The Miami Heat won their first NBA championship by defeating the Dallas Mavericks 95-92 in Game 6. Dwyane Wade was named Finals MVP after leading the Heat with 36 points and 10 rebounds. The Heat celebrated their victory with a parade in Miami attended by thousands of fans. Shaquille O'Neal delivered on his promise to bring a title to Miami in his first season with the team.

1. MIAMI (AP) - And after the sixth game, they rested.
The Miami Heat began a well-deserved break Wednesday after their triumphant
return to South Florida with the NBA championship trophy in tow. The Heat beat
the Dallas Mavericks 95-92 in Game 6 Tuesday for the 18-year-old franchise's
first title.

6. Finals MVP Dwyane Wade, center Shaquille O'Neal and the other Heat members
arrived at Miami International Airport shortly before 7 a.m., just hours after
noisy but peaceful celebrations sprung up in South Beach, Little Havana and
Hialeah.
Lines of cars rolled slowly though streets, horns honking as passengers leaned out
of windows to cheer along with throngs of onlookers who banged pots and pans,
danced and waved signs. No arrests were reported.
"It's just fantastic, fantastic," Heat owner Micky Arison told reporters after
arriving. "Everything we heard about the reaction from Miami have been
tremendous. The fans have been great. Gracias, Miami."
More parties were being scheduled. The championship parade envisioned 11 years
ago by Pat Riley, Heat coach and president, was set for Friday at 2 p.m. in
downtown Miami. Heat players also were expected to attend a party Friday at
Mansion, a nightclub on trendy South Beach.
"I'm going to live it up," Wade said, "because we deserve it."
Francisco Saravia, a 34-year-old Miami biology teacher, started his celebration
Tuesday at American Airlines Arena, where he watched a live broadcast of the
game with about 14,000 other fans. He ran outside the arena after the game to
exchange high-fives, then made his way to the airport to await the team.

10. "It gives you a sense of pride, a sense of belonging to a community that embraces
the team," Saravia said.
At the airport, fans gave huge cheers and pressed up against a chain link fence as
the players' plane arrived. Fire trucks shot streams of water over the aircraft as it
taxied toward a hangar, where a fleet of black limousines and sport utility vehicles
waited to carry the new champs home.
"It was great looking out the window, it was a great feeling to see the fans,"
assistant coach Bob McAdoo said. "The pilot told them to look out the window
and they saw the crowd."
O'Neal hoisted the golden trophy with one hand and then cradled it as he walked
off the plane, smiling and waving. On his first appearance in Miami after he was
traded from Los Angeles two summers ago, he promised he would bring a title -
and delivered.
Riley said the team drank 22 bottles of the high-end Cristal champagne on the
flight.
"I'm running on fumes right now," said center Alonzo Mourning, who's played 13
seasons, interrupted twice by retirements to fight a life-threatening kidney
ailment, but is now a champion. "I'm so excited."

11. DALLAS (AP) - 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. "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.

16. 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.