'15 strong' win Miami title

DALLAS -- The Miami Heat stretched their arms across each other's shoulders in a jubilant group hug. Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O'Neal and their frenzied teammates joined to form one jumping organism, 15 strong, as their motivational slogan goes.\nThe Heat won their first championship with teamwork that went beyond the floor. While the Dallas Mavericks struggled to stay together during tough times in the NBA finals, the Heat stuck to each other through the trophy presentation, when 15 hands went up together to touch a piece of history.\nWade led Miami's sizzling comeback from a two-game deficit in the finals, and he had 36 points and 10 rebounds in the Heat's clinching 95-92 victory on Tuesday night. But the unanimous finals MVP said Miami's fourth straight win was a wonder of tenacity and teamwork for a roster that seized one big opportunity to make history.\n"This team was built for the playoffs, and we understood that," Wade said. "That's what makes it sweet, because not at one moment did one of us not believe in each other. No matter what, in the locker room, it was always 15 strong."\nWade's brilliance and just enough help from his teammates allowed O'Neal and coach Pat Riley to make good on their promises of a championship for South Florida. The parade should go down Biscayne Boulevard, just as Riley promised 11 years ago.\nWade 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.\nYet he missed a pair of foul shots in the waning seconds with Miami up by three points, giving Dallas a final shot to tie. Jason Terry missed an open 3-pointer, and Wade grabbed the rebound and flung it joyously into the stands as time expired.\nWhere 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.\n"I know to be on a championship-caliber team, you've got to have a great one-two punch," said O'Neal, who had nine points and 12 rebounds while finishing a 14-for-48 performance on free throws in the finals.\n"D-Wade is a fabulous player. I felt we could have got it done last year ... but we had to suffer a little bit. People doubted us all year, but we're a tight-knit group."\nAnd the Heat's roster is studded with stars who never won a title. Point guard Gary Payton reached the finals with three teams over 16 seasons before finally grabbing the ring, while Alonzo Mourning played through 13 seasons, two retirements and a serious kidney ailment for a championship.\nAntoine Walker, Jason Williams, James Posey, Udonis Haslem, all endured serious career troubles, and now they're all champions, too.\nThe Heat became the first team to rally from an 0-2 deficit to win the finals since the NBA went to its 2-3-2 format. Only two other teams ever did it: The Boston Celtics in 1969, and the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977.\nMiami nursed a narrow lead, taking an 89-85 advantage with 2:36 left on two jumpers by Posey. Jerry Stackhouse cut it to a point with a 3-pointer in his first game back from suspension, but after Haslem and Josh Howard traded jumpers, Wade hit two free throws with 26 seconds left.\nErick 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.\nBut Terry missed that open 3-pointer, the last of 11 straight misses, and the final disappointment in the Mavs' otherwise remarkable season.\n"We made a lot of progress this year," said Dallas' Avery Johnson, the NBA's coach of the year who endured his first four-game losing streak at a terrible time.\n"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."\nRiley, who won his first ring since 1988, claimed he never considered the possibility Miami wouldn't finish with four straight wins.\n"I packed one suit, one shirt and one tie," he said before the game. "That's it"