In that series against Dallas in Game 6, Zo had five blocks, including the one where he went crazy on the deck. Can you talk about what he brought to that game?
“Well even before we get to Game 6… at 2-2, Game 5 here was crucial for us. That game, we were down 11 points in the last minute of the second quarter, and we worked our way back into the game. That’s the game that Dwyane really came through big time.
But again, Gary Payton. We were staggering around and he made...a left hand layup that put us up one with 29.8 seconds left.
Dwyane, with us being down one or two, we got the ball inbounds to him in the backcourt. He was alone in the backcourt. I’ll never forget this. It was one of the greatest plays that I’ve ever seen a player make. We have to win, we’re down, there’s about three or four seconds left to go on the clock, he put his head down and he beat five players. Dallas just ran away from everybody else, thinking, ‘we’re going to stop Dwyane Wade.’ I remember at half court he split a double-team, then he dribbled to his left and there come another two players and somehow he got through there. Now, he’s heading downhill, heading to the basket and Dirk Nowitzki is coming to close out on him. I remember he goes to the basket and Dirk hits him on the hand.
I think with like a second, or 0.4 seconds to go, he makes two free throws and we get the win. That got us to Game 6. And so after that game that night, I remember talking to the players I said, ‘Well, I’ve been here before when I was coaching the Knicks. We went down to Houston ahead 3-2 and needing just one game. Look, when you’ve got a chance to win a championship, you’ve got to win it. Anybody in this room saying we got two shots to win this thing, we’re going to lose. I’m just telling you right now. If you don’t think Game 6 is Game 7 and it’s the last game of the year, then don’t come, don’t pack your bags, don’t go to Dallas, because I’m taking one shirt, one suit and one tie. That’s it. We’re going to play Game 6, we’re going to win, we’re going to celebrate and we’re going to come home.’ And that sort of became the theme for the trip and we went down to Dallas and played one of the best games that this franchise has ever played in a big game situation.
I’ll never forget the last play of the game. We were ahead by three. They’re inbounding, and we steal the ball. Dwyane gets the ball and he gets fouled with about nine seconds to go in the game. They call a timeout, set up a play. We’re in our huddle over there, we’re sitting down, we’re three points ahead and nine seconds away from our first World Championship. Man, I tell you, I’ve been here – the only thing that can happen is a nightmare – I just, look, we shouldn’t lose this game. We’ve got our best free-throw shooter ready to take two shots and put us ahead by four or five [to] make it a two-possession game. So, he’s sitting there really calm, and I remember once we break the huddle, he goes and he’s walking down to the other end to shoot the free throws. He puts his arm around me, and I know, he put his arm around me like, ‘Coach, this game’s over.’ I looked at him and I said, ‘Make the freakin’ free throws.’ That’s all I said to him. ‘This game is a long way from being over with.’
So, he goes down to the free-throw line, lo and behold, he misses both free throws, and here we go. Jason Terry is coming up the court with Gary Payton on him, and he can tie the score with a three. So, I remember him coming off of a pick-and-roll with Nowitzki on the side, and Udonis is what we call “slip-fronting” Nowitzki because he didn’t want him to get it. But Terry came off so close to him that Payton got caught trailing and he actually grabbed his jersey, and you can see it on the film. Terry got to the open pocket, raised, it was a pretty wide-open good look, he just missed it. I was just glad that they didn’t call a foul on Gary and [Terry] is making three free throws I would think. When the ball hit the rim, hit the backboard, it went way in the air, Dwyane rebounded the ball and the next thing he did was just throw it up in the air.
I remember Nick Arison telling me at the time when Dwyane got the rebound and threw it in the air, Micky looked at Nick and said ‘What happened??’ And he said, ‘We just won a championship! We just won a championship!’
What a wonderful moment and a breakthrough moment for the HEAT and for that team to be able to win a championship. It was just an incredible accomplishment. It’s one of my favorite[s]. I’ve been a part of nine championship teams and I wear that ring, 2006, because of what we had a chance to accomplish here in Miami for the first time. Then after that it was all “15 Strong.”
When we finally got back to the locker room after the presentation out on the court and champagne was being spewed all over the place, everybody got down into the pit. At halftime, [Jay Sabol] went in there and took everybody’s personal items out of there. So, the rings, the rosary beads, the necklaces, the pictures, he took everything out of there and put it in a separate bag and the players went down there and started throwing these cards in the air. “15 Strong” Championship Cards in the air and then they were stuck all over the walls. When they took a picture of the locker room after we left, we left Dallas a reminder that we were here.
