A Heated Dilemma

I'm in a bit of a dilemma here.

You see, five years ago when the Dallas Mavericks lost in six games after the Miami Heat completed a four-game comeback to win the NBA Finals – mainly on the lone shoulders of Dwayne Wade – I lost all willingness to be a Mavs fan. I was crushed, unsure if I would ever recover.

The dagger through my heart came the following year when the Mavs were knocked out of the first round of playoffs after finishing the season the No. 1 team in the NBA. I immediately canceled my membership as a MFFL, and from that moment on, I would no longer root for my once beloved Mavs. And the following years, I had no regrets. Dallas dominated the season but choked hard in the playoffs. I knew I wasn't missing much and I kept my heart heavily guarded and didn't root for such a choke-job team.

But now it looks as if this Mavs team is maybe turning the tide, and the inner Mavs fan inside of me that remained dormant for so many years is quietly letting me know he's still there – eagerly awaiting me to let him out of his cage. But even so, I'm not sold on this Mavs team; I refuse to let myself go through the heartbreak I suffered in the 2006 Finals, and even so in 2007.

Yet I've kept a close eye on these playoffs and watched as the Mavs rallied to beat Portland after losing two games at home and the choke job seemingly in full effect (I admit, I even wrote the Mavs off at this point. Who was to say that this year would be any different from the rest?). But they finished out the series. And then, even more impressive, followed it up with a sweep of the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, the first time a team coached by the legendary Phil Jackson had been swept out of the playoffs – what a nice retirement gift! And the club kept it going in an utter domination of a young team that is the Oklahoma City Thunder, mounting heroic fourth-quarter comebacks that showed the Thunder that although it was a talented bunch, veterans rule the game of basketball (also see the Heat v. Chicago Bulls series as LeBron and Wade took down the MVP Derrik Rose as an example).

Then the Mavs fell in Game 1 to the Heat; I was all but sure it was over. That is, until Thursday night. I returned home from work at 11 and turned on SportsCenter to see the Mavs had ended the game on a 22-5 run, mounting a 15-point comeback, and stole a game in Miami. Yes, I won't lie, my inner Mavs fan let out a small victory roar.

And today, June 3, all is good in Mavs' nation as the Mavs head back to Dallas to open a three-game home stand that, in all reality if they swept all three games, could send the Heat back to Miami all flamed out, leaving LeBron and the Big 3 hoping that next year they live up to all the hype.

Yet there's still been too many letdowns in the past for me to let myself, or my inner Mavs fan, get excited and root for this team. But I'll anxiously watch and sit with anticipation that this is the year the Mavs start the healing process.