It was hard to find a soul outside of Miami who did not rejoice when the Heat lost to the Mavericks in the NBA Finals two years ago.
It had little to do with Dirk Nowitzki’s flowing blond locks and more to do with the hate the Heat accumulated once LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade in South Beach.
From James’ decision to have “The Decision” air on national television to a poorly thought-out celebration during which the members of the team’s new Big 3 gleefully counted out the number of championships they would win, the team had all the popularity of a wrestling villain.
That hate and the number of people rooting for the Heat to lose, combined with the group’s star power, led to a successful 10.1 rating in back-to-back years. But, as Miami opened its third straight finals last night against the Spurs, former Knicks coach and ABC/ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy said he has seen a different attitude toward the Heat since their five-game trouncing of the Thunder during last year’s championship series.
“But once they lost the championship, and some were happy that they did; I think when they won the championship the next year, and we saw them I thought handle themselves and the negative attention so well for two years, I thought that they became, like most champions, really respected,” Van Gundy said.
“That Game 6 win in Boston … they are down 3”‘2. To go into Boston, to have LeBron James play such a dominant game and win that. … The comebacks really were respected by most basketball fans, and I think that changed the dynamic on how Miami was viewed.”
The Spurs transformation could provide a boost, though. While never hated like their counterparts, they were seen as one of the boring teams in the league, despite winning four titles in nine years — the most recent in 2007 against James’ Cleveland team. Though the Spurs’ own Big 3 of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli remain, the style has changed and they were among the league’s highest-scoring teams.
“The way that San Antonio plays, where Parker has such great offensive energy, he’ll hit you not with just one pick ”‘and”‘ roll,” Van Gundy said. “But it will be a pick ”‘and ”‘roll and he’ll make a pass. If they don’t have anything, they will go into a dribble handoff. If they don’t get anything off that, right into another pick ”‘and”‘ roll for Parker.”
jterranova@nypost.com