When the Washington Wizards orchestrated a trade with the Dallas Mavericks last year, DeShawn Stevenson was the smallest name heading to the Lone Star State. Caron Butler was a near All-Star level small forward, Brendan Haywood was a game changing defensive presence and Stevenson had a tattoo on his neck of Abraham Lincoln. But in Game 6 of the 2011 NBA Finals on Sunday, Stevenson was the only player in that trade to make an impact.
With about five minutes left in the first quarter, the Mavs were down by seven points when Dirk Nowitzki picked up his second foul and had to head to the bench. The Mavs were going to need their role players to step up and keep them in the game while their star was on the bench. That's when DeShawn Stevenson made his greatest impact. In about a three minute stretch, Stevenson hit three shots from beyond the arc, and actually gave the Mavs a big lead before the second quarter began.
Stevenson finished with those nine points on the game, but played some hard-nosed defense on some of the Heat perimeter players. Now he has his first Championship ring.