Even after the Mavs have won the title, the media can’t stop trying to make it all about Lebron James. In praising the Mavs and their style of play, they seem to want to portray the Heat as the antithesis – a team all about ego, superstars, Hollywood, glitz. A team with all sizzle and no steak. Meanwhile, the Mavs are the desperate veteran team that came together for the right reasons, to try and eek out one more run to get the hardware associated with greatness – an NBA championship.

After probably the most heavily scrutinized season in any professional sport, the Heat made it all the way to the Finals with a chance to win the whole darned thing. That should be valued as a successful season for any team, let alone this one. The level of expectation being so high says a lot, however. The Heat’s take-no-prisoners proclamation at the beginning of the season makes them the bad guys. Stating publicly what your lofty goals are is hybris in the eyes of the media. You have to earn it.

Jason Terry flaunts a trophy tattoo on his right arm and everyone thinks that is endearing. He is only trying to give himself a goal. Maybe because he choked so bad in the 2006 series, and was no where to be found for the most part in this current series, he was given a free pass.

Yet no other team was so heavily attacked and scrutinized, you have to wonder what effect it had on this series – did it affect the officiating, for example? Lebron James averaged about 9 free throw attempts per game in the regular season but struggled to find 4 in the Finals in any game. Is it possible that taking away a large part of James’ game, drawing contact and while getting to the rim and getting FTAs, may have had a dampening effect on his game? You bet. The outside opinions speak volumes. Here are a few that badmouth the Heat.

Ohio Governor John Kasich proclaims a resolution for the Mavericks beating Lebron James

A sense of entitlement keeps the Heat from winning

First of all, a governor wasting any time worrying about Lebron James just goes to show you how screwed up the politics are in his state. No wonder the economy sucks in Ohio. Then, to say the Heat lost the Finals because of their sense of entitlement is definitely a sign of a bitter axe to grind. Let’s totally block out the fact that another team was playing in the series, one that was making more and better shots as the series pushed on and played stingier defense, too. This is just a taste of what the Heat have faced this season – a bitter public invested in the idea of pointing the blame at one person alone – Lebron James.

If you can remove James from the Heat, maybe the story changes. The perception definitely would as Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade are not as polarizing as James. But you can’t remove James from this team. He is a part of it – he is a part of why they got this far. Anyone else saying otherwise is just being blinded by their own hatred of James and his Decision. Most are so overly invested in The Decision that they are indeed held hostage by it. You can’t explain why so many are, but you can’t explain anything about the Heat’s situation without it.

The reason why the Heat lost this series, on their end, was they stopped playing defense. When the series started, the Mavs were overwhelmed by the speed of this team’s defense. Everyone was showering praise on the Heat’s ability to close out on shooters and force the Mavs to speed up their shots, putting them out of rhythm. The Heat also swarmed in and forced the Mavs to be a one-man team, daring Dirk to beat them. As the series wore on, not only did the Mavs start hitting their three point shots with regularity, but the rest of the team started to contribute on the offensive end as well. Jason Terry, who had never even gotten off the bus, had started hitting shots and doing his biplane thing on the court. JJ Barrea started scoring. Shawn Marion, Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd. Everyone.

The criticism focused on Lebron James and his lack of contribution in games. He even had a triple double in Game 5, the first since 2000, but that didn’t satisfy. Jason Terry scores 17 points and labels about him being overrated are ripped off immediately.

The Mavs made plays. They took advantage of every opportunity presented to them. On the Heat side, they were listless. Even Dwyane Wade fumbled a last chance possession in Game 4 and no one whispered about it. It was all about James and his lack of contribution.

The Heat came together for the simple fact that this game is dictated by matchups and when you have 3 of the best on the floor at their positions, you have a chance to win on any night and at any stage of the series. What emerged was that the Heat got beat by a team that just played better. Sure, the Heat are more talented and we like to think they will be back. The fact is the other teams in the East are going to be gunning for them. But it wasn’t ego that kept this team from grabbing the ring. It was a breakdown in execution, an apathetic defense, some bull-headed coaching decisions. More importantly, it was a Mavericks team that had a miracle rebirth at the end of Game 2 in this series. With 6 minutes to go, they ran their offense right past a Heat team playing to run out the clock. A run that was more heavily characterized by bad defensive execution and organization than anything else. If the Heat played defense like they had been all series, to that point, the Mavs don’t score 17 points in that final span.

You can argue it was their ego that assumed they would win and thereby gave up Game 2. Sure, you can say that, but ego was the reason why they played better defense in Game 3 and the reason why they won that game. They felt like they were the better team and wanted to prove it. Ego is not necessarily a bad thing, it is a must thing, a vital thing. In order to survive and thrive, you have to have an identity with which to hold tightly to. The Heat envisioned themselves as champions, as a dynasty. That was a proclamation at the beginning of the season. Now the Mavs deflated that vision a bit, but this is still the beginning of a run, not the end. The Heat will learn from this, just as they did after Game 2. They will learn, and they are humbled by this, sure. Yet, ego will give them the fire to pick themselves back up off the floor and demand that they get back for another shot at the ring.