Retribution vs vindication: An NBA finals primer

As confetti fell from the rafters in the American Airlines Center, Dirk Nowitzki and the gang knew that beating the defending champions in a dominating manner and eliminating the future of the Western Conference aren't quite good enough to erase all those disappointments in the past. After all, they were just two wins away from winning it all in the 2006 NBA finals. Since then, a string of set backs followed, including a first-round choke job against the eighth seed in 2007.

For Dirk and the gang, now is the time for retribution.

The following day, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh just finished work in the Windy City. Fresh from handing out four straight setbacks against the team with the best record in the league, LeBron and his crew know that now is the time to vindicate themselves. Now is the perfect time to erase the image of the vulgar display of self-centeredness and arrogance done in the preseason by LeBron through a circus called “The Decision.”

The best of both coasts finally clash to determine the best team in the NBA. It's retribution vs vindication.

Tough enough?

The knack against Dallas is always whether or not they have the balls to step up in pressure-laden situations. Whether they have the guts to fight back when being pushed to the brink, and in these playoffs, they've showed that they're here to win it all. The ghosts of choking in big games in the past are now gone, and they're ready to erase every single doubt that has been thrown at them with regards to their fortitude.

Dallas started the playoffs beating a tough Portland Trail Blazers team who in paper was a bad matchup against Dallas, given their grind-it-out style and the Mavs' tendency to fold in physical games. The second round was the shining moment for the Mavericks, when they surprisingly swept the Los Angeles Lakers with relative ease. Again, the Mavs were playing as underdogs and expected to fold against the bigger, more-experienced Lakers. But what we've seen was Dallas serving a class A, four-game butt-kicking, capped with a 36-point Game 4 win.

Dallas then barged into the finals by beating the younger Oklahoma City Thunder – this series serving as Nowitzki's coming-out party.

In a superstar showdown with Kevin Durant, Dirk dropped 32.2 points and six rebounds a game. This includes a 48-point performance in Game 1 and a 40-point outing in the comeback victory in Game 5.

If there's anything that the playoffs have taught us, it's that Dirk and the Mavs are ready to take this. They're done with being called playoff chokers, they're done with being called soft, and they're more than willing to prove the doubters in the NBA finals wrong. And now they'll have their shot. Four more wins and retribution would be achieved.

Ready? Fire!

This is the Miami Heat team that NBA fans everywhere have envisioned when James and Bosh brought their talents to South Beach to play alongside Wade. The past four games against the league-leading Chicago Bulls showed us what this team is really capable of. James showed he can still carry his team in major games; Wade showed he can play second fiddle to LeBron; and Bosh proved that he's more than just a mere formality to the Big Three.

Watch out NBA, they're here.

It might have taken them long to get to form, but the first two rounds of the playoffs really gave the Heat the opportunity to mesh and gel together. And when they faced the Bulls, kaboom! Minus the first game blowout that they've encountered, I've never seen a team so good defensively and so fluid offensively during crunch. Add to it the hunger to actually prove something and the effort that their limited bench is bringing and you have a team looking good to win it all.

LeBron, Dwyane and Chris – now's the time to erase the bad image that you've created for yourselves through the preseason media circus. You're just four wins away from doing that.

The comparative breakdown

Well, this one's tough. With the Big Three meshing and the Mavs clicking on all cylinders, it's tough to say who has the overall advantage here. Both teams present intriguing strengths – the Mavs have the better personnel overall, but the Heat have two of the best players in the world. The Mavs are offensively capable of exploding any given Sunday, but Miami has one of the best defenses in the league. The Mavs are longer and taller, but Miami is more athletic and quicker. This series could boil down to experience and who's more hungry, but after watching these two teams play in the playoffs, even those factors are toss ups.

When I said that the Bulls-Heat series is the most intriguing series that the NBA could present right now, well, I was lying. This finals series is definitely one of the toughest duels in NBA history to predict.

Will having the home-court advantage be actually an advantage for the Heat in this series? With the way the Mavs have competed on the road in the post-season, I doubt it. Will Dallas' bench overwhelm their inferior Miami counterparts? I could say yes, but with the way the Miami bench competed against the supposed to be "superior" Bulls bench, it's tough to make conclusions.

That's how close this series is. Personally, I'd wager the Mavs to win it all in six games. But I haven't been really successful in picking against Miami in the post-season, am I?

So yeah, just sit back and enjoy two of the best teams in the NBA go at it in hopefully a very competitive series on paper. Vindication versus retribution. What gives? (CJ)