Just like everyone figured, eh?
The Miami Heat is the NBA champion after its 95-92 victory Tuesday over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
But the clinching victory was less impressive than the Heat’s triumph over universal doubt and uncertainty.
Veterans Antoine Walker, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning are champions for the first time in their careers. Shaquille O’Neal, now a sometimes dominant role player, is part of his fourth championship club.
Pat Riley, an early-season change as coach for Stan Van Gundy, has coached his fifth champion, the first since 1988. And Dwyane Wade, in winning his first at age 24, is America’s newest superstar.
“We had the strength, courage and tenacity to fight through all the doubters all year long,” an exultant Wade said after he had retrieved Jason Terry’s potential tying shot at the buzzer and threw it toward the ceiling in celebration. “I’m going to live it up.”
Wade had a game-high 36 points, 11 in the fourth quarter, and was named Finals MVP in his first Finals appearance. He dominated the series, averaging 34.7 points and 7.8 rebounds, among the top three all-time averages for a first-time finalist.
The Heat won its first NBA championship in historic fashion by becoming the third team to rebound from an 0-2 deficit, the first to do it in 29 years and perhaps the most unlikely.
Few believed Heat President/coach Riley had made the right decisions in breaking up last year’s Heat team that lost in the Eastern Conference finals to the Pistons. His plan didn’t appear to fit the pieces around the center, O’Neal. He signed slashers, not shooters. The formula didn’t seem right because many of the players had failed elsewhere in their biggest tests–Walker with the Celtics, Payton with the SuperSonics and Mourning on a desperate journey for health and success after leaving the Heat following the 2001-02 season.
But maybe Wade made it all work.
Certainly he has emerged as the most electric figure in the NBA, not only with the statistics he produced in the championship series, but with the way he did it in breathtaking fashion. The Heat had all but expired in Game 3, behind by 13 points with barely more than six minutes remaining.
Wade saved Game 3 to revive the Heat, hitting the game-saving shot in regulation and then the winning free throws in overtime. In the three games in Miami, he averaged more than 40 points.
“Some of that stuff you just can’t teach,” Mavs coach Avery Johnson said of Wade. “He’s beating double-teams, he’s beating triple-teams. There are no tricks. He has a lot of will to win. You’ve seen a lot of players like [Michael] Jordan who have had those types of performances. We tried a lot of different things. He had a lot of desire to get it done.”
On Tuesday night, it was Wade finding James Posey in the corner for a three-pointer that gave Miami an 87-81 lead with just less than four minutes left. The points were crucial for the Heat to hold on.
The Mavs, as expected with their anger bubbling from their Game 5 loss, led 26-14 in the first and 30-23 after one quarter. But Miami kept closing.
Behind Wade, they struck hard and went up 49-48 at halftime, inched ahead by seven in the third and maintained a three-point cushion after three. The Mavs could not shake or rattle this Heat team, which closed them out thanks to Wade.
“He really won them a championship,” Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki said. “That Game 3 was big. We win that and the series is pretty much over. That changed the whole momentum of the series.”
Dallas never quit. Josh Howard scored on a drive and then Nowitzki, who led the Mavs with 29 points and 15 rebounds, hit a pair of free throws after an offensive rebound to bring the Mavs within 87-85 with 2:57 left.
Posey converted a tough drive, but Jerry Stackhouse, back from one-game suspension, hit a three with 1:37 left to bring Dallas within one.
But Miami wouldn’t give in. It outrebounded the Mavs 56-50, dominating the defensive boards with Walker, Udonis Haslem, O’Neal and Wade all having at least 10 rebounds.
Howard, scoreless in the fourth quarter in the series until Game 6, hit a short jumper to make it 91-90, but then Wade made four free throws to seal things. After Howard made a pair of free throws to bring Dallas within 95-92 with 11.5 seconds left, Wade was fouled and missed both shots. It gave the Mavs a chance to tie, but Terry’s three-pointer hit the side of the rim.
“Besides my father at home,” Wade said, “[Jordan] was kind of like my second father because he’s the guy I watched and felt like I was part of Michael Jordan. The comparisons [to him] are flattering, but at the same time, I always stay away from them because there will never be another Jordan.
“I remember when the Bulls won their first championship, watching the games. And then Jordan did his famous shot. I went right in the backyard, turned the lights on to see if I could do it myself. I had no athletic ability. I was young. Every time I saw Jordan or [Scottie] Pippen, my favorite players, do anything I’d go in the back yard and act like I was a part of the team. I’ve been a big dreamer and I’m going to continue to be a big dreamer.”
And one dream has come true.
Simply Jordan-esque
Dwyane Wade’s MVP performance in his first NBA Finals has drawn comparisons to Michael Jordan’s MVP performance in his first Finals series, a 4-1 triumph over the Lakers in 1991. How the pair compare:
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WADE JORDAN
34.7 Avg. points 31.2
7.8 Avg. rebounds 6.6
3.8 Avg. assists 11.4
46.8 FG percentage 55.8
37.3 % of team’s points 26.1
Source: NBA.
Chicago Tribune/Rick Tuma.
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sasmith@tribune.com
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