NBA Finals: Deja Vu All Over Again

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe NBA Finals that begin Tuesday is a matchup of two teams whose previous appearance came when they played each other in 2006.  That year, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat defeated Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks for the league championship.

Fast forward to 2011, and both Wade and Nowitzki remain with their respective teams, still playing in arenas named for American Airlines.  But the Heat are much different now, with Wade being joined by LeBron James and Chris Bosh to create a kind of South Beach All-Stars.  They rammed through the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls in the previous rounds in five games each.

Besides Nowitzki, who has been having a lights-out playoff run, the Mavericks have Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry helping out.  In previous rounds, Dallas defeated the Portland Trail Blazers in six games, then swept a disinterested Los Angeles Lakers squad, and got past the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder in five games.

For the Mavericks, this may be their last best chance to win an NBA title.  Most of the stars that owner Mark Cuban spent millions to put together are in their 30s, and the proverbial window is closing.  Speaking of Cuban, we haven't heard much from him lately.  Is he afraid of getting fined again?

The Heat have the brightest future, even if they're not the most beloved by NBA fans outside Miami.  The addition of James and Bosh has created the template for other big-city, big-market franchises to follow, one that will almost certainly figure in the upcoming labor negotiations.  For James, whom no less an authority than Scottie Pippen has ranked as good as Michael Jordan, this is the chance to get the championship that was denied him in Cleveland.

Because of the swagger and the attitude the Heat have been projecting, they will win a title or two (including this one).  But not several in a row, as somebody predicted.  Nobody's done that since the Celtics in the 1960s.  Red Auerbach, wherever he is, wouldn't stand for it.