Thanks to a dominant 95-78 win over the Detroit Pistons, the Miami Heat took the Eastern Conference Championship and a ticket to the franchise’s first ever appearance in the NBA Finals.  The Heat entered the league during the 1988-89 season along with the Orlando Magic, who made the NBA Finals during the 1994-95 season.  It took a little longer, but the Heat finally joins its Florida neighbor in getting to play on the biggest stage in basketball.

A pivotal player, part of dynamic duo with Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway for that 94-95 Magic team that eventually lost to the Houston Rockets who were led by Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon and Clyde “The Glide” Drexler was Shaquille O’Neal.  Funny enough, 11 years later, after getting three rings with the Los Angeles Lakers, O’Neal, again a part of a dynamic duo, this time with Dwyane Wade, helps bring another Florida team to the Finals for the first time.  If O’Neal ran for governor, he’d likely win at this point.

Tonight, O’Neal played like he was 11 years younger, scoring 28 points on 12-for-14 shooting from the floor, grabbing 16 boards, and blocking five shots.  It’s safe to say that “The Diesel” showed up, and when he does, he’s simply unstoppable.  How about O’Neal’s current partner-in-crime?  Wade only scored 14 points, having a poor shooting night, but did dish out 10 assists.  His scoring wasn’t needed as much as Jason Williams was the perimeter version of O’Neal, shooting 10-for-12 from the field, finishing with 21 points.

For the Pistons, Richard Hamilton dropped 33 points, but it wasn’t enough to lead Detroit to victory as the other scorers couldn’t hit their shots.  Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, and Tayshaun Prince shot a combined 10-for-35 for only 29 points.  Even Hamilton’s points are a bit skewed when you consider he shot 12-for-28.  The team as a whole only shot 33.3% from the floor, which is obviously not a formula for winning.

The Miami Heat await the winner of the Western Conference Finals between the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks, who play Game Six tomorrow night.  The Mavs lead the series three games to two and can get to their first trip to the NBA Finals with a win in Phoenix.