No Conspiracy here…the Heat just imposed their will in last night’s 95-92 win…they were the aggressors in the last 4 games and especially in game 6 last night where the Mavs, other than Dirk who was magnificent, really played tight…The Heat became the first team to rally from an 0-2 deficit to win the Finals since the NBA went to a 2-3-2 format in 1985. Only two other teams ever did it: The 1969 Celtics and the '77 Blazers…so what happened? Well here it is…

The Heat won because:

Dwayne Wade is unstoppable…last night he had 36 points on 10-18 from the floor and 16-21 from the line, 10 rebounds, including 3 offensive all in the 2nd half, 5 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks? Come on those are PlayStation numbers…for the last 4 games on the series, all Miami wins, Wade averaged 44.5 minutes, 39.3 points on 57.8% (!!) from the floor, and 79.4% from the line, 8.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.5 steals and 1 block per game…ridiculous numbers…

Shaq being doubled leaves open shooters or a single covered Wade…Udonis Haslem, who I’ll expound on more in a minute, was left open all night on the Shaq double team and he made 8-13 shots…Wade ran off Shaq’s baseline picks all night and once freed up turned to face his defender who sagged in on Shaq, cueing the made 18-foot jumper…2 men on Shaq means someone is open, simple as that…

Antoine Walker was aggressive…last night he had 14 points on an atrocious 6-17 from the floor and 0-6 from three, but his real contribution was on the boards where he had 11 rebounds including 3 offensive, all in the 2nd half…in fact, in the 3rd quarter when the Heat were really struggling, it was ‘Toine who had rallied them with 10 points and eight boards…and I loved the shimmy…

Udonis Haslem was the X-Factor…Haslem played his ass off on both ends hounding Nowitzki with terrific ball denial and then physically contesting Dirk whenever he actually had the ball…throw in a terrific shooting night where he went 8-13 for 17 points, making several key open jumpers around the foul line and baseline areas…Haslem played through a very painful separated shoulder, but focused enough to play his best game of the playoffs at the best time…don’t forget his 10 rebounds, 4 of which came in the last 5 minutes of the 4th where Shaq was out with foul trouble…and really don’t forget his enormous offensive rebound and put-back to give Heat 91-88 lead late in the game…

Alonzo Mourning completely sucked the life out of the Mavs in the 2nd half…8 points, 6 rebound and 5 blocks…Mourning was channelling his inner Patrick Ewing at Georgetown sending Jason Terry and Josh Howard to the deck with tremendously powerful blocks…throw in a terrific timing block from the weakside on Dampier and Alonzo would not be denied…and I loved the little stutter step dribble and then 1 handed power jack right on top of Mbenga’s head…all of this in only 14 minutes…

The Mavs lost because:

Erick Dampier can’t catch…’nuff said…

Josh Howard and Jason Terry could not make shots…Terry shot 7-25, including 2-11 from three, basically forgetting that what made so effective earlier in the series was his mid range pull up game…2-11 is Starks territory…in fact after hitting first four shots, missed 18 of next 21, including all seven in the fourth quarter…Terry did have 5 assists and 2 steals but 16 points out of a possible 61 is atrocious…as for Howard, he was only 5-16 for 14 points, although he had 12 rebounds and 4 steals…Howard simply could not take advantage of Antoine Walker, who is not a noted defender to say the least…

The Mavs 21 feet of centre scored 3 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 turnovers in 42 underwhelming minutes…DJ Mbenga, DeSagana Diop and 42 underwhelming minutes…DJ Mbenga, DeSagana Diop and Ericka Dampier were terrible…period…and don’t tell me about their defence limiting Shaq to 9 points and 12 rebounds in only 30 minutes, because it was the double team that limited Shaq…if the Mavs had single covered Shaq with any or all of these guys he would have had 50 points a game….

