Pat Riley first promised it 11 years ago: a Miami Heat victory parade down Biscayne Boulevard. Shaquille O'Neal guaranteed it two summers ago, vowing to add a fourth ring to his big hand in his new city.
And with one tenacious game after another in these NBA finals, Dwyane Wade delivered both.
The Miami Heat are champions for the first time, thanks to two basketball greats who made good on their promises -- and the next great one, whose promise seems unlimited.
The man they call "Flash" had 36 points and 10 rebounds in the teeth of a hostile Dallas crowd Tuesday night, capping his magnificent playoffs and the Heat's sizzling four-game comeback by leading Miami past the Mavericks 95-92.
"It's one of the best feelings, next to my wife and my son, that I've ever had in my life," Wade said. "I'm going to live it up!"
The Heat roared back from a two-game deficit to win the NBA finals in six. Wade, the obvious finals MVP, cemented his superstardom with a dominant four-game performance capped by four pressure-packed, final-minute free throws in the same building where Miami went down two games to none.
He even missed a pair in the waning seconds, giving Dallas a final shot to tie. But Jason Terry missed an open look for 3, and Wade grabbed the rebound and flung it joyously into the stands as time expired.
Where there's a Wade, there's a will. His grace added a fifth ring to Riley's finger -- third-most among NBA coaches -- and the first jewelry in Shaq's collection with no connection to Kobe Bryant.
"The great Pat Riley told me we were going to win today," said O'Neal, who had nine points and 12 rebounds. "I didn't have the best game. But D-Wade's been doing it all year. He's the best player ever."
Dirk Nowitzki had 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Mavs, but Dallas couldn't manage the last basket it needed to topple Wade's determination. With their crowd booing every call and seething with every missed opportunity, the Mavs missed their own chance for their first title.
A day after the Carolina Hurricanes became first-time champions in the NHL by winning the Stanley Cup, Miami also made history.
The Heat finished the franchise's 18th season with one of the league's greatest rallies in a finals, and the last period of Game 6 was appropriately gritty.
Miami nursed a narrow lead, taking an 89-85 advantage with 2:36 left on two jumpers by James Posey. Jerry Stackhouse cut it to a point with a 3-pointer in his first game back from suspension, but after Udonis Haslem and Josh Howard traded jumpers, Wade hit two free throws with 26 seconds left.
Erick Dampier then fumbled a pass on Dallas' next possession, and Wade fought to get the loose ball. He hit two more free throws with 17.7 seconds to play, but after Howard hit a pair, Wade missed two with 10.3 seconds left.
But Terry missed an open 3-pointer. It was the last of 11 straight misses, and the final disappointment in the Mavs' otherwise remarkable season.
"We made a lot of progress this year," said Dallas' Avery Johnson, the NBA's coach of the year. "We aimed high this year, and I told them that a lot of teams have to go through this. This will really hurt this summer. I hope they work out hard, make me a better coach. I'm ready to try it again."
Miami hung onto the clincher in front of more than 20,000 Dallas fans still furious at every NBA official and commissioner David Stern for the Mavs' three losses in Miami last week. Owner Mark Cuban stoked the furor with his antics after Game 5, which resulted in a $250,000 fine earlier Tuesday.
But while the Mavs worried about every perceived slight, the Heat focused on fulfilling the promises of Riley and O'Neal.
"I came to Miami because of this young fella right here," O'Neal said, indicating Wade. "I knew I wanted to make him better."
Dallas' fans both booed and cheered the trophy presentation, and Stern was jeered repeatedly.
Cuban stole the finals spotlight earlier in the day, getting socked with the fine for his complaints about the officials and general conspiracy theory. All of Dallas caught the Mavs' us-against-the-world vibe: Signs supporting Cuban and suggesting a league conspiracy against the Mavs dotted the stands for Game 6, and fans screamed at Stern in his courtside seat.
But the series actually was controlled by Wade, who ascended to the most elite tier of NBA stars. He scored 121 points in three victories in Miami before capping it with one more tenacious win.
Riley wiped away tears while hugging his players, and Miami crowded onto the hastily assembled podium with the excitement of a high-school graduation.
Riley, who won his first ring since 1988, claimed he never considered the possibility Miami wouldn't finish with four straight wins.
"I packed one suit, one shirt and one tie," he said before the game. "That's it."
Riley tied John Kundla with his fifth title as a head coach. Only Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach have more, with nine apiece.
O'Neal, who fought foul trouble, was held to two of his worst career playoff games in the earlier Dallas debacles, and he endured another extraordinary struggle at the free-throw line in the series. None of it will matter to the Big Champ: He'll take a special pride in winning his first ring without Bryant.
