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IC Cold Links: Mavericks Beat Heat For First NBA Championship

By Tom Lewis

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The Dallas Mavericks took care of business in Game 6 of the NBA Finals and took home the LOB trophy after beating the Miami Heat, 105-95. Congratulations to former Pacers coach, Rick Carlisle for a pushing all of the right buttons and putting his team in position to win the title -- a masterful coaching performance throughout the playoffs.

Here are a few thoughts on the extremely entertaining Finals before getting to the links:

  • Dallas played 9 players double-digit minutes last night and at various points in the playoffs had to rely on 11 of their 12 active players to make big contributions to secure wins along the way. This is exactly what Larry Bird is looking to put in place for the Pacers, a deep team that can win in different ways against different matchups. Obviously, the key ingredients of a bona fide stud (Nowitzki) and some veteran leaders who love to live in the big moment (JET, Kidd) are critical and not easily found.
  • Hopefully the new CBA will help the Pacers. The talented and veteran Mavs needed to exceed the league's salary cap by a ways to assemble their championship roster. In fact, their $86 million payroll was about $20 million more than the Heat.
  • Speaking of the CBA, it may prevent tweaking the Heat. Their top seven rotation players are locked in at the current cap limit so unless they make some deals, players chasing a ring may literally have to play for free to join the run. That puts more physical pressure on LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to make it through the regular season and playoff run healthy in order to have another title shot. They may welcome a shortened, lockout season.
  • Congrats to former Purdue star, Brian Cardinal for winning a ring and making a big impact off the bench in the Finals. Butler's Matt Howard was surely smiling knowing he can bring a similar element to an NBA roster if a team is willing to draft him. Both players know how to play and are ready to play no matter when they play.

OK, on to the links after the jump with more on the Finals and some celebs looking to get in Area 55.

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