Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe players that will be under the microscope the most of course are Miami's Big Three—LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh—along with Dallas's über forward from Wurzburg, Germany, Dirk Nowitzki. All of the above have been dominant in the postseason and it will be interesting to see how this duel plays out over a best-of-seven series.
With that said, let's examine the trivial-yet-oh-so-important things you need to know going in to this championship bout.
1. The Miami Heat, which began play in the 1988-89 season, selected a Dallas Maverick (Arvid Kramer) as their first choice in the 1988 NBA Expansion Draft. Oh, you knew that already?
2. Miami has a four-game winning streak over Dallas in NBA Finals play. In the 2006 NBA Finals, Dallas carried a 2-0 lead into Game 3 but lost four in a row to a white-hot Heat squad led by Wade and Shaquille O'Neal.
3. A third trip to the NBA Finals might be the charm for Mavs guard Jason Kidd, who played for two championship runners-up (New Jersey Nets in 2002 and 2003).
4. After playing for seven NBA clubs over 16 seasons, Juwan Howard took his talents to South Beach for Year 17 and has finally made it to the NBA Finals. Give it up for the last standing Fab Fiver in the league!
5. The Miami Heat's tradition of giving fans white t-shirts to wear for a mass show of support at games goes all the way back to the first-ever home game in 1988-89. On Nov. 5, 1988, fans were actually given white tuxedo t-shirts. Check it out in the early part of this video clip. For the record, the Heat lost to the Los Angeles Clippers, 111-91.
