13 years of championship dreams

The moment the Mavericks won 4-2, Woodsburg, Germany, went wild and the fans cheered.

It's Nowitzki's hometown. Thirteen years ago, a 20-year-old boy decided to find his spiritual home in the world of basketball, so he followed his mentor Hoggle across the ocean to the United States. A championship ring is the dream of all players.

Nowitzki came tantalizingly close to that dream in the 2006 finals, but Miami finally cracked open the champagne in Dallas. At that moment, the unflinching German was called "soft" by fans.

Fate played a trick on Nowitzki again in 2007 when he became the first European to win a regular season MVP, only to suffer an ugly playoff finish. After all the ups and downs, Nowitzki was not "abandoned". Cuban, coach Carlisle and even Dallas fans believed in Nowitzki. According to Guy Yuanyi and Li Bo of Chengdu Business Daily, it was from then on that Nowitzki was so firm that he carried the hope of the Mavericks and even the whole of Dallas.

Last July, Nowitzki was on the verge of a four-year, $96 million Max contract extension with the Mavs. Instead, he took a pay cut and took an $80 million deal, saying he wanted the team to use the money to get good help.

Terry scored a team-high 27 points yesterday, BAREA added 15, and Nowitzki always shines in the fourth quarter to give the proud Heat a run for THEIR money.

At the final whistle, Nowitzki was the first to run off the court and back to the locker room, 13 years of repression flowing with tears. He averaged 26 points and 9.7 rebounds and was named Finals MVP, leading the Mavericks to their first championship in 30 years. Nowitzki had the best summer in his 13 years in the league.

"I still can't believe it's true. We have worked so hard and so long for this championship and the journey has been incredible." Nowitzki didn't sleep tonight.

Life is like a ruthless carving knife, that changed our appearance. Years go by, and dreams never stop. Terry was 29 and Nowitzki was 28 on that nightmarish night in 2006, when he collapsed and cried amid streamers thrown by Miami and Nowitzki kicked a ball off the court.

Five YEARS LATER, THE MAVS ARE A bunch OF OLD BOYS ON THE ROAD TO A championship: Kidd, 38, Nowitzki, 33, TERRY, 34, and Marion..... The average age of the Mavericks' players in the Finals was a staggering 31.3! And as many as eight of the Mavs' 11-man playoff rotation are over 30 years old.

This is an ageless legend, is a living inspirational film. While THE NBA'S EASTERN CONFERENCE stars HAVE rallied THIS YEAR, THE Mavs HAVE used a group of veterans to stick to the traditional NBA way of building an A team and put up a run that scares opponents.

It turns out that championships not only need passion, physical strength, and impact but also need brains, tenacity, and the big picture. The Mavs' older boys over 30 have it all. Their belief, the paranoia of victory, determines the championship because heaven is fair.

In 2008, the Celtics revived the No. 1 franchise with a trio of 30-plus giants, and three years later, it was the old boys' turn in Dallas. Cuban's decades-long investment of hundreds of millions of dollars paid off on a night when the most rabid, fined, and possibly favorite basketball owner in NBA history finally got to yell at David Stern like a drunk in the locker room, "You see, there's still a way I can do it!"