DALLAS - For most of the season, Pat Riley's gambit - blowing up a 59-win team from last year - seemed folly. But Riley kept saying his team was built for the postseason, and his players proved him right Tuesday night with a 95-92 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at AmericanAirlines Center, giving Miami its first NBA championship.
The Heat won the series, four games to two. They did not want to play a potential Game 7 here - "I packed one suit, one shirt and one tie," Riley said before tip-off - so they took care of business, getting 36 points from series MVP Dwyane Wade.
But Miami got contributions up and down its roster, from forward Udonis Haslem's 17 points and 10 rebounds, to a double-double from Antoine Walker (14 points, 11 rebounds) to nine points and 12 rebounds from Shaquille O'Neal.
Dirk Nowitzki had 29 points and 15 rebounds for Dallas, but he scored just two points in the fourth quarter.
The Mavericks rallied from a nine-point third-quarter deficit to close within 91-90 on a Josh Howard basket with 42 seconds left. But Wade made two free throws with 26.2 seconds remaining, and Nowitzki, for some reason, tried to hit Erick Dampier rolling to the basket the next time down. The ball bounced off of Dampier's hands, and Wade tracked it down in the corner. He was fouled with 17.7 seconds left and made two more free throws.
Dallas' Jason Terry missed a last-second three-point attempt that would have tied the game.
The Mavericks had cooled down from their angered post-Game 5 state by tip-off, knowing that they had to focus that energy into something more positive.
Predictably, in their desperate state, the Mavericks were much more the former in the first half, getting out and running for the first time in three games. Nowitzki was aggressive going to the basket - he had two first-quarter dunks after having just one lay-in in the last two games in Miami - and was in the middle of a 16-4 run over five minutes that put Dallas ahead by 26-12 with 2:54 left in the first quarter.
But Miami came back, and did so with O'Neal on the bench for the last three minutes of the period. The Heat's offensive focus shifted to Wade, and he got himself going with seven points to end the quarter. Miami scored 11 of the last 15 points, and despite the Mavericks' strong start, the Heat trailed by only 30-23 after one.
The run continued for Miami early in the second, with Wade and Alonzo Mourning leading the way. While Dallas scored just one basket in three-plus minutes, the Heat closed to within 32-31 on a Wade baseline jumper at the 9:15 mark.
Dallas got out and ran again, helped by numerous Miami turnovers that led to eight straight Mavericks transition points. (Dallas had 19 fastbreak points in the half.) And that gave the Mavs control of the game again, with fastbreak baskets by Nowitzki and Marquis Daniels giving Dallas a 46-36 lead with 3:31 left in the half.
But the Mavericks let the Heat hang around, missing six of their last seven shots from the floor. And the Heat closed the half with a 15-2 run, getting contributions from just about everyone. A goaltending call against Dallas' D.J. Mbenga tied the score at 46 with two minutes left, and after a James Posey free throw gave the Heat a one-point lead, Mourning trailed Wade and threw down a thunderous dunk to give Miami a 49-46 edge.
Nowitzki closed the half with a basket, but the Heat led by 49-48 at the half, having erased two big deficits.
The Mavericks' poor shooting continued in the third, with Dallas missing 12 of its first 14 shots, and Miami went on a 9-2 run. The Heat's lead grew to as many as nine, with Mourning - a huge force at the defensive end, blocking everything in sight - hitting a lay-in with 1:51 left, putting the Heat up by 68-59.
But Dallas slowed Miami down some by going to a 2-3 zone that kept several bodies between Wade and the basket. And the Mavericks got a major lift from an unlikely source - little-used guard Marquis Daniels, who kept attacking the rim. He scored on a fastbreak dunk, and his three-point play over Mourning kept Dallas within 68-64.
Miami led by 71-68 after three.
