The improbable and incredible comeback by the Dallas Mavericks in their 95-93 stunner over the Miami Heat on Thursday had to be one of the most exciting finishes to a basketball game I've ever seen.
Dallas, trailing 0-1 in the NBA Finals, was down by 15 points with 7:15 remaining. Had the Mavs dropped Game 2, the next two home games would have been must-wins. Instead, they rallied and tied the series at 1-1. And it was one of the more astonishing comebacks I've seen in NBA playoff history.
I worked on Thursday night, so I didn't get to see the whole game. I listened throughout the telecast, followed it online and caught most of the final seven minutes on TV. I was mesmerized by what I saw.
Dirk Nowitzki continued to light up the court with dazzling shots. His three-pointer with just less than 30 seconds left gave Dallas a 93-90 lead. After Mario Chalmers tied the game with a three, the Mavs had the ball with 24 seconds left. Clearly, we were holding for one.
Dirk received the ball at the top of the key. With Chris Bosh defending, Dirk made a move to his right before spinning back to his left, and converted a left-handed layup with 3.6 seconds left. Pretty fitting, considering the tall German was playing with a torn tendon in the middle finger of his left hand. Didn't seem to matter on the final possession. In fact, Dirk made two layups left-handed in the final few minutes of Thursday's game.
This is why I told Mavs fans not to hit the panic button after Game 1.
There's something about this Mavs team that's different than previous editions. Something we saw in Game 4 of the Oklahoma City series, when the Mavs found themselves down 15 in the fourth quarter before forcing overtime and winning in OKC. Something we saw when Dallas swept the Lakers. Something we saw when Dallas recovered from blowing a late lead in Portland and closed out the series. With previous Mavericks teams, perhaps blowing that big lead against the Trail Blazers would have discouraged them.
Not this team.
This team doesn't let anything faze it; not rowdy fans, not the talent of Kevin Durant and the Thunder, or LeBron James and the Heat. I'm convinced it starts with defense. Credit coach Rick Carlisle for preaching and instilling quality defensive instincts with this group. It's given them a swagger and the necessary confidence to walk into a visitor's building and actually welcome the jeering from rowdy opposing fans. It seems like when the Mavs play on the road, they feed off every fan who tells them they're terrible, old and/or washed up. That's the difference with this Mavericks team.
Now, admittedly, when we were down 15 on Thursday in Miami, I didn't foresee a mammoth comeback on the horizon. But if there was a Mavericks team that could pull off such a comeback, this was the one.
On Tuesday, after the Mavs lost Game 1, they were slammed on talk radio. I listened to it on the way home and agreed with none of it. Now you see why. How can you be so sure of a series after one game?
I tweeted on Tuesday night after Game 1: "If we take game 2, it's a whole new series heading back to dallas. #mffl #gomavs."
Isn't that the truth.
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