Five years ago, Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks were on their way to their first NBA championship title after winning the first two games of the series at home over Miami Heat [GALLO/GETTY]
Published On 10 Jun 201110 Jun 2011
Despite leading Heat by 13 points late in the third quarter of the third game, Mavericks lost that game along with the next three as Dwyane Wade took charge. Dallas had to wait five more seasons before booking their place in the 2010-11 finals against the same opponents [GALLO/GETTY]
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Now the Mavericks, who beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the playoffs, are finally back in the hunt for their elusive first NBA title [GALLO/GETTY]
Meanwhile the Heat line-up is a very different one indeed from the team that triumphed five years ago [GALLO/GETTY]
Only Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem remain on the Heat roster from 2006 with two-time league MVP LeBron James and six-time All Star Chris Bosh making up the much-hyped (***)Big Three(***) with Wade [GALLO/GETTY]
Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers 4-1 in the first round of playoffs then the Boston Celtics 4-1 in the semi-finals and finally the Chicago Bulls 4-1 in the Eastern Conference championship [GALLO/GETTY]
James(***) move to Miami when he became a free agent last year sparked a huge debate about having so much expensive talent on one roster [GALLO/GETTY]
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But all eyes are on towering Heat player Dirk Nowitzki, 2.13 metres tall, who is widely regarded as one of the best Europeans to ever play in the NBA [GALLO/GETTY]
First blood to Miami Heat in Game One of the series as LeBron James lead the 92-84 charge before a raucous, sold-out crowd hungry to see Miami(***)s first title since 2006 [GALLO/GETTY]
But in Game Two the Mavericks overcame a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun Heat 95-93 and even the Finals at 1-1 apiece [GALLO/GETTY]
Heat recovered from their Game Two meltdown to beat Dallas 88-86 in Game Three and take a 2-1 lead over the Mavericks in the best-of-seven series [GALLO/GETTY]
Mavs overcame a 32-point performance by Dwyane Wade and win Game Four 86-83 as LeBron James has another sub-par game on offence, finishing with eight points on three of 11 shooting and finishing scoreless in the fourth quarter [GALLO/GETTY]
Mavericks used a storming late run in game five to move to the brink of a first championship with a 112-103 victory over Heat. "That was a big win for us," said Nowitzki as the home crowd shouted (***)Beat the Heat(***) [GALLO/GETTY]
