HEATED NO MORE

For the past 1,817 days, my inner basketball fan has been shackled, thrown into a dark room, where the air is thin and the darkness suffocates the light. I've all but left him for dead.

You see, when the Dallas Mavericks fell to the one-headed beast that was the Miami Heat that day, June 20, 2006, all my love for basketball was sent into that tiny chamber in the depths of sporting hell. I felt betrayed and used, shocked and hurt to my very core. I felt as if the only agenda those Mavericks had was to get my hopes at an all-time high through the season and playoffs and then crush them in explosive fashion with a four-game losing streak to lose the NBA title.

I was sick. From that moment I tore up my Mavs Fan For Life membership, scratched Dirk off my list of heroes and vowed to never cheer for the Dallas team that had forsaken me.

For the last five years, that proved true.

The Mavs followed up the Finals loss with a first-round exit to Baron Davis and the eight-seeded Golden State Warriors the following year, despite compiling 67 wins and the NBA's No. 1 team that season. I knew I had made the right decision.

The following years continued that trend – success during the season but ended with playoff flops. I laughed at the fans who continually said that "This is our year!", wondering why they put themselves through such a heartbreak.

Then the tide started to turn this year, even I could feel it. But I refused to let myself to buy into the hype only to be crushed once more. I kept my TV tuned into the Mavs-Trail Blazers series, only to discover that Dallas had blown a 23-point lead to give Portland a win. I wrote it off as another choke job playoff loss for the Mavs and I would leave my MFFL shackled in that dark chamber for another season.

But these Mavs came back to beat Portland in six games and advance to take on the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant. Surely Bryant and the defending champs would stop the heated Mavs in their tracks. Dallas went on to sweep L.A. out of the playoffs – a nice retirement gift for Phil Jackson.

OK, I thought. This team has my attention. But the young Thunder looked to be a good test, with the title-hungry Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook at the helm. Yet, once again, the veteran Mavs struck the Thunder to advance to a Finals series that I couldn't even ignore.

Even so, the three-headed beast that was the Miami Heat was definitely going to be too much for Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs. After all, the Heat's Big 3 – LeBron James, Dewayne Wade and Chris Bosh – all signed together in Miami for  that one reason: to be NBA champions. If Dallas couldn't beat the Heat when it was just a one-headed beast in Wade, why was I to believe that the Mavs could slay it when it sprouted two more heads?

I vowed that it would be Miami in six games.

And with a Game 1 victory by the Heat, I was all but certain the dagger had already struck. Then Game 2 came and the Mavs mounted a 15-point fourth-quarter comeback to steal a win in Miami. A valiant effort, no doubt, but could the Mavs sustain that level of play for the remainder of the series? Surely not, I thought. And so when the Heat took Game 3, albeit a two-point victory, once again, I was sure Dallas had been torched.

Man, am I proud to say I was wrong.

For the first time I can ever remember, the Mavs looked like the team they preached. Dirk finally had his backup in Jason Terry, J.J. Barea, Jason Kidd, Tyson Chandler – hell, the whole bench. But Dirk was still Dirk, 101-degree fever or not. My locked-up MFFL made his biggest cheer in five years when Jet nailed a three in Game 5 over the outstretched reach of LeBron that gave the Mavs a 3-2 series advantage.

No way, I thought. This can't be happening.

But there were still two potential games to be played – both down in south beach. James was sure to come out of his slump and attack the Dallas defense for 40 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Wade would be there to add another 30 points and Bosh might even throw in another 15. And the miraculous Mavs would crumble at the three-headed monster with its back against the wall.

Not so.

Dallas won Game 6 for a 4-2 series victory to claim the first NBA title in franchise history. Dirk, Terry, Kidd all got their ring, and Dirk was crowned Finals MVP – and rightfully so.

My inner MFFL is happy once again, too. Not only have the shackles been released and he's back in the light of day, but the pain from that 2006 series loss is gone. All is right in Mavs country again.

So, I have to ask, does anyone know how much a MFFL membership is going these days?

I seem to have lost mine.