Payton Wins an NBA Championship
Congratulations to former Beaver great Gary Payton, who won his first NBA title on Tuesday night after 16 seasons in the pros. His Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks, 95-92, to clinch the championship in six games.
Payton is the second Beaver in a row to win an NBA title, as Brent Barry won in 2005 with the San Antonio Spurs. This is the 10th time an OSU player has been on an NBA championship team. In addition to Payton and Barry, others were won by Red Rocha (1955 Syracuse Nationals), Mel Counts (1965 and 1966 Boston Celtics), Dave Gambee (1967 Philadelphia 76ers), Lonnie Shelton (1979 Seattle Supersonics) and A.C. Green (1987, 1988 and 2000 L.A. Lakers).
This was Payton's third appearance in the NBA Finals, as he made it with the Sonics in 1996 and the Lakers in 2004.
Although he scored just two points in Thursday's finale, Payton played a key role in the series, hitting a late jumper in game three that proved to be the game-winner and making a big lay-up in overtime of game five, helping the Heat to win both games.
"It feels great," Payton said on ABC immediately after the game. "It came at the right time. We had a good team and just proved it to everybody. It was motivation and determination. We wanted to win this game and we knew we had them after winning three games in Miami."
Payton played at Oregon State from 1987-90. He is OSU's all-time leader in points, assists and steals and was the 1990 Sports Illustrated National Player of the Year.
