Shaq's last stand

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – In a Shaq-sized entrance, the Big Franchise Maker arrived in downtown Miami in a semi-tractor trailer with "Diesel Power" emblazoned across the side, strolled up a long red carpet to the front entrance of American Airlines Arena and issued a typical bold, brash proclamation.

"I just want y'all to remember this day, because we're going to do it again in June," Shaquille O'Neal told the cheering crowd of Miami Heat fans assembled just to celebrate his trade to the team.

"I'm going to bring a championship to Miami. I promise you."

It has been almost two years since that hot July 2004 day, after O'Neal was just shipped from Los Angeles, where his Lakers' bid for a fourth NBA championship in five years had disintegrated under the stress of locker room discord and a ferocious underdog opponent.

So Shaq was starting new and dreaming old. He figured, as eternal optimists do, that he'd snap his fingers, set up shop on the block and make South Beach a party. Only the June celebration never came around last year because that same determined opponent ended his season.

And now at 34 with a recent history of injuries – after a coaching coup brought back another old Lakers champion, with a fragile, if talented, roster – here is Shaquille O'Neal still trying to make good on that promise to Miami.

He wants one more title. He has, perhaps, just one more chance. To show Miami. To show L.A. To show Kobe and Jerry Buss. To show everyone that he isn't through, that it isn't over.

The Eastern Conference finals begin here Tuesday, and O'Neal faces what just might be his last best chance for a ring. Time is ticking on his career. The window is closing on his championship opportunity.

And just look which team, once again, is standing in his way.

So you wonder what would have been different if it weren't for the Detroit Pistons. What if general manager Joe Dumars hadn't astutely landed Ben Wallace in what was then believed to be pennies-on-the-dollar compensation for Grant Hill, or realized Richard Hamilton was a cornerstone and Jerry Stackhouse wasn't? What if one of Chauncey Billups' previous four teams had seen him as a potential All-Star, or what if Rasheed Wallace's previous employers understood how to best manage him?

What if then rookie Tayshaun Prince hadn't turned into a Kobe-buster?

If the upstart Pistons didn't frustrate, infuriate and humiliate the Lakers in the 2004 Finals, pulling an out-of-nowhere five-game upset, does the feud between Kobe Bryant and Shaq become so venomous, so public?

Would winning have convinced owner Jerry Buss to keep the Lakers together for another run – allowing a shot at five titles in six years? Would Buss have chosen Bryant to build his team around and sent Shaq to the Heat?

Even if Buss had, if not for Detroit, wouldn't the Heat, who steamrolled the Eastern Conference last year as the top seed with the best record, have cruised into the NBA Finals to face San Antonio, where Shaq had beaten the Spurs before? Maybe San Antonio wins, maybe Miami does.

No one knows because the Heat, up 3-2 with home-court advantage, couldn't hold off the forever-fighting Pistons in the East finals. Detroit's hounding defense held Miami to just 66 points in Game 6. Its constant banging had worn Dwyane Wade into a Game 5 injury. And in Game 7, the Wallaces kept a limping Shaq from putting his team on his back and carrying it into the Finals.

"We had the lead in the fourth," O'Neal said after Game 7 and the Pistons finished him off again, "but they had more defense and hustle."

O'Neal's place in the Hall of Fame is secure. His reputation as a winner is, too. But there is also a historical difference between three titles and four or five or even six, between remaining a Laker and maybe, just maybe, not having to start over in Miami. It's about finishing with a flurry, not being stopped each spring by the same team.

So you wonder if, late at night in one of his oversized mansions, Shaq ponders this, too. What if it wasn't for Detroit?

"We have no excuses whatsoever," Heat coach Pat Riley told the media Sunday. "We're rested. We're healthy. I think we're happy, and I hope we are humble.

"We always had an excuse about last year," he said. "[The media] talked about it. The players talked about it. You know, we had guys hurt. We had too much time off. We had a week off [before the conference finals]. There was always an excuse, and there's none now."

The sense of urgency with Miami is obvious. The team didn't accept those excuses from last year and allow a good core group to slowly gel into champions. With Shaq's uncertain timetable, the Heat didn't have the luxury. So Riley, also the team president, blew up the roster. O'Neal helped by signing for less than he could have, freeing up cash for complementary pieces.

Out went Eddie Jones, Rasual Butler and Damon Jones (who chose to sign with Cleveland). In came Gary Payton, Antoine Walker, James Posey and Jason Williams. Even coach Stan Van Gundy was jettisoned earlier this season, replaced by Riley, who like Shaquille, wants to prove he can do it outside of Los Angeles.

"This year," said Shaq, "there ain't no stopping us."

But for much of the year, the Heat did get stopped, often by themselves. The roster looked like something out of a fantasy league, with a ton of talent but also far more egos than available shots. Shaq's job was to keep everyone in line with peer pressure. The result was an inconsistent team, not just week to week or game to game, but sometimes quarter to quarter.

Miami finished second in the East but was a wild card in these playoffs. Then the Heat came together and dusted New Jersey in the second round as Payton played defense like he used to, Walker became a dangerous third scoring option and, maybe most importantly, a lighter, quicker, best-shape-in-a-half-a-decade Shaq returned to dominance.

Last season's memories of an aging big guy lugging extra pounds up and down the court – while a Wallace pounded on him – don't seem likely this year. Shaq is 100 percent. Miami is here to win. Shaq is here for that elusive fourth ring, that elusive playoff victory over the Pistons. No excuses.

"If we beat these guys, I still won't be satisfied until we get the whole thing done," O'Neal told reporters Monday. "My focus right now is just winning eight games. No time for rest, no time for celebration."

Not with Shaq's new old nemesis waiting.