Are the Toronto Raptors the greatest one-and-done team ever?
Dallas Mavericks
Like the Toronto Raptors, the 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks would be reveling in their first-ever NBA championship after defeating the Miami Heat in a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals, where the Heat overcame the Avery Johnson-led Mavericks in six games.
Fast forward five years and the Mavericks topped the fresh out of the box superteam Heat. The 2010-11 season was LeBron James first season with the Miami Heat, forming a superteam consisting of James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh – formerly of the Raptors.
The perfect start to their tenure would be unattainable, though. The Dirk Nowitzki-led Dallas Mavericks would spoil the party and gain revenge for the loss handed to them years earlier. Nowitzki would go on to win Finals MVP, averaging 26 points, 9.7 rebounds, and two assists per game, shooting just over 41-percent from the field.
The Mavericks run to the title was paved with potential potholes and craters. Making the win that much more impressive.
It started off with the Mavericks defeating the Portland Trail Blazers in six games before sweeping the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the second round.
Following on from that, the Mavericks took down the young upstart Oklahoma City Thunder, donning the trio of Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Kevin Durant. That Thunder team would go on to be one of the biggest “what if?” teams in NBA history but their chemistry on the court was something special. They were a talented team that brought the sauce every night.
The Mavericks came from behind in the fourth quarter of the final three games of the Western Conference Finals, knocking off the Thunder in five games, moving on to take on the brand new Heat superteam.
It took six games, and the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history in Game 2, but the Mavericks toppled the Heat to become NBA champions for the first time.
The Mavericks, looking to defend their title the next season, had to do so without Tyson Chandler and Caron Butler among other free agents who left the team in the summer.
Just like that, a large portion of their championship-winning roster was moving on and the Mavericks were bounced out of the playoffs in the first round. To make the matter more enticing, it was the Thunder who got their revenge, advancing to the NBA Finals where they would be defeated by the Miami Heat, thus starting their reign of terror over the NBA.
As for the Mavericks, they haven’t hit the heights of the NBA Finals since, struggling to make it out of the first round of the playoffs in their last four attempts.