The 15 Strong were here.
Then we went home, and there were 250,000 people ready there to greet us the next day on Biscayne Blvd. or two days later."
You’ve mentioned Gary a lot and obviously Zo. How happy were you for those guys that had such great careers to finally reach the top of the mountain and win that ring?
“I’ve always been somewhat veteran friendly to guys that may be at the end of their careers but still had a lot left, but you have to put them in the right situation where they know they have a chance to win and win big. So, he had a great year for us, but on the biggest stage when most young players might be a little bit afraid, there was no fear in him. When he hit that jumper to win the game for us in Game 3, he just raised in the air. It was the only shot he took all game, nothing but net. Then, when we needed another bucket in Game 5, he makes a drive, and he makes the typical Gary Payton left-hand-high-off-the-board bank. When we had to have the stop of all stops in Game 6, I put him on Jason Terry and even though Terry got a decent look at it, Payton was head on the ball, full court pressure the whole time. [He] got him thinking about getting him off balance enough that maybe he didn’t get as good a look as we think he got.
I was happy for Gary, obviously I was happy for Zo and for all the players and even Shaq because Shaq came here. He selected us, he wanted to get traded to Miami and come and play for Micky, play for myself and play for the HEAT.
Every single one of those players that was part of that championship team that had never won championships before, they’ll never forget it. It was an incredible ride, it was an incredible experience, not only for myself, but for Zo especially, who’s the face of this franchise along with Dwyane. But also for Shaq and for all the veterans who said, ‘Yeah, I’m coming.’ For Posey and Jason Williams and everybody.
But probably more than any one player, is that Dwyane Wade, and this can happen to every player at some time. How long it happens and how long you stay up there is the mark of true greatness. During those two months of the playoffs, Dwyane Wade was the best player on the planet.
Period.
Bar none.
Everybody has their opportunity to be the best player in the world, but you have to be the best player in the world at a time when the stakes are the highest, and the stakes are pretty high when you’re playing for a World Championship. So, not only was he the best player in the world, but I used to always text him at the time. All I said was BIW, BIW, capital letters, BIW, and he got it. And I still call him BIW, I do. Best in the World, and he had some games this year where he was the Best in the World and I think he’s been one of the best players in the world for the last 10 years.”
That championship parade in 2006, a lot of people look back on it and remember you dancing on stage and all the fun you guys had. Did you have a moment where you just reflected and said to yourself, ‘This was the vision I had when I came here’?
“Not that way. I think one of the tenets that coaches and players should take in their sport is that when you’re successful, when you become good and you get a lot of recognition and notoriety, is that you don’t ever tell people how you did it to make yourself look good. You don’t ever tell people how you’re going to do it because there’s a lot of arrogance involved in that. You just sort of take it humbly and feel very fortunate. Where I soaked it in the most at that time was with my family: with Chris, James and Elisabeth. Because James and Elisabeth, they only heard about the championships that I won, you know? They weren’t even in the world at the time.
To be able to have them in Dallas, sharing this moment. I remember in 1994 when we lost the championship when I was coaching the Knicks in Houston. My son James was 10 and he had come to that seventh game. After that seventh game, he hated basketball because he saw the misery, the pain on our faces, the tears and the disappointment. Even in later years he’d say, ‘Dad, how can you put yourself through this? There’s so much pain! I don’t want anything to do with that kind of a job.’
But he and my daughter were very bubbly that night [in 2006], pouring champagne on my head and spewing it all over the place. To be able to sit in my office just with Chris and I for some minutes, it’s special.
Besides dealing with your family and stuff like that, I think probably the one thing that made me feel the most pride is remembering when I was hired by Micky back in 1996 and having the press conference on the ship “The Imagination.” And not promising, but I could see one day the vision of a parade down Biscayne Blvd, and then having Mike Inglis and Eric Reid talk about ‘And there’ll be a parade down Biscayne Blvd!’
I just remember how proud I was to work for Mr. Arison, for Micky, and to have him share and see exactly what it was like to win and to understand that it takes a lot. To be able to have Micky, Madeleine, Nick, Kelly and all of our families that have gone through the tenures together and have some pretty disappointing losses back against the Knicks in the late ‘90’s to finally get to this moment. It just made me very proud to be part of this franchise.”