NBA History: Looking at all the NBA Champions since 2000

#8 Dallas Mavericks - 1 championship (2011)

Dallas Mavericks v Miami Heat - Game Six

The Dallas Mavericks finally won the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2011. It was a season they probably shouldn’t have been able to reach the pinnacle of NBA Basketball. It was the first playoff run of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh playing together on a super team for the Miami Heat and was year one of 4 consecutive years that the Heat would compete for the NBA crown.

However, the Heat like the Mavericks were delayed in accomplishing their goal. The Mavericks were a regular season winning machine for 11 straight years winning 50 or more games. They even won 60 in the 2002-03 and 2005-06 seasons. The 2006-07 season saw them win a whopping 67 games. The Mavericks led by Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse were near NBA Champions in 2006 but fell to the eventual winners the Miami Heat.

However, for most of that 11-year stretch from 2000 to 2011, the Mavericks just had a miserable time trying to get out of the first or second round of the playoffs. So, their ascendancy to the title came when the window of success seemed to be closign on them.

In the summer of 2010, they had traded to acquired defensive and shot-blocking standout Tyson Chandler to play center. They also acquired a 33-year-old sharp shooting Peja Stojakovic and resigned Dirk Nowitzki to complement a 33-year-old Jason Terry, a 32-year-old Shawn Marion, and a 37-year-old Jason Kidd in that 2010-11 season.

The Mavericks were experienced but not in their prime and they beat the star-studded youthful Miami Heat 4-2 in the 2011 Finals. The Mavericks spent a decade plus of contending for and making 2 NBA Finals before finally winning one.