After an 18-year pursuit, the Miami Heat have finally brought the NBA championship trophy to South Florida.
The newly crowned world champions arrived home shortly before 6 a.m. Wednesday. Fans gave huge cheers and pressed up against a chain link fence as the players’ plane taxied along the runway at Miami International Airport. Fire trucks shot streams of water over the aircraft.
Shaquille O’Neal hoisted the golden trophy with one hand and then cradled it as he walked off the plane, smiling and waving to fans. O’Neal had promised when he first arrived in Miami two years ago that he would bring home a championship.
Only hours earlier, the Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks 95-92 in Game 6 of the NBA finals. Miami won the series 4-2, claiming the first title in franchise history.
Coach Pat Riley said the team drank 22 bottles of the high-end Cristal champagne on the flight: “We’re not sleeping. We’ll sleep in the summertime.”
“I’m running on fumes right now. I’m so excited,” said center Alonzo Mourning, who has played through 13 seasons, two retirements and a serious kidney ailment for a championship.
The Heat then went to a waiting fleet of limousines and the team left about an hour after landing. Police said the overnight festivities throughout the area had remained peaceful.
Dwyane Wade had 36 points in the victory, one that made O’Neal a four-time world champion and gave Pat Riley his fifth ring. Afterward, they celebrated in their locker room, spraying champagne in every direction, then moved the festivities to a Dallas hotel before flying home.
City officials say a victory parade is tentatively scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
“Thank you for your support, your patience,” a champagne-soaked Mourning shouted when asked if he had a message to fans as he stood in the middle of the locker room party in Dallas. “We love you all, and without you, we wouldn’t have gotten it done, baby.”
The Heat became the third team in NBA history to win the championship after losing the first two games of the final series. And they could not wait to get home afterward.
