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The Dallas Mavericks couldn’t care less about the hype surrounding the Miami HEAT. While LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have received much of the attention throughout their postseason run, Dallas is ready and confident heading into the 2011 NBA Finals.

When asked if their achievements have been overlooked entering this series, Shawn Marion summed up how Dallas feels about the lack of respect that they have been receiving as the focus has been on Miami.

"We really don’t care," Marion said. "At the end of the day, this about what we’re able to do and what we’ve done. Are all of these people giving us credit? I don’t give a f***. It’s just that simple. We don’t care. What does it matter? We’ve shown what we can do and what we’re capable of, but we’re not finished yet. We made the Finals, but this not what we came here to do. We came here to take the trophy home with us."

The Mavericks feel that they pose new problems for the HEAT on both ends of the floor.

"During the playoffs, I don’t think they have faced a team like us," Tyson Chandler said. "It’s going to be a different look for them. Obviously, it’s more West-coast style of play versus East-coast style of play and it’s going to be different."

"I don’t think the teams that they’ve faced have had three-point shooters that are spread out like we have so it’s hard to gauge," Jason Terry added. "Their key and principles are no points in the paint so we’ll see what happens. It’s a game of adjustments, but I will tell you that we’ll be aggressive tonight and go after this one."

The Mavericks are a veteran team and aren’t feeling nervous at all heading into tonight’s game.

"I have no nervous jitters and no uneasiness about anything," Terry said. "I’m good. I got my rest. I had the Heat shorts on last night. Gary Payton gave me some from back when they beat us so I had those."

"When it’s your first time, you’re a little nervous as you start understanding what you’re playing for and what’s at stake," said Jason Kidd, who played in the Finals in 2002 and 2003. "Now, it’s just another basketball game that we’re trying to find a way to win."

"Nothing can really get us rattled," Dirk Nowitzki added. "We’ve been through a lot during this playoff run – losing tough games, coming back to win some games. We don’t want to get carried away here. It’s still basketball. It’s a little bit bigger, but ultimately we just have to put the ball in the basket."

"We have a lot of guys that have been deep in the playoffs before," Rick Carlisle said. "We have a lot of guys who have played in huge international games that are extremely pressured packed. I don’t need to say a lot to these guys, they know where things are at. I’ll remind them of a few things that are important relative to what our approach is going to be. We have to be resourceful, opportunistic and efficient."

The Mavericks are focused on stealing at least one game in Miami, and showing the HEAT early that they can compete with them and won’t back down throughout the series.

"It’s just important to get out there and challenge them," Chandler said. "We want to make sure we execute our game plan. We have to get out there and make things difficult for them. We’re not going to ease our way into the game. We’re going to come out guns blazing in all seven games that we play. We want to get out there and play our best. We felt like we tiptoed in a couple of series, but we want to just come out ready."

"If you’re a road team, you always want to go for it," Nowitzki added. "You don’t want to just settle for the split. Before you go after the second one, you want to go after the first one. We want to go out there and let it all hang out there tonight. Everyone is rested so everybody should be ready to go from the get-go. We just have to go after it. Both teams are going to be ready to compete on defense and offense. We just have to leave it all out there and see what happens."

"I don’t believe in ‘feeling out’ anything at this point," Carlisle said. "You have to be ready to play right when the ball is thrown up. We’ve had four times, as have they, so I’m very sure both teams will be ready."

{AUTHOR_BOX}After playing scorers such as Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant during their playoff run, Dallas feels prepared to take on James, Wade and Bosh.

"It’s the same thing we’ve done in every series against great guards that can penetrate," Chandler said. "Last series, we had Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, who do an excellent job of penetrating, but we were able to slow them down. A lot of times, you’re not going to be able to stop LeBron or D-Wade from penetrating, but you just have to try to make things difficult for them."

"They’re similar because they’re very athletic at two positions and we know that those two guys are the best in the business when they can get out and running so our focus is defense," Terry added. "We know that in order to beat these guys, we have to have a strong effort. We really don’t care about the lineup. Oklahoma City played small, L.A. played big, and Portland played small at times. We’ve seen it all. We’re ready and equipped. Our personnel matches up well with anything that they can throw out there."

"We’ve just got to be prepared to play our game and play it well," Carlisle said. "The defensive end is going to be critical and the match ups are difficult with James, Wade, Bosh and their role players, who are underrated. It’s not just going to be one guy guarding their stars. Our whole team is going to be geared around trying to contain those guys and we’re going to have get stops and rebounds."

James and Wade will receive the bulk of the media attention, but Dallas is more concerned with shutting down Bosh down low.

"Our thing is, Wade and LeBron are going to have the ball the majority of the time so they’re going to take a lot of shots. It’s not allowing Bosh to have any kind of impact in the series, that’s the key for us," Terry said.

Nowitzki has spent plenty of time watching Bosh during these playoffs and he knows it won’t be an easy task.

"I think he does a great job playing off these other two guys," Nowitzki said of Bosh. "He’s looking so comfortable with his shot now and every time he faces up, it looks like it’s going in. He can shoot from eighteen to twenty feet. He has a great pump fake and when he does that, he gets to the basket. He’s just playing at a really high level right now and he’s one of the keys to why they’re here. He’s so comfortable. He has the whole face-up repertoire and he’s definitely a tough player to guard."

Entering this series, the Mavericks are focused on protecting the ball and limiting Miami’s transition scoring.

"We have to guard, we have to rebound and we have to take care of the ball," Carlisle said. "Those are really the three major parts of any playoff series, but particularly against these guys because if you turn it over, they’re going to convert on the other end faster than anyone else in basketball."

While the stage is bigger and the pressure is intensified, Dallas is ready. They know what to expect and they’re going to give Miami their best shot.

"You understand what you’re playing for and you go out there and play every single possession that way," Chandler said.

"This is not a regular season game; this is not even the beginning of the playoffs. This is the Finals. Two teams are standing and you have to give it everything you’ve got each play."