Marion: If You Picked Heat Over Mavs You Were 'Full of S---'

Shawn Marion Opines That If You Picked The Miami Heat Over His Dallas Mavs In the 2011 NBA Finals, You Were 'Full of S---' - And The Mavs Players Knew It

DALLAS - Conventional wisdom is that the 2011 Dallas Mavericks "shocked the world'' when they defeated LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. 

Shawn Marion thinks conventional wisdom is "full of s---.''

“Everybody that picked Miami to win it before it started, we was laughing,'' Marion says. "We thought y’all was full of shit, to be honest with you.''

To be fair to the rest of us, the Mavs - talented and pedigreed as they were, far beyond just superstar Dirk Nowitzki - knew what we were seeing. The Mavs finished that regular season with a lofty mark of 57-25, but once they entered the NBA Playoffs they struggled to overcome Portland ... causing many of us to assume they'd stumble against the regal Lakers. And then even after they swept the Lakers, well, we kind of figured OKC's Kevin Durant would end the fairy tale.

Westbrook. Harden. Durant. ... On the same team?!

But Dallas plowed its way to the Finals, with Dirk playing at a level as high as anyone in the world. And while the Heat had three "superstars'' in LeBron, Wade and Bosh, Dallas deserved/deserves credit for assembling a roster of "super supporting-cast members.''

Jason Kidd. Jason Terry. Tyson Chandler. Shawn Marion - none of them the very best in the league at their respective jobs, but collectively ... special. And, Marion says, very much aware that as a team keyed by older guys, this might mark their final shot.

“We knew our window of opportunity wasn’t opening,'' Marion says via Michael Lee of The Athletic. "It was closing.''

So Dirk was Dirk, Nowitzki winning Finals MVP by averaging 26 points, 9.7 rebounds and two assists per. And the Mavs won the series in six games. And The Matrix still doesn't understand why anybody was or is surprised.

"We was one of the three or four teams at the time, that going into the season, legitimately had a chance to win a championship,'' 'Trix says. "If you didn’t see that, I don’t know what the hell you was looking at. I guess you wasn’t looking at the TV.”