By Mark La Monica
Forget superlatives. Don’t waste your time with the dreaded cliché of Michael Jordan comparisons. Erase the “Look at me, I’m a cool writer” metaphors.
Dwyane Wade is just plain amazing.
He won the NBA Championship last night. By default of wearing matching uniforms, the other players on the Miami Heat won the NBA Championship, too. But this was all about D-Wade. His official coming-out party, just in case you didn’t already know that he’s among the five best players in the league.
We’ll let the Miami columnists and ESPN analysts do the rest of the fawning over Wade. Here are 12 other thoughts on the NBA Finals.
* “15 Strong”. Great motivational phrase. Gotta love Pat Riley.
* Speaking of Riles, he has the best gel job among championship-winning coaches, a list that includes gel wizard Geno Auriemma of UConn.
* On the drive home last night, God shot 60 percent from the field on the ESPN Radio postgame interviews. Wade, Alonzo Mourning and Udonis Haslem all thanked God for their victory. Shaq and Gary Payton did not. Only Mourning, a kidney transplant success story, should be allowed to do that.
* South Beach is going get a little crazy in the next few days. Crazier than anything seen in "Any Given Sunday."
* That Miami afternoon on July 20, 2004 day, in between pulling up in a Shaq Diesel truck, using a supersoaker on the crowd and threatening to walk naked on the beach, Shaquille O’Neal promised to deliver a championship to the city. Every big-name free agent makes that proclamation. Very few actually do it.
* Gonna miss Avery Johnson. Great coach. Great speaker. Great voice.
* After watching a fourth postgame interview with Pat Riley, one thing remains clear: He was definitely the visual inspiration for Don Flamenco of Mike Tyson’s Punch Out.
* First person to email me a link to a story about fans being arrested in South Beach for dumb celebratory mischief wins a prize.
* Riley told everyone before the game that he only brought one suit and one tie to Dallas. In a word, cajones
* Mourning sat down at the microphone in the press room at 12:57 a.m. EST carrying a bottle of champagne. “We’re not doin’ any Moet commercials,” he said as he raised the bottle for people to see. “So, I’m a put this under here.”
* At the parade in Miami, will Shaq reprise the “Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan youuuuuuuuuuuu dig it?” phrase he invented during the Lakers’ parades.
* What do you think Kobe Bryant is doing today?
Comments (2)
IT WAS A WELCOME SIGHT TO SEE, A GREAT TEAM, WITH GREAT INDIVIDUALS, AND A GREAT COACH ALL COME TOGETHER AND BE CROWNED WORLD CHAMPIONS. IT JUST SEEMS THAT THIS IS THE WAY SPORTS SHOULD BE PLAYED. OF COURSE, WADE IS SPECIAL, SHAQ IS SPECIAL, ALONZO IS SPECIAL, ANTOINE, GARY AND EVERY ONE OF THE REST OF THE TEAM JUST SEEMED TO BE SPECIAL, BUT THE FINAL IMAGE YOU HAVE IS THAT THEY ALL PULLED FOR THE TEAM TO BE THE WINNER, NOT ANY ONE INDIVIDUAL. IT IS RIGHT THAT MIAMI SHOULD BE THE CHAMPIONS. AS EVERY PERSON WHO WATCHES SPORTS MUST BE THINKING, I WISH I KNEW WHAT KOBE THINKS?
LOOK AT THE HEAT (EPITOME OF HOW TO RUN AN ORGANIZATION-WORLD CHAMPS) VS KNICKS (LAUGHING STOCK OF NBA) YIKES I'VE LIVED IN S FL NOW SINCE 1989, SO I ROOT FOR THE HEAT & KNICKS (HOLDING MY NOSE) GO PAT!! HE & I GREW UP IN THE CAPITAL DISTRICT OF UPSTATE NY (SCHENECTDAY-TROY). OUR HIGH SCHOOLS PLAYED EACH OTHER. I'M 5 YRS YOUNGER, BUT SAW HIM PLAY AT LINTON MANY TIMES. HAVE FOLLOWED HIS CAREER EVER SINCE. A GREAT COACH AND A CLASS ACT ON & OFF THE COURT!