The Dallas Mavericks have won the NBA Championship, making history, as it’s the first win for the team ever since their creation in 1980. While many fans are devoting ink and blogs to Dirk Werner Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd, let’s not forget to thank Mavericks’ coach Rick Carlisle.

Carlisle now has NBA titles as well as a head coach honor behind his name. He brought the Mavericks to a 57-25 win-loss record for 2010/2011. The NBA Finals weren’t his only victory of the season; earlier, he helped his team to overcome the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in May.

You also have to give a lot of credit to owner Mark Cuban. He’s a colorful and often times controversial personality that continues to provoke some fans and the NBA league. However, he has dramatically increased the value (and now the game success!) of his team since he bought it in 2000. In fact, in the 20 years before Cuban bought the team, they had a winning percentage of 40%. Since Cuban has taken over Dallas, the team now has a 69% winning percentage of regular season games, and is now a playoff contender–and an NBA Champion.

Furthermore, the value of the team has risen 162.3% since Cuban’s purchase. The NBA average for other teams? Only 77.8%. Cuban certainly deserves some credit for making something special out of a dwindling team 12 years ago. Cuban also did the unthinkable and actually earned respect from his critics for remaining silent during the playoffs (so as not to distract the team) and actually surrendered his rightfully earned championship trophy to original Mavericks owner Donald Carter.

In fact, Dallas was so popular this season that many Miami Heat fans (not to mention throughout the U.S.) were cheering for a Mavericks win. Why? Is it because we just love the idea of rooting for an underdog to make history? Or is it because fans were rooting for a “LeBron James fail?” Indeed, Miami Heat’s new player alienated many fans with his poor performance in Cleveland and his subsequent signing with Miami Heat.

Whatever the case, anticipation was in the air and true fans of the sport were not disappointed on Sunday, when the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat gave us a great game, with an historical finish. Honestly now…were you predicting Dallas throughout the Finals?

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