<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">DALLAS ? Before we get to the young, remarkable Finals MVP. To one of the game's great collapses. To the owner who can now use his favorite 4-letter words all he wants in private. Before that, go back a few years, when we were so young we acted like children. Then, in a hotel suite in Boston, a few of us wedged a cardboard bucket of water on top of a door. We set up our chairs to greet the victim. And walking through first, with hair slicked back with enough moisture, was the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Pat Riley took the splash. Got a beer. And pulled up a chair to see who might follow. That's Riles. He's lived basketball history, losing with all-white Kentucky against a small school from Texas. He's played with West and Wilt, coached Magic and Kareem, took the Knicks farther than they can dream of now. And on the road in the middle of the most heated rivalry of this era, with his Lakers going against the Celtics, he retained a sense of humor and the kind of cool few have. So even as Dwyane Wade stole the mantle that had been reserved for LeBron James, even as Shaquille O'Neal won his fourth title, Riley defines this championship more than anyone else. No one, after all, stood as a bigger contrast to the Mavericks. Dallas was on the brink of sweeping this title just a week ago. Then, with a 13-point lead with just six minutes to go in Game 3, the Mavericks acted as young as, well, children. The lack of poise the Mavericks showed in Miami was followed by a lack of toughness Tuesday night. The Mavericks took an early 14-point lead, then quit the basics. They were out-rebounded and, again, didn't drive to the rim. "For some reason," coach Avery Johnson said, "we started falling in love with the jump shot." They missed 17 3-pointers. But the telling moment came with 17 seconds left. Then, down by three, Dirk Nowitzki gave up the ball to a cutting Erick Dampier, who never got a handle on it and gave it up. Oh, the memories: Against the Spurs in Game 7, facing the same 3-point deficit with about the same time left, Nowitzki drove hard and tied the game with a three-point play. This time Nowitzki didn't score a basket in the fourth quarter. Mark Cuban will find others to blame, naturally, and he should begin with Wade. The flu completely gone after the second game of the Finals, Wade averaged almost 40 points the rest of the series. Asked afterward if he'd ever had a fourth-quarter player like this, Riley shook his head. "You knew Magic was always going to make the right play," Riley said. "But, no, I've never had a player like this. I have not seen a player who can absolutely beat five guys at times, and then, at the same time, make great plays to other players." But Riley gets credit for Wade, too. He drafted Wade, and few thought Wade could be this good this fast. Just as big was what Riley didn't give the Lakers to get Shaq. Wade. Somehow he pulled off the deal and kept his best player. Riley didn't stop there, tearing up a team that was one win from playing the Spurs last year. It showed how much he wanted to win right now, and this goes back to those days in Boston. As much success as he had in New York, as much as he built the franchise in Miami, he had never won as he did with the Lakers. </div> Source
