LOS ANGELES, USA (AFP) — The Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks will square off in the NBA Finals starting tomorrow in a 2006 finals rematch that features two teams with reason to believe they can win the title.

The Heat have LeBron James and his gang, while the Mavericks depend on star German forward Dirk Nowitzki and his band of merry men in the best-of-seven championship series.

Less than a year after Dwyane Wade persuaded James and Chris Bosh to come to South Beach, the Heat are living up to expectations by making it all the way to the NBA’s showcase.

After a rocky start, the superstar trio have come a long way and they are backed up by as good a supporting cast as Miami could afford under the salary cap.

Miami will host games one and two tomorrow and Thursday before the series shifts to Dallas for up to three games.

The Mavericks were the first team to reach the finals by beating Oklahoma City 100-96 on Wednesday in game five of their Western semi-final series.

The Heat followed them a day later by defeating the Chicago Bulls 83-80 in game five of the Eastern final.

This is just the second post-season meeting between Miami and Dallas, the Heat having taken the first for the crown five years ago.

Dallas won both games against Miami during the regular season. Both contests took place in the first two months of the season.

Miami’s early season struggles hit a low when they lost 106-95 to Dallas on November 22. The soul searching after that loss resulted in a closed-door meeting after the Dallas loss where the Heat players ironed out their differences.

Four weeks later, the Mavericks edged Miami 98-96, snapping the Heat’s 12-game win streak. The Heat went on a 22-2 run with their only defeats coming at the hands of the Mavericks.

The Mavericks are built around depth. They rely on Nowitzki for most of their scoring. Their bench is deeper than Miami’s so their number two scorer usually depends on who has the hot hand on any particular night.

Dallas fell apart five years ago after jumping out to a 2-0 series lead. The Mavericks even led game three by 13 points halfway through the fourth but then the wheels fell off the bus.

History shows teams with two superstars have been able to capture NBA titles, notably Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen with the 1990s Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant with Shaquille O’Neal or Pau Gasol on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Miami certainly have that sort of tandem, but Dallas lost their number two man when Caron Butler went down with a torn tendon in his right knee on January 1.

One of the key match-ups is at power forward where Bosh will go up against Nowitzki, who along with James are the hottest players in the play-offs.

Bosh will have his hands full with Nowitzki, who has missed just two free throws in 61 tries.