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2011 NBA Finals

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2011 finals
TeamCoachWins
{{{champion}}} {{{champion_coach}}} {{{champion_games}}}
{{{runnerup}}} {{{runnerup_coach}}} {{{runnerup_games}}}
DatesMay 31–June 14
MVPTBA
Eastern finalsHeat defeated Bulls, 4–1
Western finalsMavericks defeated Thunder, 4–1
{{{league}}} finals

The 2011 NBA Finals will be the championship series of the 2010–11 NBA season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The champions of the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat, will face the champions of the Western Conference, the Dallas Mavericks, under a 2–3–2 rotation starting on Tuesday (May 31, 2011) and ending no later than Tuesday (June 14, 2011) on ABC.

This NBA Finals is a rematch of the 2006 series (dubbed the American Airlines Series), won by Miami in six games. It will be also the first time since 2006 that neither the Los Angeles Lakers nor the San Antonio Spurs will represent the Western Conference in the Finals and only the second time since 1998. Since the Heat had a better record than the Mavericks, they will have home-court advantage and it will be only the second time that the Eastern Conference had home court advantage during the Finals since the end of the Michael Jordan era in 1998. The 2011 series will mark the first time a Finals game is to be played in the month of May since 1986. It also marks the first time the championship series begins on a Tuesday since 1990 (coincidentally with that series having the same Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday rotation as this series). This is the second NBA Finals appearance of both the Mavericks and the Heat, and the first rematch of an NBA Finals series involving neither the Lakers nor the Celtics since the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz met in the 1998 NBA Finals.

Among the players from both teams, only Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry of Dallas, and Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem of Miami, have previously appeared in the 2006 series with the same team. Heat center Erick Dampier played for the Mavericks in 2006. Eddie House, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, LeBron James and Jason Kidd have appeared in the finals with different teams.

2011 will mark the first time since 1998 in which the NBA Finals start before the Stanley Cup Finals begin their series. The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals commences the next day, Wednesday June 1.

The Finals were originally projected to begin on Thursday June 9, but were pushed up ahead one week, and due to negotiations on an impending league-wide lockout at the end of the season.[1]

Background

2011 NBA Playoffs

Main article: 2011 NBA Playoffs
Dallas Mavericks (Western Conference Champion) Miami Heat (Eastern Conference Champion)
57–25 (.695)
2nd Southwest, 3rd West, 5th Overall 		Regular season 58–24 (.707)
1st Southeast, 2nd East, 3rd Overall
Defeated the (6) Portland Trail Blazers, 4–2 First Round Defeated the (7) Philadelphia 76ers, 4–1
Defeated the (2) Los Angeles Lakers, 4–0 Conference Semifinals Defeated the (3) Boston Celtics, 4–1
Defeated the (4) Oklahoma City Thunder, 4–1 Conference Finals Defeated the (1) Chicago Bulls, 4–1

Regular-season series

Rosters

Game summaries

References

  1. ^ "Will There Be An NBA Lockout in 2011?". Newsburglar. 3 June 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
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