was in position to steal game 3 before Chris Bosh caught fire and LeBron James put on the finishing touches.  Great, fantastic.  Here’s a cookie.  The fact of the matter is they don’t have the firepower to match Miami.  Oklahoma City doesn’t have the moxie to take out a team as hot as Dallas.  Since that epic meltdown in round 1 in Portland (which feels like a decade ago) Dallas hasn’t lost a ROAD game, and has confidence higher than Snoop Dogg.

They walk around with a swagger, but it’s more of a quiet confidence.  They know that they were the team that was too old.  “Blow the team up,” everyone told Mark Cuban after the Mavs whimpered out of last year’s post-season with a brutal dismissal at the hands of the hated Spurs.  “Dirk can’t be ‘the guy’ people started to whisper aloud.  ‘This team’s window has closed permanently shut.’

And now?  Well, after the Mavs inevitably close out the pesky, but in over their head Thunder, I’d love for them to play that song, ‘How You Like Me Now.’  Because, no one saw this turnaround coming.  They were the quietest three seed in recent playoff history, and after knocking out the resilient Trail Blazers, few gave Dallas much of a shot to beat the defending back to back champs.

They pulverized ‘em, laying the groundwork on the ever closing road to redemption.  Dirk has been picking up more accolades than a pickup artist gets chicks, and the ‘too old, over-the-hill, lack that second scorer’ team is one win away from the NBA Finals.

They’ve been a team in disarray since blowing that 2-0 series lead versus Miami back in 2006 — when Wade decided to carry the Heat entirely on his back, including an unforgettable game 3 comeback.  The Mavs kept winning in the regular season, but kept fading when the post-season lights became their brightest.  The culmination coming when they sported the league’s best record in 2007, and were promptly blitzed by the hot shot Warriors, who haven’t been relevent since.  Avery Johnson was fired in 2008, and the Mavs appeared ready to start over.

They didn’t.

Instead they began slowly adding pieces, starting with Jason Kidd, the centerpiece of a blockbuster deal that seemingly said to the world, ‘we know our window is closing, here goes nothing.’

Today Kidd won the game with a clutch three.  He has like 16 steals in four games versus OKC.  He’s been the rock Dallas envisioned when they acquired him from New Jersey for Devin Harris, Gana Diop, Trenton Hassell, Moe Ager, Keith Van Horn, a pair of draft picks and cash.  Looking back that trade was a steal for Dallas, who also received a few other guys in the swap.

Then Dallas acquired Shawn Marion in the 2009 offseason as part of a three team swap.  Tonight Marion made a huge block on Kevin Durant at the end of regulation, a ball that ended up in the hands of… you guessed it Jason Kidd.

Those were two moves of many that Dallas has made (the Tyson Chandler trade also comes to mind), with the two consistent pieces from that 2006 team being Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki.  Well Miami has two guys left from their title team: Wade and Udonis Haslem.

These two teams are so different from the ones that clashed in an epic six game series in 06.  Miami is stocked with top-tier superstar talent.  Dallas is now the team that Miami once was: led by a superstar and veteran guys.  A relatively deep team that had a bunch of guys who were craving that elusive championship.

Gary Payton, Alonzo Mourning, and Antoine Walker were just a few well known veteran guys who were running out of time in their career before running into Dallas.  They got their rings.  Soonafter they were gone from the league.  Old age catching up to them.

Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and Peja Stojakovich are all veterans now, and they’re all staring down the ends of their careers.  This could be their last shot.  O the parallels!

That loss to Miami sent Dallas on a seemingly never-ending soul search, and it hasn’t been a smooth road back to the top — where the air is crisp, and the haters are silent.  But that’s exactly where Dallas finds itself, behind the amazing Dirk, who scored 40+ points for the second out of four WCF games.

This isn’t just a better team than the Thunder, it’s a hungrier one.  It’s  team that’s been clawing back towards this stage for 5 years, and now, on the verge of that coveted second chance may run into the team that sent them spiraling in the first place.

Nothing’s set in stone yet, but Miami-Dallas is getting closer to fruition.  The way these playoffs have played out, it shouldn’t end any other way.

Photo: Getty

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