Mavericks Will Win

I hate to fill fans of the Miami Heat in on a lil secret but the Dallas Mavericks are going to win the 2006 NBA Finals.

The Heat stormed their way through the Eastern Conference Playoffs. They beat the heck out of the Detroit Pistons in six games and right now are playing at an extremely high level. Pat Riley has this team playing great team ball and excellent team defense. Riles has Shaq playing strong and intense and D-Wade playing better than anybody on the planet. But there is one thing that makes me think the Heat just can't beat the Mavs...The Mavs are too deep and with the exception of D-Wade - way too fast.

Dirk Nowitzki is going to cause major matchup problems for Miami. Shaq and Mourning will take turns pushing him around as will Udonis Haslem. But if Haslem covers Dirk, who's covering Josh Howard? And the other problem I see is that Miami can't match up with Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse. What about Devin Harris and Keith Van Horn? The team speed of Dallas is going to wear down Miami. The first few games will be close and might be tied at 2-2...but after that it will be all Mavs.

People who think the Heat will use Shaq's muscle to win a title have a valid point...but let's remember that Dallas has Erick Dampier (Shaq's buddy) and DeSagana Diop, two big guys that play tough D and rebound the ball.

Wade will get his points - I expect a lot of them...but I don't expect old guys like Walker, Mourning and Payton to do much on the offensive end. This series will come down to speed, bench depth and mis-matches. I like the Mavericks to win in six games. Mark Cuban and Avery Johnson are going to be riding high in Big D.