Their partnership resulted in three titles and four finals trips for the Los Angeles Lakers, but their clashing egos caused a power struggle that led to Shaq's trade. O'Neal has no such problems with Wade, and their cohesion peaked in Miami's four finals wins.
Riley, the slick-haired strategist who led the Lakers to four titles in the 1980s, now has vindication from those who criticized his decision to take over the club from coach Stan Van Gundy early in the season.
Leaning on Riley's savvy in coaching veterans and defense, the Heat rolled through the postseason with surprising force -- never even facing a seventh game. Riley now has seven rings, counting his single championships as a player and an assistant coach.
And the Heat's roster is studded with stars who never won a title. Point guard Gary Payton reached the finals with three teams before finally grabbing the ring, while Alonzo Mourning played through 13 seasons, two retirements and a serious kidney ailment for a championship.
Antoine Walker, Jason Williams, Posey, Haslem -- all endured serious career troubles, and now they're all champions, too.
Baron Davis knew his tender hamstring would limit him, so Stephen Jackson took a huge load off Golden State's do-everything star.
Davis and Jackson shot the ragtag Warriors right into the second round, capping perhaps the NBA's biggest playoff upset with yet one more memorable performance on their home floor.
Davis willed his team on one good leg, shaking off a strained hamstring to score 20 points, Jackson made a franchise playoff-record seven 3-pointers, and Golden State became the first No. 8 seed to capture a best-of-seven playoff series with a 111-86 victory over the NBA-best Dallas Mavericks in Game 6 on Thursday night.
Whoa, Nellie, what a shocker!
"We made NBA history tonight and that's the best thing about it. We did it as a team," Davis said. "I'm so proud of my teammates and proud to be a part of this franchise."
Coach Don Nelson's emotional bunch of castoffs beat his old organization by holding likely league MVP Dirk Nowitzki to eight points and 2-for-13 shooting, after he saved the Mavs with 30 points in their six-point Game 5 win Tuesday. The Warriors, making their first playoff appearance in 13 years, will open the second round Monday night at either Houston or Utah.
"This is a pretty special place to be right now," Nelson said.
Jackson -- who avoided a suspension for Game 6 after two ejections in the series -- hit four 3-pointers during a decisive 24-3 third-quarter run and finished with a playoff career-high 33 points.
"I wanted to be aggressive," Jackson said. "Baron came out and told me he wasn't feeling as good as he had in previous games, and he wanted me to carry us. I wanted to stay focused, not worry about calls, not get too emotional, just bring my energy with my play."
Davis also added 10 rebounds and six assists. He sat down with 2:19 to play, throwing his arms in the air to the fans who chanted "MVP!" When the final buzzer sounded, the Warriors hugged as confetti streamed onto the court.
Andris Biedrins had 12 points and 12 rebounds, not to mention a handful of key hustle plays, Matt Barnes took advantage of his first start of the series with 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, and Jason Richardson added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists.
"It feels great, that's the only words I can say," Richardson said. "I don't know when I have to pinch myself or wake up from this dream. This is everything I wanted. I wanted this for our fans, for our organization, for ourselves. We work hard and we deserve it."
Josh Howard scored 20 points and Jerry Stackhouse had 14 of his 20 points in the first quarter for the 67-win Mavericks, who along with volatile owner Mark Cuban had high hopes of going deep in the postseason after their remarkable regular-season showing.
The Warriors became only the third eighth seed to upset the No. 1 and the first since the opening round went from best-of-five to the current format. The Denver Nuggets (1994) and the New York Knicks (1999) are the only other teams to win a series.
After years of failure and its share of unsuccessful personnel moves, Golden State is suddenly as big in the Bay Area as Barry Bonds' home run chase across the water in San Francisco.
"Baron toughed it out," Barnes said. "He's our leader and nothing's going to stop him right now. We've got a lot of talent and a lot of heart and we're looking to do a lot more damage."
The Warriors lured Nelson out of retirement to turn around a franchise that hadn't been to the postseason since he took them there in 1994 during his first stint as coach, dropping former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery in late August after two losing seasons.
Back home, Golden State won again behind its deafening, towel-waving crowd that Mavs coach and former Warrior Avery Johnson described this way: "If you haven't been to the playoffs in 13 years, your fans are going to be pretty crazy."
And the "We Believe" mantra that now rocks Oakland -- Mickael Pietrus led the team out of the locker room holding one of the bright yellow T-shirts sporting the logo -- has even caught the attention of celebrities like rapper Snoop Dogg, popular guitarist Carlos Santana, actors Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson, and golfer Fred Couples. They were all in the stands for the clincher -- and a few even headed to the celebratory locker room afterward. Ron Artest stopped by to offer his best, too.
"The fans gave us so much energy," Richardson said. "It felt great that we actually put them away like that. We played great defense tonight."
