Sport-Blog.com

By Ed Jennett

Shaquille O’Neal is a very astute judge of talent. When O’Neal demanded that the Los Angeles Lakers trade him two offseasons ago one of the teams on the list was the Miami Heat. There was one provision however. O’Neal did not want Miami SG Dwyane Wade traded in the deal. Eventually both of his wishes were granted. Shaq was traded to Miami and Wade was still there to be his new teammate. O’Neal did not want Wade traded because he felt the young shooting guard showed promise to develop into a superstar.

Shaquille O’Neal is also a man of his word. When O’Neal arrived in Miami he promised the city a championship. As O’Neal obviously foresaw, the promise he made and the promise of Wade were intertwined.

Wade was named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals after averaging 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. His scoring average was the third highest ever for a player making his first appearance in the Finals. After starting the series off slowly in the first two games, Wade dominated the last four games to lead to their come from behind victory.

Game 1: While Wade was the star of the series, Dallas PG Jason Terry was the star of Game 1. Terry led the Mavericks with 32 points, making 13-of-18 shots, including 4-of-7 three point shots. In the first half he saved the team from getting run out of its own building by scoring 20 of his points to help erase an 11-point deficit. In a foreshadowing of their futures in the Finals, his teammates All-Star PF Dirk Nowitzki and SF Josh Howard struggled all night and finished with 16 points and 10 points respectively.

Wade led Miami with 28 points, but only made 11-of-25 field goals.

Dallas 90, Miami 80. Dallas leads the series 1-0.

Game 2: The second game of the series featured a second poor performance from Wade. Although he led Miami in scoring for the second straight game, Wade only scored 23 points on 6-of-19 shooting. O’Neal had an even more difficult time with the stifling defense of the Mavericks and finished the game with just five points. O’Neal was so frustrated with his performance that he did not speak with reporters after the game, which resulted in him receiving a $10,000 fine and the Heat receiving a $25,000 fine.

Wade scored nearly half of his points from the foul line, where he was 11-of-14. He struggled mightily in the first half, which was one of the many reasons Miami trailed 50-34 at halftime.

Mavericks forwards Nowitzki and Howard bounced back nicely in Game 2 from their poor performances in Game 1. Nowitzki finished the game with 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting and also grabbed 16 rebounds. Howard scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting and collected three rebounds. Dallas SG/SF Jerry Stackhouse came off the bench to score 19 points. He ended the first half by scoring 10 points in the final 79 seconds. He made three 3-point field goals, including one in front of Wade that became a four-point play. The strong performance had to feel like a measure of revenge for Stackhouse, who was cut in Game 1 following a hard foul by O’Neal.

Dallas 99, Miami 85. Dallas leads the series 2-0.

Game 3: The Finals moved to Miami and finally became a series. Wade erupted for a playoff career-high 42 points and O’Neal had a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The momentum of the series began to switch in Game 2. Dallas had a lousy fourth quarter but still managed to hang on and win the game. They would not be nearly as lucky in Game 3. The Mavericks were only able to score one basket in the last five minutes of the game.

One player who was able to score a basket was Miami backup PG Gary Payton. GP broke a 95-95 tie when he scored a bucket 9.3 seconds remaining. It was the only shot that he took the entire game.

Miami 98, Dallas 96. Dallas leads the series 2-1.

Game 4: The Miami Heat followed up their first victory of the series with the most impressive game of the series. Miami manhandled and dominated the Dallas Mavericks and in the process humiliated Howard and Nowitzki. Howard finished the game with 3 points on 1-of-8 shooting while Nowitzki finished the game with 16 points on 2-of-14 shooting. Nowitzki did not make a single shot in the second half of the game. He was also abused by the Miami crowd whenever he went to the foul line. The fans mocked him with placards and chants of Da-vid Hass-el-hoff.

Two superstars who did have success in the game and were not mocked was the Dynamic Duo of Superman and The Flash a.k.a O’Neal and Wade, who led the way with another pair of outstanding performances. O’Neal had a second straight double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Wade scored a game-high 36 points in the victory. Miami used the tough defense that the team was famous for when Head Coach Pat Riley was coaching the team in the late 90s and the Mavericks had no answer for it. Dallas progressively played worse throughout the game and ended up shooting under 32 percent as a team, making just 25-of-79 shots.

Stackhouse paid O’Neal back for the Game 1 punishment he received midway through the third quarter. Miami starting PG Jason Williams passed the ball to O’Neal on a fast break so the big man could dunk the ball. Stackhouse managed to catch up with O’Neal and hit him with a forearm in the side of the head. O’Neal fell into the courtside area but was not injured. Stackhouse was suspended by the NBA for Game 5. O’Neal added to the misery of Stackhouse after the game by saying that he gets tackled harder by his daughters when he comes home.

Miami 98, Dallas 74. The series is tied 2-2.

Game 5: Wade carried the Heat on his back and scored a new career playoff high of 43 points in Game 5. Although he started off slowly, Wade finished the game making 11-of-28 shots and 21-of-25 free throws. Remarkably he went to the free throw line the same amount of times as the entire Mavericks team. He also set a Finals record for most free throws made.

The Mavericks bounced back from the drubbing they received in Game 4 and could have won the game. But Dallas was undone by several missed three throws and one huge tactical error. Nowitzki fouled Wade with the clock winding down in overtime. Wade made the first foul shot to tie the game at 100 apiece. Dallas Head Coach Avery Johnson signaled that he wanted a timeout, which was the Mavericks last one, after the second free throw. Howard immediately called for it, which left his team unable to advance the ball to half court after Wade made the second free throw. Wade made it to give Miami a 101-100 lead. Dallas was unable to get the ball up the court fast enough to make a basket.

Howard says that he was just confirming with Johnson that he wanted a timeout called after the second free throw attempt. The referees maintain that Howard twice called for an immediate timeout. After the game Nowitzki threw the game ball into the stands, it hit a fan in the head. Nowitzki also kicked an exercise bike while heading to the locker room. Dallas owner Mark Cuban continued his ongoing habit of embarrassing himself, his team, and the entire city of Dallas, by screaming at the officials and NBA Commissioner David Stern while he was leaving the courtside area after the game. He did all of this while wearing a jersey of the appropriately suspended Stackhouse. Nowitzki and Cuban were both fined for their actions after the game.

Miami 101, Dallas 100. Miami leads the series 3-2.

Game 6: Fifteen strong. This was the motto of Riley representing the 15 players on the Heat roster. It turned out to be prophetic as their Game 6 win was definitely a team effort. Wade scored a game-high 36 points. O’Neal scored nine points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Starting power forward Udonis Hasel scored 17 points and collected 10 rebounds. Starting small forward Antoine Walker scored 14 points and collected 11 rebounds.

Stackhouse returned from suspension for Game 6 but was stymied by foul trouble. The Heat became just the third team to win the NBA Championship after falling behind 0-2 in the Finals. The 1969 Boston Celtics and the 1977 Portland Trailblazers had been the only teams to accomplish the feat previously.

Miami 95, Dallas 92. Miami wins the series 4-2.