Wade delivers first NBA title to Miami in impressive style

Shaquille O'Neal said the 24-year-old was the reasonhe came to Miami.
DALLAS (AP) -- Shaquille O'Neal has his fourth NBA championship, Pat Riley his fifth as a head coach. As far as the Heat are concerned, the best thing about Miami's first title is that Dwyane Wade delivered it.
These back-and-forth NBA finals saw Riley secure his "showtime" legacy and put the debate over his big gambit to rest. O'Neal came to Miami promising a championship, and the jewelry is on the way.
But if the league and its fans take anything away from Miami's come-from-behind championship, it's this: The time has come for everyone to believe in Wade the way O'Neal did when he guaranteed a Heat title.
"I made that promise because of D-Wade," O'Neal said Tuesday night. "I knew he was a special player."
In Dallas, a victory parade was hastily planned after two Mavericks wins. Shortly after the series shifted to the Heat's home court, it was canceled just as quickly.
Because of the 24-year-old Wade, that promenade will take place in South Florida. And now that the rest of the NBA has seen what the Big Forecaster already knew, it may not be the last.
Some changes still needed
Still, with so many older players on the roster and O'Neal clearly not as dominant as he once was, Riley may have to make some more changes -- starting with a decision on if he still wants to be the coach.
As long as Wade is around, that might be all that matters. The Mavs couldn't argue that.
"Give Dallas a lot of credit, this is a good team," Wade said. "They will be back, no question about it. We wanted it and we took it."
Two summers ago, when it was time for O'Neal to leave Los Angeles and look for a place to win another championship, he focused on two places.
"One of the places was in the same conference and I knew I really wouldn't get traded there," he said. "The other place was Miami, because of D-Wade."
The often-thrilling NBA postseason wrapped up Tuesday night with the Heat beating the Mavericks 95-92 to take the first finals between first-timers in 35 years.
Along the way, Riley earned vindication, Mark Cuban racked up another fine, and veterans Alonzo Mourning and Gary Payton had the elusive title that was the only thing missing from their otherwise stellar careers.
All made possible by the NBA's newest superstar.
Mavericks saw it too late
The Mavericks were the last to see it coming. They double-teamed O'Neal throughout the series and dared Wade to beat them, convinced that his outside shot was unreliable.
They'll be regretting that strategy all summer in Dallas.
"When I came in the series, it was 'I can't shoot,"' Wade said. "I don't know where they got that from. So I proved to them I can shoot and then after that, I proved to them I can play. And that's all I tried to do was prove the people wrong all the time."
And that's exactly what his team did.
The Heat had skeptics from the moment Riley put the team together last summer. Even his move back to the bench did little to quiet them, because Miami kept losing to teams like San Antonio, Detroit, Phoenix and Dallas, teams that made up the NBA's elite.
The Heat didn't do anything to erase those doubts after the first two games of the finals, a pair of double-digit victories for the Mavericks in Dallas.
MVP performance
The series looked headed for a Game 7 after the Mavs' quick start Tuesday, but Wade steadied the Heat and punctuated his MVP performance with 36 points and 10 rebounds.
"He had a lot of will to win," Mavs coach Avery Johnson said. "You've seen a lot of players, like Jordan, a lot of players in history that have really had those type of performances. We tried a lot of different things, but he just had a lot of desire to get it done."
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