Dallas is destined to win the NBA championship

It may take 10 days. It may take two weeks. But sometime later this month, the Dallas Mavericks are finally going to win their first NBA championship.

The Larry O'Brien trophy will settle in its new home, 275 miles up I-35 from San Antonio.

And Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will probably find a way to get fined again.

I doubt he'll mind.

Neither will these guys:
Dirk.
Devin.
Josh.
DeSagna.
Jason.
Jerry.
Adrian.

They sound more like a blunderbuss boy band than an NBA champion.

But these young men sure can play basketball.

They can shoot, they can rebound, they can run, and they can gun. In the playoffs they eliminated overmatched Memphis, last year's NBA champion San Antonio and the frenetic Phoenix Suns. Now they seek four wins against Miami, a team they have already whupped twice in the regular season.

Miami has the biggest bully in the league in Shaquille O'Neal. If the refs let him fold, spindle and mutilate everyone in the lane, it could get dicey. The Heat also has the stunningly gifted Dwyane Wade, and a bunch of talented malcontents like Antoine Walker and Jason Williams who can wreak havoc.

Throw in the best gimmick in pro basketball _ the white-clad fans who make the American Airlines Arena look like the inside of an igloo _ and Miami will be a formidable opponent.

But as long as the Mavs don't go ice cold, they should be able to win at least one of the three games scheduled in South Florida. If the series is extended to seven games, Dallas will host the deciding contest in the house that Cuban built, Dallas' American Airlines Center (yes, American Airlines is allover these NBA Finals).

The drama won't end at the final buzzer, however. The trophy presentation between NBA commissioner David Stern and Cuban could get higher ratings than the game, since Stern has fined Cuban more than a million dollars over the years for criticizing referees. This will be the best trophy presentation since NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle gritted his teeth and gave the Vince Lombardi trophy to Raiders owner and bitter nemesis Al Davis after Super Bowl XV in 1981.