Though it looked for a couple of weeks like the Miami Heat were poised to win a championship, the Big Three ended up no match for the Dallas Mavericks down the stretch in the NBA Finals.  Down 3-2, the Heat put up a substantial fight but couldn’t hold it together in the second half in Game 6 once Dirk Nowitzki finally got it going.  In the early going, it was Jason Terry and J.J. Barea who carried the Mavs while Dirk struggled to find his stroke.  Terry was hitting three-pointers and jump shots from very early on while Barea continue to put a significant amount of pressure on the Heat, eventually breaking the Heat spacing and opening up an elite defense.  Once Dirk heated up, the series was over.

Like the Bulls, the Heat now have to head into their offseason scratching their heads as they look to find a way to improve.  Though their star-studded team got them all the way to the cusp of an NBA championship, the deep Dallas Mavericks proved too much for the Heat and eventually LeBron James wasn’t able to pull the team together.  Even with another great effort from Dwyane Wade, LeBron faded in the fourth quarter in each of the last two games, bringing about a hailstorm of criticism.  For now, both Chicago and Miami will have some work to do in the offseason.

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