They did not double Wade…not nearly enough anyway…they doubled Shaq, who can make free throws, instead…not a bad strategy, but Wade is this team’s best player…

Congrats to Gary Payton, who can now retire (please!!) and Alonzon Mourning who can now go away (please!!!) on the career capping title…

1) John Hollinger of ESPN.com reports on the Heat winning the title with chemistry:

Heat supporting cast swaps shots for rings

They said, "We don't care about shots." Of course not, we laughed quietly to ourselves. Until the games start. They said, "We're not worried about minutes." Sure, we snickered and chortled. In scrimmages, maybe. They told us, "We're just here to win a title," and our eyes rolled in unison. That's what they all say. They told us they'd stay the course if the season got off to a rocky start, and then the laughter really kicked up a notch.
But in the end we were the suckers. Despite all the disparate talents they brought in during the offseason, and all the career starters who had to accept fewer minutes, and all the troubles they endured during a 10-10 start and a resultant coaching change, Miami's veteran imports stayed the course. They didn't gripe about minutes, or shots, or much of anything en route to the franchise's first-ever title. The Heat talked the talk that everyone talks on media day. But in a rare departure from the NBA norm, they walked the walk too. "There was a lot of conjecture throughout the course of the year about our team, about the character, about certain players, it wouldn't work, the chemistry," said Heat coach Pat Riley. "People just don't know how much these guys really wanted it." For me, it was a full-circle moment. I was at Miami's media day in October, when a group of disbelieving writers attempted to discern how all these new players planned on sharing one basketball, and I was as cynical as any of them. Antoine Walker, James Posey, Jason Williams and Gary Payton had all been starters the previous season. All were accustomed to getting their 40 minutes a night and being an integral part of their team's offense. Walker told me on media day, "I understood that I'd be getting fewer touches and fewer minutes when I came here." But we still doubted, because we weren't sure he understood how much fewer those numbers would be. Sure enough he didn't complain -- as many of us thought he might -- when both those predictions came true. While Walker was on the bench for the final minutes tonight -- as he was for most playoff games -- he nonetheless celebrated as enthusiastically as anyone when his backup, Posey, hit two huge shots down the stretch. Perhaps we should have paid more attention to Alonzo Mourning. Way back in October, Zo said it wouldn't be a problem, and he knew from experience. "You guys said the same thing when I came here," said Mourning, who had fit in seamlessly as a backup the previous year. "It would be one thing if we were dealing with some young, inexperienced rookies. But these are seasoned veterans, guys that have won nothing. They smelled it, but the only guy here who has won anything was Shaq. I don't think it's going to be about playing time or who gets the ball." Sure enough, there was Zo again, whooping it up in the winning locker room. "15 Strong," he chanted, repeating the Heat's mantra for much of the postseason. There was Walker, enduring a rough shooting night but grabbing 11 rebounds and taking a few turns in Miami's tag-team defense on Dirk Nowitzki. There was Payton, scoring 16 points the entire series but making two of the biggest shots of Miami's season. There was Posey, quietly deferring to Wade and Shaq before hitting two huge buckets in the final minutes of Game 6. And there was Williams, setting the table with seven assists before giving way to Payton in crunch time. "[Pat Riley] just told us to play together," said Payton. "Stay strong, 15 strong, and we'd be champions. And that's what we did." In retrospect, Mourning was right: We underestimated how important the players' experience was. If Miami had brought in younger players who needed to get touches, it might have been a problem. But players like Walker, Mourning and Payton had been the alpha dog already, and realized at some point that the big prize would come at a cost of shots and minutes. "At that point you're searching for individual accolades," Walker said to me back in October about his younger years. "Now I'm more mature. I want that ring." They wanted it more than shots or minutes, apparently, and in spite of our cynicism, they're champions as a result.
"I've been working hard for 16 years trying to get [a ring] and now I've got one." said Payton. "It's beautiful."

2) Mike Kahn of Foxsports.com with his take:

