"Of course it is" - Shawn Marion says beating LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant made the 2011 championship the hardest ever

The Dallas Mavericks’ 2011 championship is widely regarded as one of the most impressive title runs of all time.

Dallas was able to knock off multiple teams with elite star power en route to their title. The team did so despite only having one true star in Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki.

According to former Mavs forward Shawn Marion, Dallas' 2011 run marked the toughest route to a championship in NBA history.

“Of course it is. It’s one of the hardest ones ever,” he said on the 'I Got Next Podcast.'

The Dallas Mavericks' 2011 run saw them take down the Kobe Bryant-Pau Gasol-led LA Lakers in the second round. The Lakers were the back-to-back defending champions at the time.

Dallas then took out the OKC Thunder’s up-and-coming big three of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden in the Western Conference finals. Finally, the Mavericks capped off their run by upsetting the Miami Heat’s big three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the NBA Finals.

“Think about who we went through to beat. The Lakers were the defending champions. OKC, we beat them, but they ended up going to the finals the next year. And then, of course, Bron and them were in the finals the next year as well,” Marion said.

Marion finished as the third leading scorer for the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 playoffs. He trailed only Nowitzki (27.7 points per game) and sixth man Jason Terry (17.5 ppg). The forward averaged 11.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.9 blocks per game on 46.7% shooting over 21 games.

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Shawn Marion credits Portland Trail Blazers for Mavericks’ 2011 title run

Former Portland Trail Blazers star forward LaMarcus Aldridge and Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki

While discussing the Mavs’ 2011 title run, Shawn Marion also gave credit to Dallas’ first round opponent, the LaMarcus Aldridge-led Portland Trail Blazers. Marion said the Mavs’ matchup with the feisty Blazers helped them prepare to make a deep run:

“People don’t realize, the deepest team that year in the postseason was the Portland Trail Blazers. They were deeper than us. They had a squad, but we beat them. That set the tone for us to do what we needed to do in that run.”

Dallas was tied 2-2 with Portland in the first round before going on to win in six games. Portland’s two wins would end up tying Miami for the most wins against the Mavericks during their 2011 title run. No team was able to take Dirk Nowitzki and Co. to a Game 7.

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