The NBA’s record books are glittered with plenty of unforgettable deep playoff and championship runs throughout the league’s 77 years of existence. And for Brandon Haywood, nothing can top what Dirk Nowitzki pulled for the Dallas Mavericks . In his recent appearance in the Run Your Race podcast, the former veteran big man hammered his belief that the crown of the greatest title rally belongs to Nowitzki and the Mavs in 2011.
A historic run By considering the level of competition and the circumstances that have to be faced, Dirk and the Mavs’ 2011 title run truly holds a legitimate case to be considered the best ever. Carving a 57-win season, Dallas landed as the No. 3 of the West.
Yet despite a significant favor for home-court advantage, their path atop the NBA was simply mind-boggling. Right at the first round, it took them six games just to dispatch a deep Portland Trail Blazers group led by Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. Yet in the following series, they flipped the switch and shocked the entire world by sweeping Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and the three-peat-seeking Los Angeles Lakers.
By manhandling the Lakers , Dirk and the Mavs felt a major momentum which they used in eventually outlasting a talented Oklahoma City Thunder bannered by the young Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden in the Conference Finals. And in the championship stage, against all odds, Nowitzki carried Dallas on his back in a historic fashion. Facing a Miami Heat team that paraded t.