Riley, Wade lead Heat to first NBA title

Fittingly, the ball landed in Dwyane Wade's hands as the clock expired. Overcoming a sluggish start and a raucous partisan crowd at the Dallas Whine Cellar, Wade poured in 36 points, grabbed 10 rebounds — including the last one — to lead the Miami Heat to a 95-92 victory in Game 6 of the NBA Finals and the first championship in franchise history. The Heat trailed by double-digits with just 2:30 minutes left in the first half, outscored the Mavericks 13-2 heading into intermission and never trailed again. Wade was the key, earning the Most Valuable Player trophy and rightfully so. He averaged 34.7 in the series, the third most in NBA history for a player in his first NBA Finals — behind Rick Barry and Allen Iverson, including an incredible 39.3 in the final four games. But Wade was not alone, with Shaquille O'Neal earning his fourth ring, despite struggling all night with nine points and 12 rebounds due to foul trouble. It opened the door for a magnificent performance from Alonzo Mourning, with eight points, six rebounds and five blocks to dominate the interior once again. It very likely was the final game for Mourning, who overcame kidney disease and a transplant to battle back for his first title. It also is probably the final game for future Hall of Fame point guard Gary Payton, who got his first championship as well. And that wasn't all, as the Heat outrebounded the Mavericks 56-50, the fourth time this series the Mavericks were beaten on the boards — after winning the battle in their previous 17 playoff games. It wasn't just O'Neal and Wade, Udonis Haslem had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Antoine Walker added 14 points and 11 boards. They just played tougher and smarter every game when it came to crunch time. It all was reflective of coach Pat Riley, who became only the third coach in NBA history to win a title with two different teams. Not only did he bring in his four championship rings as a coach (plus one as a player), jewelry from his late mother, his wife and daughter to dump into the lucky pit he placed in the locker room weeks ago, he only packed one suit and tie for the trip to Dallas and predicted on June 8 that they would win the title on 6-20-06. Indeed, he became the first coach to win titles 18 years apart — following back-to-back titles with the Lakers. A coach and a prophet, was Riley? Perhaps ... it just wasn't that easy. The Mavericks were up 2-0 in the series and had a 13-point lead midway through the fourth quarter of Game 3 in Miami, with talk of parades and sweeps dancing through the chat rooms, bulletin boards, Mavericks Web Sites and perhaps the minds of the Mavericks on the floor. And because they took their eye off the ball, Wade proceeded to seize the series and become the first player from that storied draft class of 2003 — including LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony — to win a championship. The Heat became only the third team in history to respond from a 0-2 deficit in the NBA Finals to win the title, and they did it with the veteran savvy and tenacity that comes with guys like O'Neal, Mourning, Payton, Walker, James Posey, Jason Williams, Shandon Anderson and Derek Anderson, who were all willing to defer for the good of the team. That was reflective of Riley's leadership. It was more a reflection of their respect for Wade and the blossoming greatness. Oh, the Mavericks hung in there and even though the Heat kept them at an arm's length most of the second half, they did fight back to tie the game at 79 with seven minutes left. Dirk Nowitzki did bounce back strong from sub-par games to score 29 points and grab 15 rebounds, but he did little in the fourth quarter. Jason Terry never got into shooting rhythm, making just 7-of-25 shots from the field, and they were never able to take the lead. More than anything else, and the Heat knew it — whenever times got tough, the Mavericks would settle for jump shots. It's why they were just 12-of-41 (.293) from the field in the second half. It's why the Heat continuously got to the free throw line the entire series — they attacked and the Mavs settled. But Dallas is young and wonderfully stocked with talent in both the starting lineup and off the bench; the coach of the year in just his first full season in Avery Johnson; and a superstar to rally around in Nowitzki. They will be back because relentless and resourceful owner Mark Cuban won't rest until they do, and president Donnie Nelson is perhaps the shrewdest and most underrated judge of talent in the league for a franchise that just finished its first trip to the NBA Finals, as well. Nonetheless, this is a time to celebrate O'Neal embracing his young and exceptionally humble super teammate in Wade on the heels of his nightmare with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. It's a time to appreciate Riley as a coach of the ages in any sport, and a playoff run from these two teams that no one expected to be here in the end. It's what championship fiber is all about.

The stud - Finals MVP Dwyane Wade with his fourth consecutive game of 36 points or more — filling up the box score with 36 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks. For the series he averaged 34.7 points a game and completely took over the series from the final six minutes of Game 3 until he grabbed the final rebound of Game 6.

The dud - After a solid first half with 13 points, Mavericks guard Jason Terry fell apart in the second half with 1-of-12 shooting, including 1-for-7 from 3-point range. His desire to keep throwing up jumpers was symptomatic of how the Mavericks blew the series against the Heat, who consistently took the ball to the rim.

The quote - Heat coach Pat Riley on coaching the guys around Wade and O'Neal: "It was our time — we have been talking about it all year," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "We've got 15 strong, and it looks like a championship trophy in that gold pit in the middle of the locker room. I'm a true believer. I have no doubts. I have no fears. The only thing I think about is what it takes to win. From a coaching standpoint, my greatest concern and fear (was that) I wasn't going to have enough for these guys. I don't know I've ever depended on two players. (Wade) just took it to another level. You all witnessed it. You all watched it. Players like that are hard to come by. He's making his legacy in his third year, and he's amazing."