Nowitzki missed his first eight shots, bricking consecutive 3-point tries late in the second quarter before hitting a 16-footer for his first basket of the game with 38 seconds left in the period. Dallas trailed 50-48 at the break but couldn't match the Warriors' energy in the third. The Mavs went 5:07 without scoring as Golden State turned it into a rout, leading 86-63 going into the final 12 minutes.
"We were there at halftime," Johnson said. "We were only down two. We just came out and had one of our worst third quarters this year. ... This is a very disappointing end to the season."
The Warriors traded for Jackson in January in an eight-player swap with the Indiana Pacers to pair him with a healthy Davis as this playoff-starved franchise tried -- and ultimately succeeded -- to end the NBA's longest postseason drought.
Johnson, groomed by Nellie to be a head coach, said the Warriors had "10,000 pounds on their right arms up there in Oakland" to close out a series Golden State led 3-1, but 20,677 screaming fans from every corner of Oracle Arena put all the pressure on the cold-shooting Mavs.
The Warriors hadn't won a best-of-seven series in 31 years, since beating Detroit in a first-round series in 1975-76 -- the year after winning their only NBA championship in California. Golden State had lost its last five best-of-sevens and hadn't won any playoff series since beating San Antonio 3-1 in the first round in 1990-91.
Johnson brought his team back to California immediately after Game 5 so the Mavs could get more comfortable in the Warriors' raucous confines, while Golden State spent the night in Dallas.
Dallas' first seven made field goals were 3s, 4-of-6 from Stackhouse in the opening period, and the Mavs were 0-for-14 from 2-point range before Jason Terry's jumper at the 11:22 mark of the second quarter.
"Great regular season, but a disappointing finish in the playoffs," Terry said. "We all take fault in our mistakes, but you have to give credit where credit is due. That's a hot team."
Barnes earned his first start of the series over Monta Ellis and played through a pulled right hamstring, just like Davis.
The Mavs, who lost in last year's NBA finals, became the first time to win 65 games and fail to win at least one playoff series. Even worse, it came against Nelson, who spent 10 seasons helping taking Dallas from among the league's worst teams to one of the best.
"This is not like last year was," Cuban said. "Losing the finals was really painful. This is just the first round."
That's what I think about Dallas.
Source(s):
Yahoo.com
yeaaa!
Go Heat!!!!!!!!!
Lance Valentine of Walleye101 and Mike Steffes of Warrior Lures explain the Warrior Lure Advantage while walleye fishing on Saginaw Bay. Mike and ...
Is there any way to defeat the warrior without going into a struggle?
I just CAN'T press square quick enough, I couldn't even hit square quick enough on the alchemist level so there's no way I'm able to defeat the warrior with it >=(.
I heard there was a combo to weaken him, or you could use acrobatics when you lure him to the edge to get behind him, does that mean there won't be a struggle or it would be a little easier at least? argh =| help please
x
When you get to the struggle part rather than use your thumb quickly put your index finger on the button and start tapping. it is alot easier than using your thumb because you can move that ifnger faster. It will help you push him off and youll eventually get used to quickly switching that way for any game you need to rapid tap a button
You can get through to the main island without killing any of the flying xian warriors. Just avoiding them. After you slide down and get into the pit room, that lands inside the cage (not the smaller pit with knives), you can kill the four ninjas and the four non-flying statues. Then you can lure the still living warriors into that room. I've done it. It's hilarious. THEY CAN'T GET OUT OF THE CAGE! They can't seem to fly in there! Has anyone else done this?
nah but i am a fan of those curves and body
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMEsOWExaM8
In this video they slammed the warrior for mentioning that he had beaten Hogan before. What is not in the video is that DDP came out earlier that night and said that he had recruited the one guy who Hogan had never beaten. For over an hour the comentators speculated on who that could be. Then Hogan came out and said, Who is it? I've beaten everyone in the industry. Then we see the warrior. And he did bring up WM6. And Tony Schavini and Brain kept on and on about how he beat Hogan in 1990 in another company. Telling stories about how they were there that night.
Then they slam Warrior years later for going along with what they were all doing. Hogan said it was the Ultimate no-no in the buisness. He says, why buy a ticket if you tell them you have already beaten me?
I think this is a BS attempt to lure Warrior back into the WWE to confront his critics.
Also, they lied that warrior stunk up nitro because it was regared as fans as the best supprise WCW ever did.
Hogan was the reason the Halloween Havoc match sucked. Because he didn't want to plan it. Then WCW let Warrior sit at home for the remaining 3 months on his contract. And warrior says Hogan only lobbied to bring him in to get his win back from WM 6.
those guys can't even lase theire one boots.
i agree with everything you sadi.
