Though not a sports rivalry of legend, the Dallas-Miami matchup does have its championship game history.
Anyone my age or older might recall Super Bowl VI in 1973 when the Cowboys suffocated the Dolphins 24-3 and all, but the most recent of basketball fans can remember the 2006 NBA Finals when the Mavs could not deliver the knockout blow -- though they were ahead 2-0 in the series and up by 13 points with 6:15 left in the fourth quarter of game three. That was the year Dirk Nowitski revealed that his free-throw line routine included humming David Hasselhoff's "Looking for Freedom" to himself, and Miami fans waved stick posters of Hasselhoff's head while Dirk was at the charity stripe in an unsuccessful effort to distract him.
Dirk hasn't said whether he's still humming "Looking for Freedom" at the line, but he is shooting 93% thus far in the playoffs while he and his teammates are looking for some rings.
And that search is certainly among the most compelling story line of this year's finals -- the unfinished business for Dirk against the team that embarrassed him and his teammates in 2006 and got them labeled soft. The following year Nowitski won a regular season MVP (2007) but suffered the indignity of receiving it after his Mavs had been defeated in the first round by the upstart Golden State Warriors. This year's sweep of the defending champion Lakers in the conference semi-finals has already done much to repair Dirk's reputation not only as a great talent but as a clutch player -- he was unstoppable pretty much that entire series and destroyed the Lakers down the stretch in game two. No one is calling him or the Mavs soft right now.
How sweet it would be for Dirk and the Mavs to cap off this impressive playoff run by avenging 2006, especially for their ringless veterans -- Dirk and Jason Terry and Jason Kidd (who made two empty trips to the finals with the NJ Nets) and Sean Marion whose explosive Phoenix Suns teams couldn't make it out of the Western Conference and Peja Stojakovic whose 2002 Sacramento Kings let a seemingly certain finals appearance slip away (with the help of some highly questionable officiating).
The other big story line, of course, is the impressive rise of Miami's big three and their supporting cast in this year's playoffs.
Even as last year's NBA champs were having their victory parade they were upstaged by LeBron James' free-agency and when he announced his decision on ESPN, publicly consigning his hometown Cleveland Cavs to the NBA cellar, the Miami Heat became the sudden new favorite team of front-runners, a symbol of excellence and empowerment. And at the same time they became, to millions of fans, the new villains of the NBA, emblematic of corporate collusion and injustice of the haves upon the have-nots.
Dan Gilbert, spurned owner of the Cleveland Cavs, promised his city that the Cavs would win an NBA championship before LeBron and his Miami Heat would. That was a year ago but the enmity remains strong, and there may be as many fans rooting against the Heat as for the Mavs.
Still, some fans have been rooting for James to finally win a ring and exorcise his own demons -- the finals sweep of 2007, the early playoff exits of the past two seasons in which he has not performed his best in the clutch.
As in most NBA Finals, there is no shortage on either squad of players seeking redemption of some sort. In fact, out of the combined rosters of both teams, only D. Wade, Udonis Haslem, and Eddie House have a championship ring. That leaves 237 ringless fingers.
All-star Chris Bosh is in his eighth NBA season has had scarcely little playoff experience until this year. Mike Miller has also spent most of his pro career on losing teams and Mike Bibby was, of course, a teammate of Peja on that frustrated Sacramento team that never made it to the Finals.
No shortage of guys we might like to see finally get to raise the O'Brien trophy -- but sentiment of course doesn't put the ball in the basket.
Nor do the match-ups, though there are plenty of interesting ones.
No one predicted Willis Reed's series-ending injury during game five of the 1970 Finals -- or his sudden appearance limping onto the Madison Square Garden floor, then taking the opening tip and hobbling up and down the court and hitting the first two shots and inspiring his team (especially Walt Frazier, who scored 36 points and had 19 assists) to victory.
Nor did anyone see the Celtics having to win a triple OT in game five in order to win their 13th title in 1976 finals against the upstart Phoenix Suns.
Or rookie Magic Johnson jumping center and leading the Lakers to a game six stunner over Dr. J and the Sixers after Kareem went down with a severe ankle sprain in game five (1980).
Or Kevin McHale body-slamming Kurt Rambis and turning the momentum of game three and the entire 1984 series with the showtime Lakers.
Or Isaiah and Magic kissing before each game of the 1988 finals only to end up exchanging cheap shots (Magic's the much more severe of the two) in the fourth quarter of game four. And then
Isaiah spraining his ankle and then staying on the court to finish putting up a 25-point third quarter in game six.
Or Michael Jordan's 38 point "flu game" (game 5 of the 1997 finals).
The great storylines are the ones we don't see coming.