This and that - With the $250,000 fine slapped on Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for rushing the floor after Game 5 in a threatening way, he now has been fined $450,000 this postseason — 13 total fines totaling $1.665 million for various and sundry comments since becoming owner of the Mavericks. "It's sad for the players that he's decided to become the story of the finals," NBA commissioner David Stern said on FOX Sports' "Best Damn Sports Show Period," on Tuesday ... Out of the 59 previous NBA Finals, 16 have gone seven games; and only one has featured the home team winning all seven games — the 1955 Syracuse Nationals edged the Fort Wayne Pistons in Game 7, 92-91. It was the first year of the shot clock; and, ironically, the Pistons played their home games during the playoffs in Indianapolis. ... Entering Tuesday's game, the Heat had lost six in a row at Dallas, with the last win March 2, 2002 — 109-95. The Heat entered the game having won 25 consecutive games in which they have led at halftime — this made 26. The Mavericks finished the second 1-6 in games decided by three points or less. ... This the first four-game losing streak for Mavs coach Avery Johnson since he became coach with 18 games left in the 2004-05 regular season. ... Heat coach Pat Riley became the third coach to win a title with two different teams, adding to his four rings with the Lakers; and it was nearly the third different franchise. He also took the Knicks to Houston in 1994 with a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals, only to lose both games to the Rockets. That's when he left the Knicks for Miami to become president and coach. Phil Jackson won six titles with the Bulls and three with the Lakers, while Alex Hannum won with the St. Louis Hawks in 1958 and the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967. ... The Heat joined the 1969 Boston Celtics and the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers as the only teams in history to overcome 0-2 deficits to win the series. The Blazers won four in a row like the Heat, but the Celtics required a seventh game. .

The statbook - Dwyane Wade's 172 points in his first NBA Finals series is the third most in NBA history, behind only Rick Barry (201 in 1975) and Allen Iverson (178 in 2001). Wade shot .488 and averaged 26.9 points a game in 11 road playoff games this season, compared to .504 from the field and 29.8 points in 12 games at home. From the free throw line, he was 9.3-11.4 at home and 7.8-10.1 on the road. ... Dirk Nowitzki entered this series averaging 28.4 points and shooting .494 from the field during the first 17 games of the playoffs. In this series, he has reached that scoring average only once — 30 points in Game 3 — and shot as well as .494 only in Game 2 when he was 8-of-16. Entering Game 6, he was averaging 21.6 points and making just .373 of his shots from the field. ... Shaquille O'Neal was 1-of-4 from the free throw line, finishing the series 14-of-48 — the worst of his career at .292. ... Heat guard Gary Payton, who along with Oscar Robertson is the only player in history to score 20,000 points and dole out 8,000 assists — and the only nine-time in success first team All-Defensive choice with Michael Jordan — is expected to retire and move his family to Las Vegas. ... The Mavs were awful from the 3-point stripe in Game 6 at 5-of-22 (.227), but the Heat were even worse at 2-of-18 (.111). The Heat was 23-of-37 from the free throw line in Game 6 compared to the Mavs' 19-of-23. For the series, the Heat was 125-for-207 (.604) compared to Dallas' 122-of-155 (.787) ... From the field, the Heat was 200-of-437 — .458 compared to the Mavericks' 198-of-469 (.422). In the final four games, they were 132-of-.327 — just .404 for a team that shot a very good .462 during the regular season.

3) Marc Stein reports on the Heat’s new place in history:

Heat comeback now tops in Finals history

It was official on this scorecard even before these Finals went final. Yet it has to be a slam dunk now for any hoops historian. The NBA Finals have never produced a more stunning turnaround/collapse than what we just saw. Never. The Miami Heat's 95-92 triumph over the Dallas Mavericks in Tuesday night's Game 6 cements it. It's just the third time ever that a 2-0 lead in the Finals failed to result in a championship. The Mavericks, though, didn't just win the first two games. They also blew a 13-point lead in the final six-plus minutes of Game 3 to squander a likely 4-0 sweep. Miami followed up its Game 3 escape by winning the next three games, too, vindicating Pat Riley after all the heat he got for his roster choices . . . and saddling Dallas with the most epic meltdown in Finals annals. The following top-five list details the competition in this category: Most dramatic momentum shifts on the Finals stage, 1947-2005.