STARRED
first of all, i would say that mahabharatha occured there is enough evidence ask any indian archaelogist/historian.most of the warriors in the mahabharatha war fought with bows and arrows.just before abhimanyu's death, jayadrath cleverly lures away arjuna far into other part of battlefield.if one warrior fires arrows, then other reacts aiming arrow such that it has to nullify the effect of first arrow.if both the arrows don't nullify each other, both the warriors will be killed.for that you need to know parabolic motion, curvilinear motion, equation of trajectory,calculus,can't neglect relative velocity of air,fast maths calculation.in the battle between jaydrath and arjuna, jaydrath is cleverly running far from centre battlefield hurling arrows from his bow, arjuna is following jayadrath's chariot and hurling arrows at the same time.so, in this case ,chariot is in rotational motion(frame of reference) and also arrows are following parabolic/curvilinear path. wonderful science,plz ans?
lucky shot
He found Jesus!
Dude, please give us an abridged version or your questions!
In a news report just days before the FBI arrested nine members of Christian militia group in Michigan on charges they were plotting an attack on police officers, local government reached out to the militia for help finding missing residents.
According to a report posted on AnnArbor.com March 25 , Bridgewater Township Supervisor Jolea Mull twice asked local militias, including Hutaree, the group from which the nine suspects belong, to help law enforcement in their search.
Mull contacted the groups in January and in February of this year, AnnArbor.com reported. James Schiel, part of a militia group called the Michigan Militia Corps Wolverines, said Mull called him and he rounded up a team of his own militia members, as well as three from Hutaree.
"That was the very first time we were deployed in an official capacity," Schiel told AnnArbor.com, adding that it was a significant event for his group.
FBI: Mich. Militia Plotted to Kill Police
Mull
The accident scene.
THE FINDINGS of a fatal accident inquiry which concluded that a lorry driver's death could have been avoided has been described as a timely reminder by police anxious to stop a repeat of last summer's carnage on the A9.
Sheriff Ian Abercrombie stated that the accident in which Alexander Warden, (64), was killed could have been prevented if the drivers of the three HGVs involved had shown more care and attention.
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In the wake of the report, one Badenoch Highland councillor has urged local motorists to report lorry drivers breaking the law if they wanted the A9 to lose its tag as Scotland's most deadly road.
Eight people died in just two months in accidents on the road in Badenoch and Strathspey last summer.
Sheriff Abercrombie's report, which was published this week, noted that it must have been evident to Mr Warden that there was on- coming traffic when he pulled out to overtake on the Nuide Straight near Newtonmore.
He also believes more could have been done by the two other lorry drivers to prevent the smash shortly after 11am on July 3 last summer.
Mr Warden, from Arbroath, died from multiple injuries about an hour after his lorry collided head-on with another goods vehicle around 40 metres from the start of the south-bound overtaking lane on the straight.
The driver employed by Inverness-based agricultural feed maker Harbro had been transporting a load south to a customer in Stirling in good weather when he decided to overtake a slower lorry at Nuide.
...- Oct 26, 2009
![John Lahr: Patrick Marber updates Strindberg. New Yorker]("http://nt3.ggpht.com/news/tbn/WyXz6cyWuXLdqM/6.jpg")
New YorkerJohn Lahr: Patrick Marber updates Strindberg.New Yorker“Miss Julie is also a relic of the old warrior nobility now giving way to the new nobility of nerve and brain,” Strindberg wrote in his introduction. and more »
- Oct 23, 2009
![The Lure of the Renaissance Washington Post]("http://nt2.ggpht.com/news/tbn/XrPHQIhQU4tCqM/6.jpg")
Washington PostThe Lure of the RenaissanceWashington PostMarvin Holt wears a warrior's garb at the Maryland Renaissance Festival outside of Crownsville. The event is in its 33rd season. It's an anachronistic scene
- Oct 25, 2009
Charity mission to commemorate a memorable fightPhiladelphia InquirerAli has grown up to make a name for herself as a social activist, fashion designer, television personality, and passionate warrior against obesity who wrote and more »- Oct 25, 2009
The lure of Satpuras! Rich in bio-diversity, abode of history and cultureOrganiserIt was not until they killed the last Vanvasi warrior that they could enter the Satpuras. Once inside, the British immediately started work on mapping the- Oct 23, 2009
Merrimack's Da Costa had a five-star debutBoston GlobeIt marked the first time since Merrimack joined Hockey East 21 years ago that a Warrior tallied five goals in a contest. Da Costa became the first player in and more »Warrior Lures - Buy fishing spoons, fishing blades, fishing lures and fishing tackle here! We will custom paint fishing spoons to your spec's. Also offering extended ...
Warrior Lures - Buy fishing spoons, fishing blades, fishing lures and fishing tackle here! We will custom paint fishing spoons to your spec's. ...
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