MIAMI \u2013 Shaquille O’Neal played for four NBA championship teams. And now, 20 years after his last title, he has one that he can call his favorite.<\/p>\n
It was the one he got with the Miami Heat.<\/p>\n
The Heat brought back their 2006 title team for a two-day, 20th anniversary celebration this week, with a gala on Monday followed by an on-court event for fans to see at their home game against Atlanta on Tuesday. Most of the team was in attendance, including O’Neal \u2014 who offered what may be a mildly surprising assessment of that championship run.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to throw a word out there that\u2019s probably going to shock the basketball world,” O’Neal said. “It\u2019s my favorite one because we were not supposed to win and it was one that I was pressured to win. I needed to get it done before the other guy got his fourth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other guy\u201d that O’Neal was referring to was Kobe Bryant. He and Bryant won three titles together with the Los Angeles Lakers, then the relationship went south and the Lakers traded O’Neal to Miami in the summer of 2004.<\/p>\n
Bryant eventually got his fourth and fifth titles to pass O’Neal, and the two teammates-turned-rivals mended fences to a certain extent before Bryant \u2014 along with his daughter Gianna and seven others \u2014 died in a helicopter crash six years ago.<\/p>\n
But at that time, O’Neal felt a ton of pressure to get one without Bryant. And the Heat, in those days, were a bit of a powderkeg that found a way to buck the odds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were a bunch of misfits that used to argue and fight and do things very untraditionally,” said O’Neal, who estimated the Heat had about 40 internal fights that season and all of them blew over almost immediately. \u201cBut we never not got along and that\u2019s what made it special.”<\/p>\n
That’s the way the 2006 Heat were wired, which is why O’Neal didn’t take it personally when Miami lost the first two games of that season’s finals to the Dallas Mavericks. O’Neal told the story Tuesday of how Gary Payton \u2014 a guard on that Miami team \u2014 cursed him out after Game 2, saying Dwyane Wade needed the ball more if the Heat were going to win the series.<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided to ruffle some feathers,\u201d Payton said, confirming that he went to coach Pat Riley and asked for changes, then told O’Neal it was time for Wade to carry the torch for the Heat.<\/p>\n
Wade dominated the next four games. Payton made a huge shot to help Miami win Game 3. The Heat won the title in six games. The fights led to a parade. It was all worthwhile.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a perfect eight-man rotation,\u201d Riley said. \u201cI apologize to numbers 9 through 15, but they used to whip (butt) every day in practice on these guys, I can tell you that. Made them better.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, O’Neal’s last of his four titles was his favorite.<\/p>\n
And for Wade, the first of his three titles was his favorite.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never won in high school, I didn\u2019t win in college \u2014 I got to the Final Four. I was that guy that got close,” Wade said. “AAU, I got to the final four, I went to the championship, but I never won one. So, that was the first time in my life that I showed myself that I can actually lead a team to help win the championship because I didn\u2019t know. And so, it would be my favorite because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, an assistant under Riley on that 2006 team, said having most of the team back together for two days was a thrill. He, Riley, the ownership group led by managing general partner Micky Arison and CEO Nick Arison, executive vice president and general manager Andy Elisburg and a slew of other executives (including 2006 players Alonzo Mourning and Udonis Haslem) and team officials are still in Miami \u2014 which Spoelstra thinks sets the Heat apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther teams that have won championships, they try to bring back a group (and) it\u2019s probably a different ownership group, different management, different coaching staff, a lot of different things,” Spoelstra said. “But this, it just brings you back. It\u2019s like an instant time machine. It was an amazing run and it kind of put our franchise on a different kind of map in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coaches, executives and all but three of the players from that 2006 team were introduced at halftime for an on-court ceremony Tuesday, all wearing custom jackets to celebrate that championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will forever be everyone\u2019s favorite because it was the first one and this is the one that really set whatever standard that we\u2019re still living by here,\u201d Wade said. “This set the standard of that because without this championship, (there) ain\u2019t no culture. And so, that\u2019s how we can even stand on \u2018Heat Culture\u2019 and the words that we say because of the championship that was brought here in ’06.\u201d<\/p>\n
And O\u2019Neal, ever the jokester, paid off a 20-year bet with Wade and Haslem. He said he would get them Bentleys if the Heat won that title. He presented them with the Bentleys at halftime Tuesday \u2014 toy versions, but Bentleys nonetheless.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you not entertained?\u201d O\u2019Neal asked, as the crowd roared.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n