MIAMI HEAT - 2012 NBA CHAMPIONS

Much like 5-time champion Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade won a title with & without Shaquille O'Neal, who was in attendance, as he capped off the night with 20 points along with Chris Bosh, who was traded from Toronto two years, as he finished with 24 points to lead the Miami Heat to a dominating 121-106 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder to become the 2012 NBA Champions. It is Miami's 2nd title in franchise history.

While most NBA champions of the past had to grind it out to earn their titles, Miami had one of the easier roads to glory. In the first round, they eliminated New York in five games, in which the Knicks' star player Jeremy Lynn was sidelined with an injury. In the second round, the Heat faced everybody's "playoff punching bag" in Indiana and knocked them out in six games.

Then came one of the older teams in the Boston Celtics. Thanks to Chicago's Derrick Rose tearing his ACL, 8th-seed Philadelphia advance to the second round, only to be eliminated by Boston. However, due to the fortune of having home court advantage, the Heat finished the Celtics off in seven games to win the East. And in the finals, Miami wiped out an inexperinced Oklahoma City team to win the championship.



While the focus is on one player, who happened to be the Finals MVP, and not the team, it is to be well noted of a couple of players on the roster who also achieved this feat, both of which have local connections. A 1994 draft pick from Michigan, Juwan Howard, who is the third oldest active player in the NBA and played for seven other different teams, finally won the big one.

2001 NCAA Champion with Duke, Shane Battier, who attended Detroit Country Day High School, played for 11 years with Memphis and Houston before landing in Miami to win his first ever NBA title.

With Miami's head of operations Pat Riley joining in the celebration with those who waited a lot longer than nine years to claim the prize, all that's left now ia a parade and a rally at the AmericanAirlines Arena for the Heat as the rest of the NBA prepare themselves to welcome in the future stars in the 2012 NBA Draft to take place next Thursday night on June 28th.