It’s early summer of 2006.

“Temperature” by Sean Paul is playing in the background on a hot summer day. You’ve tired yourself out playing your new Nintendo Wii and are thinking about catching the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Most importantly, it’s the NBA Finals, and the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks are battling it out to be crowned champs. The Mavericks win the first two, and then the Heat—led by Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal—take over, claiming the next four games to win the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Analysis

It’s now the summer of 2011, and I sure hope you’re not listening to “Temperature” anymore.

But once again, Miami and Dallas face each other in the Finals. Only two players from their ’06 squads remain for each team—Wade and Udonis Haslem for the Heat, and Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry for the Mavericks. In case you didn’t know, Miami made a couple small acquisitions this past summer, picking up a power forward from Toronto and a pretty good small forward from Cleveland. The Heat cruised all year, and blew their way through what were thought to be good teams in the Celtics and Bulls in the playoffs.

The Mavericks, perennial title contenders that usually underachieve in the postseason seem to finally have their act together, putting on an impressive playoff run that included dismantling and embarrassing the two-time defending champion, Los Angeles Lakers in a four-game sweep. 

Prediction

Dallas is the hottest team this postseason. They shoot lights out from behind the arc and have the best player in Dirk Nowitzki. The Heat have had one of the best defenses all year and continue to stifle teams this postseason. Not to mention they have two of the top five best NBA players playing right now in Wade and LeBron James.

The Heat look unstoppable, which is exactly why I’m picking Dallas to win. Dallas has been contending for years now, and I just have a feeling that this is their year to win. I like Dallas in seven.

Maybe you’ll win it next year, Miami. Hopefully not though.