I never saw this coming. No really, I didn't.
From the moment the playoffs began I doubted what the Dallas Mavericks would be able to do. I didn't believe they could figure things out and change the course of history that this team had been on. Outside of their last NBA Finals appearance back in 2006, the Mavericks had been bounced out of the playoffs in either the first or second round.
So I figured this wasn't going to go any differently than it had before. I didn't think they had the team or the players to be able to get past the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and there was no way they would be able to get past the Miami Heat and their "Big Three."
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Low and behold they have proved me wrong at every turn. Not only did they get past the Lakers but they did so with a broom and more dominance than any Maverick team I've seen in a long time.
On Thursday night, they moved one step closer to really proving me wrong once and for all.
After a win in game five, they are just one win away from bringing home the first major championship for the Dallas and Fort Worth area since the Dallas Cowboys won their last Super Bowl back in 1995.
This is a ride a lot of Maverick fans are enjoying. The American Airlines Center has rocked over the last three games and the fans have been one of the biggest reasons their team is where they are. They're loud, they're proud, and they stay in the game from start to finish.
Make no mistake about it, Texas is and will always be a football state. But in each of the past two seasons, the Dallas and Fort Worth metroplex has been on a thrill ride.
The Texas Rangers did something no one could have predicted as they knocked off the defending World Series champion, New York Yankees, in the American League Championship Series but eventually fell to the San Francisco Giants in the 2010 World Series.
Almost seven months later, the Mavericks have taken the momentum left behind by the Rangers and have taken it upon themselves to do something only the Cowboys have been able to do.
The NBA Finals will shift back to Miami, Florida on Sunday with the Heat having to win each of the next two games in order to keep the Mavericks from celebrating a championship on their floor.
Sure there are bandwagon fans who have come out of the woodwork, but when those fans have been disappointed from one season to the next by a football team expected for greatness, you can't blame them for joining their fellow fans on this journey.
So, in just over 48 hours from now, the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat will take the floor in South Beach. One team will have visions of a championship while the other will need to fight just to keep themselves alive for one more game.
Is this series over? It depends on who you ask.
To the Maverick fans, they are celebrating in the season's final game in what was the biggest game in franchise history. They believe a championship is coming home.
Honestly...who can blame them.
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