Miami’s Shaq, Riley ready to shake Finals blues

Published Thursday, June 8, 2006

DALLAS (AP) - Regrets are a terrible souvenir of the NBA Finals, and Shaquille O’Neal had a few after his most recent trip. A decade earlier, so did Pat Riley.

And though they already own seven championship rings between them, the Miami Heat center and his coach were haunted by the ones they weren’t wearing. So O’Neal sacrificed salary to improve his supporting cast, and Riley moved from the executive suite to the bench to push this eclectic team to the Finals.

"I have three, but I’m not satisfied with three," O’Neal said of his jewelry. "You want more, and I have the opportunity right now to get more. So I’m just going to play hard."

When the Heat take the court in Game 1 tonight against the Dallas Mavericks, many of the players and coaches involved will be new to the NBA’s biggest stage. Neither franchise has ever advanced this far, so there’s plenty of rafter room for the banner to be won in the next two weeks.

But while Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki marvels at what he calls "the most exciting time of my life," O’Neal and Riley know all about this familiar pressure on their shoulders. There’s no relief unless they make good on their promises of a championship for Miami.

"Over time, you know what to do, what not to do, what not to fret about, what counts and what doesn’t count," said Riley, who lost the 1994 Finals with the Knicks after making seven trips with the Lakers.

You "eliminate all the things that you worry about, and then write down on a notepad ... the basics and specifics of what you have to do to win. And get those in concrete and cement."

Much about O’Neal’s 2004 departure from Los Angeles still stings, but the Lakers’ embarrassing five-game loss in the Finals to Detroit is much worse than his feud with Kobe Bryant and his subsequent trade. Gary Payton, O’Neal’s teammate then and now, can see the hunger in the big man’s eyes - and not just because Shaq lost a bunch of weight to be ready for this.

"Me and Gary, we talk about that all the time," O’Neal said of the Lakers’ loss. "I was the one that convinced him to come to Miami. I told him it was sort of my fault that we didn’t get it done" with Los Angeles. ... "We should have done things different, and we didn’t. That was just my way to let him know that it won’t ever happen again, if you come join me."

O’Neal, Dwyane Wade and their supporting cast have made all the right moves during the most exciting NBA postseason in recent memory. The Heat has peaked in the playoffs after profound regular-season struggles, while Nowitzki’s Mavericks turned their momentum from chasing the San Antonio Spurs into an impressive conference playoff roll.

Not much is similar about these two teams, but fans who have been intrigued by the buildup - five of the conference finals games last week were among the six highest-rated shows on cable television - should stay by their big screens.

For starters, the sport’s two most interesting 7-footers will be on display. Nowitzki, already a household name in Germany and Texas, has reached an elite level with an incredible postseason run with two big highlights: an impossibly dramatic, game-tying three-point play in Game 7 of the second round against San Antonio, followed by a 50-point performance in the conference finals against Phoenix.

Nowitzki seems eager to feel the pressure that emanates from the only stage he hasn’t mounted in basketball.

"There’s nothing compared to this," Nowitzki said. "I played in the world championships, I played in the European championships, I played in Germany, but this is as big as it gets. I think that the pressure is going to be equal on everybody to perform, so I’m not going to even worry about that. I know once the tip is up, it’s still basketball."

Compared to Miami’s roster of famed veterans (Payton, Alonzo Mourning, Jason Williams and Antoine Walker) and budding superstar Wade, Nowitzki’s supporting cast is largely unknown outside Big D.

But Owner Mark Cuban and his fellow fans have no trouble discerning the particular talents of Josh Howard, Josh Powell, Devin Harris, Adrian Griffin and Marquis Daniels. One quick tip: Howard will be the impressive swingman scoring inside and out while playing defense with an intensity that shows he’s still unhappy about slipping all the way to 29th in the 2003 draft.

The Mavericks also have Coach Avery Johnson, who got the club to its first Finals in his first full season in charge.

"You just can’t have two winners," the Little General said. "I don’t think it’s going to be a black eye on anybody if you don’t get it done. At this stage, teams are so evenly matched. ... It’s just you just can’t have a tie."