MIAMI — As far as heroes go for the Dallas Mavericks these days, DeShawn Stevenson has to rank pretty high on the list.
How many guys lose their starting job (to J.J. Barea) in The Finals and then come back even better? Stevenson did exactly that, going from the starting shooting guard spot to super sub as the Mavericks won three straight games to finish off the Miami Heat in six games.
Stevenson turned into a 3-point assassin off the bench in those final three games, nailing nine of his 14 attempts from deep, including making 3-for-5 Sunday night to finish off the Heat.
Waxing the Heat was extra sweet for Stevenson, whose personal beef with LeBron James predates their time with their respective teams, as Tim McMahon ESPNDallas.com made clear:
“It makes me feel good, man, to beat him, to beat that Miami team,” Stevenson told ESPNDallas.com in an AmericanAirlines Arena hallway after the Mavs clinched the title with Sunday’s Game 6 win. “The way they act, the way they treated Dirk [Nowitzki], all the things that they said were very classless. To win on the court the way we did it, it was wonderful.”
Make no mistake about it, this series was an extension of The 2006 Finals series between these same two teams. The fact that only four players, two from each side, remained from that series means nothing. The universal disdain between both sides was hard to miss — from the mocking of Nowitzki by James and Dwyane Wade to the near ruckus that broke out early in Game 6 when Stevenson and Udonis Haslem bumped into each other on their way to their respective benches during a stop in play.
“A series like this gets personal,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “It gets personal because we have guys that say things, and they do it to get themselves going. Then they have the incident with the camera and the coughing and all that stuff. You get to Game 5, Game 6 and it becomes personal. Our guys took it personally.”
It looks like the blogger named “queen Lebron is a banwagon mavs fan.
stevenson is a bum and can not say lebron is overatted because he is overatted himself
Queen Lebron alias is not the KING anymore,its the SIDEKICK…………….hhahahahahha
now even PIppen can call him the GREATEST……..the greatest SIDEKICK……
Queen LEBRON in three words..the DECISION,the COUGHING and the CHOKING………….
The HEAT needs DWIGHT HOWARD…..lol
maybe that time there is a game 7 with
dallas….hahaha but still dallas wins….yahooooo!!
People hate the Heat now, and yet the Heat just keep throwing fuel on the fire. This anti-Heat sentiment is going to be around for a long time now. I suggest you get used to it…
Heat lost. End of story.
heat didnt just lose they choked no ones chocked like that since well LeBron in cleveland a few seasons ago.
why are people makin such a big deal out if this
stevenson the next bruce bowen..
really? and where do you put artest on?
mavs will win the title again next year, they have figured out how to beat the west
too funny when Mario chalmers came from behind and flew right back
LeBron was too nice all series long he should have been much more aggressive even in fouls and hard play
forget it guys!!!whats important is in the end mavs won and heat choked!!!hahahah
What I don’t understand is, why Haslem needs to look at the Mavs bench and go to that direction, walking in front of Stevenson(near halfcourt) after that shot when Mavs already called a timeout, they should be going to their own respective benches and all that. Seems Haslem is also trying to mock the players on the other end.
Wow! What a rivalry! This is great last year it was Boston vs LA and this year Heat vs Mavs. Can’t wait to see what old rivalries will continue to rekindle and what new rivalries form as he NBA marches on. I love this game so much!
A NEW MIAMI EXCUSE! The reason they lost was becaue Stevenson soved Haslem! Yeah, THAT’S the ticket!
@Atacsin
Don’t be a hypocrite.
Fact is Haslem went out of his way to get IN FRONT of Stevenson and the Mavs who were just going to their bench. When you got some guy walking in front and into you, and his armpit is in your face. There is nothing wrong with getting him away from you. Haslem should have just celebrated with his team, instead of trying to get in the face of the Mavs.
It’s all on replay man. Anyone can see this.
exactly…Atacsin is a bandwagon fan …. we can all see that
Yes we can.
I wonder who is coughing now? Set of childish bs behaviour!
The reason they are coughing is because they are CHOKING…before game 5 it is already over as the sign was there…coughing and choking
Every finals has its drama and action, even the game is not on, Stevenson was wrong as Haslem and chalmers , and the decisiond of the refs and the off is good, http://sportales.com/basketball/nba-mythical-five-of-all-time/
“when Stevenson and Udonis Haslem bumped into each other on their way to their respective benches during a stop in play.”
Oh, please. Could you show your anti-heat bias more with that statement? Haslem did not “bump into” Stevenson. He was walking past Stevenson with his hand in the air, when Stevenson blatantly shoved him.
And what was Haslem doing going straight into Stevenson when he should have gone straight to the bench without that show-off? Anti-Heat bias? It’s calling as it was!
He didn’t “go into Stevenson” he walked past him.
@ Jake, you better try saying “walking through Stevenson”… and with a sweaty arm pit on his face! =)