1. 1977 Finals: Portland Trail Blazers 4, Philadelphia 76ers 2 - This wouldn't be the unofficial home of Buffalo Braves bitterness if I didn't preface the following by suggesting that none of it would have been possible if the great Dr. Jack Ramsay hadn't been driven away to Portland by Braves owner/saboteur Paul Snyder, in the first of many donations to the rest of the league that landed my Braves in San Diego barely two years after Ramsay's departure. However ... The Blazers' comeback in the 1977 Finals can't be otherwise diminished. If the Mavs indeed force a Game 7 by winning Tuesday night, '77 will remain the only Finals in league history in which the eventual champs won four straight games after falling behind 0-2.As ESPN.com historian Ken Shouler reminds, Portland had nearly 10 days off after beating the Lakers in the West finals and then waiting for the Sixers to finish off the East-no-more Houston Rockets. Heavily favored Philly pounced on Portland's rust from the opening tap -- when a certain Dr. J went in for a windmill dunk -- and won the first two games rather comfortably. Yet the series actually spun late in Game 2, when a series of scuffles erupted into a full-scale brawl. Sixers center Darryl Dawkins and Blazers forward Bobby Gross were the principals, but Portland enforcer Maurice Lucas jumped in with a right that caught Dawkins. It's impossible to know how the series would have played out in today's NBA, given that Dawkins and Lucas (and probably others) would have been suspended. Not necessarily for just one game, either. Back then, though, all parties were allowed to keep on playing after marginal fines ... and Portland was a different team thereafter. Seeing Lucas confront the fearsome Chocolate Thunder emboldened the Blazers, who won Games 3 and 4 at home by a crushing total of 54 points. Unlike Mavs-Heat -- and thus a big reason why the '06 Finals are bound to claim the top spot when we amend this list -- there was no hint in those games of the shell-shocked Sixers getting close to a 3-0 lead. In Game 5 back in Philly, with the 2-3-2 format still almost a decade away, Portland countered Julius Erving's 37 points with 25 from the unheralded Gross and 24 boards from eventual Finals MVP Bill Walton to keep the Sixers sliding. A two-point home win in Game 6 clinched it for Portland in front of the "Blazermaniacs," who, three decades later, aren't so maniacal about a franchise that looks about as stable these days as the post-Ramsay Braves.

2. 1969 Finals: Boston Celtics 4, Los Angeles Lakers 3 - Jerry West opened the '69 Finals with two games Michael Jordan could envy. The NBA's Logo Man rang up 53 and 41 points as L.A., with what seemed to be its best-ever chance to finally topple the hated Celts, took a 2-0 edge over an aging Boston squad that had won just 48 games during the regular season. The Celts predictably rallied at home to even things at 2-2, but even a trademark dose of Celtic Mystique -- Sam Jones winning Game 4 with a clumsy buzzer-beating jumper -- didn't deter West's Lakers. They recovered from that heartbreaker to win Game 5 back at the Fabulous Forum, but the Celts won Game 6 at home. So for once the Lakers had a chance to close Boston out on their home floor in the Game 7 decider. It didn't matter. In a story you've surely seen more than once on ESPN Classic by now, Boston's players learned before the Game 7 tap of the elaborate celebration plans arranged by Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke. Not that the Celts could miss the balloons hanging in the Forum rafters overhead, waiting to be released at the final buzzer. You surely know the rest as well. West was so good on a tweaked hamstring that he finished with 42 points, 13 boards and 12 assists ... so good that he became the first (and only) Finals MVP from the losing side. But the fired-up Celts tortured West yet again by taking a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter and hanging on for a 108-106 triumph after (a) Wilt Chamberlain was controversially benched for the final five-plus minutes; (b) L.A. missed 19 free throws, including nine by Chamberlain, and (c) Stein Line favorite Don Nelson hoisted that crazy free-throw line jumper that hit the rim, bounced straight up and dropped back through. It was the first time any team had overcome a 2-0 deficit in the Finals and it was Bill Russell's farewell after his unparalleled run of 11 championships in 13 seasons.

