MIAMI (AP) - The NBA championship trophy was center stage,
bathed in white light and sitting on a pedestal. And each Miami
Heat player offered it a different greeting.
Mike Miller bowed. Udonis Haslem kissed it three times. Chris
Bosh hugged it, and LeBron James strolled past before waving at the
crowd.
Dwyane Wade did something different. In a nod to his preferred
postgame fashion style throughout the playoffs, he emerged with a
pair of faux eyeglasses and slipped the frames onto the neck of the
trophy. Heat president Pat Riley, coach Erik Spoelstra and team
managing general partner Micky Arison all donned similar pairs of
the black spectacles as well for the party.
The glasses were fake. The sentiments were all real.
And with that, two years after Wade, James and Bosh opened their
time together with a celebration, they got the party they really
wanted on Monday. Hundreds of thousands of people filled the
streets of Miami for the Heat championship parade, and then 15,000
more got into the arena afterward for a long, loud reception for
the NBA's new kings.
"It's the best feeling I've ever had. ... This was my dream,
right here, to be able to hoist that Larry O'Brien Trophy up, hug
it, grab it, never want to let it go," James said.
During the parade, players and coaches were on double-decker
buses with friends and family, most of them taking photos and video
of the crowd. Other Heat staff were on flatbed trucks, as confetti
fell and horns blared every step of the way. Wade cradled the
championship trophy in his arms for much of the ride.
"I appreciate all our fans for sticking with us," said the now
two-time NBA champion Wade, adding, "Best fans in the world."
And then the party moved inside, with a similar setup to the
event that welcomed James and Bosh to Miami to play alongside Wade
in July 2010. Music blared for nearly an hour as fans danced for
joy, before the arena went dark briefly - and someone sneaked the
trophy onto the stage.
For nearly 90 minutes afterward, the Heat relived so many
aspects of the season, from Haslem's flagrant foul against
Indiana's Tyler Hansbrough in the Eastern Conference finals ("the
greatest flagrant foul in team history," Heat broadcaster Eric
Reid told the crowd) to countless highlights from the NBA Finals
against Oklahoma City, the Heat left few stones unturned.
Juwan Howard - the first member of Michigan's Fab Five to win an
NBA title - did the Cabbage Patch dance, as teammates broke into
absolute hysterics, waving their arms in time with him. Mario
Chalmers was asked about why Wade and James yell at him so much on
the court, as a montage of some of their more fiery moments played
on the giant video screens. And the Miami natives, Haslem and James
Jones, got perhaps the loudest ovations of anyone outside of the
finals MVP.
"Feels great, man," said Haslem, who along with Wade is the
lone holdover from Miami's 2006 championship club. "Changing my
name from Mr. Miami to Mr. Two-Time. I ain't Mr. Miami no more. I'm
Mr. Two-Time. ... It never gets old. But this one is more
gratifying because of the way last season ended."
Spoelstra had a similar sentiment, talking to the crowd about
the team's commitment, especially after Miami lost last season's
finals to Dallas.
"People from the outside, they criticized this group, this
team," Spoelstra said. "They counted this team out. But they
never estimated how close this group was as a family. Every single
one of these players had to sacrifice something, either money,
opportunity, minutes to be a part of this team. And it was all for
a moment like this."
Miami won the title by defeating Oklahoma City in five games in
the NBA Finals. It was the second title for the Heat and the first
for James, who nodded and pointed to fans for much of the parade.
James came to Miami after seven years in Cleveland, and after he
and the Heat fell in the finals a year ago, he's finally a
champion.
"It's good being around other people who support LeBron," said
Doug Mead of Toledo, Ohio, who came to the parade with his family.
"They really don't like him in Ohio. They celebrate when he
loses."
Everyone was celebrating in Miami on Monday. Arison snapped and
tweeted several photos during the parade. Riley shouted "Thank
you" to fans over and over, as his wife, Chris, stood to his left
and led "Let's go Heat" chants.
Some fans began lining up for spots along the parade route
Sunday night.
"I've been a fan since `89. For me personally I feel like I'm
part of the Heat family," said Dexter Pace of West Palm Beach,
Fla. "I've been through the goods, the bads, the losses, the
trades, and now it's like someone in my family has accomplished
something. .... It's going to mean a lot for the city of Miami,
winning the championship."
As the event ended, Bosh thanked both the fans inside the arena
and those outside, saying that without them, nothing would be
possible for the Heat.
"It feels right," Bosh said. "This is how it's supposed to be
... and I would like to do it all the time."