3. 1985 Finals: Los Angeles Lakers 4, Boston Celtics 2 - I'll never forget watching Game 1 with the fellas, mainly because of a guy in our rugged South OC high school gang named Scott Weidman. Weidman was one letter away from greatness, in other words. Game 1 of the '85 Finals was the famed "Memorial Day Massacre," in which Scott Wedman came off the Celtics' bench to shoot 11-for-11 from the field in Boston's 148-114 runaway. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, meanwhile, scored a whopping 12 points, masking the fact that Magic Johnson managed only one rebound and raising the media volume on the idea that Abdul-Jabbar, at 38, was finished. Cue dramatic turnaround. The Lakers resuscitated themselves to win four of the next five games, avenging their seven-game defeat in the '84 Finals and toppling Boston at last after a run of eight straight losses to the Celts in the championship round. Kareem? He averaged merely 30.2 points, 11.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 2.0 blocks in the Lakers' four victories to earn Finals MVP honors ... setting a very high bar for Shaquille O'Neal in the 2010 Finals.

4. 1995 Finals: Houston Rockets 4, Orlando Magic 0 - How can a Finals sweep include a dramatic turnaround? My response: Do you remember Game 1 of the '95 Finals? In what was presumed to be the first of many trips to the title round for O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, Orlando got there by halting Michael Jordan's comeback from baseball in Round 2 and routing Indiana by 24 points in Game 7 of the East finals. The Magic then responded to the notion that all this was happening too fast for a 23-year-old Shaq and a 22-year-old Penny by rolling up a 20-point lead on the defending champs in Game 1. The inexperienced Magic even managed to regain the lead after blowing all of that 20-point cushion and clung to a three-point edge in the final minute. But Nick Anderson infamously missed four consecutive free throws -- two with 10.5 seconds left and two more after pulling in an offensive rebound -- to frame one of the most painful collapses in the sport's history. That Game 1 defeat in OT, after such a promising start, uncorked a long, vicious spiral for the Magic that some Orlando observers believe still grips the franchise. The heart-of-a-champion Rockets steamrolled the crushed kiddies in the next three games. The midseason reunion of Phi Slamma Jamma's Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler and the support of stellar role players (Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Mario Elie and Kenny Smith) enabled Houston to emerge as the lowest-seeded champion ever (No. 6 in the West) and the first titlist to beat four 50-win teams in the playoffs. Yet it was merely the beginning of the suffering for the Magic. They could never again count on a broken Anderson and held onto Shaq for just one more season before he defected to the Lakers in free agency. The Magic's 10 seasons of mediocrity since -- marked by five first-round playoff exits, another messy parting with a franchise player (Tracy McGrady) and Grant Hill's years of injury misfortune -- have been referred to as the Curse of the Shaqino.
(Editor's note: Detroit's 4-1 dismantling of the Lakers in the 2004 Finals, when the Pistons swept the three middle games at home to break up the Shaq-Kobe Bryant-Phil Jackson triangle, was also strongly considered here. The problem? Dramatic as the consequences were for the losers -- since this was the Laker team that also had Gary Payton and Karl Malone and won four straight resurrection games itself in the second round after falling behind 2-0 to San Antonio -- L.A. never had control of the Detroit series. Not even for the bulk of one game like the '95 Magic did. The Lakers needed Kobe's miracle triple to force overtime and steal Game 2 at home and were convincingly snuffed out of the other four games by the Pistons at their T-E-A-M peak.)

5t. 1951 Finals: Rochester Royals 4, New York Knicks 3 1996 Finals: Chicago Bulls 4, Seattle SuperSonics 2 - This combined entry is the twosome that gets bumped when Heat vs. Mavs slides into the top spot. For one simple fact. The turnarounds were indeed stunning ... but incomplete. I don't have a lot of details to share about the '51 Finals, but this much I do know: Rochester went up 3-zip, which almost never happens, then dropped the next three, which happens even less. The Royals eventually beat the Knicks at home in a 79-75 thriller (we assume) in Game 7, with the final four points (two each from Bob Davies and Jack Coleman) coming in the final minute to clinch it. As for 1996, I'm guessing you won't need to look at Ken Shouler's "Total Basketball" to recall some of that series. MJ's Bulls jumped to a 3-nil lead over the Sonics, winning the first game in Seattle by 22 and looking like they were going to cap their 72-10 season with the sweepage it deserved. But Payton and Shawn Kemp, in what wound up as their only shared shot at a ring, forced the Bulls to close it out at home by dragging the Sonics back to 3-2.