June 22, 2012

Marquette NBA Champions Photo Gallery | Wade: Road to the 2012 Title Gallery

Marquette's Dwyane Wade collected his second NBA championship Thursday night when the Miami Heat defeated Lazar Hayward's Oklahoma City Thunder, capturing Marquette's seventh title all-time.

Wade is the first former MU player to win multiple titles.  He averaged 22.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game in the five-game finals series.

Prior to Thursday night, the most recent alum to claim the world title was Doc Rivers, who guided the Boston Celtics to the 2007-08 championship in his fourth year as head coach with the franchise. Former standout Dean Meminger appeared in 80 games for the New York Knicks in 1972-73 and became the first former Marquette player to earn a ring.

Marquette's NBA Champions

Dean Meminger appeared in 80 games for the Knicks in 1972-73, averaging 5.7 points and 2.9 rebounds per contest.

Maurice Lucas played a key role in the 1977 title claimed by Portland, contributing 20.2 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.

With rookie Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar garnering most of the headlines, Jim Chones and Butch Lee both contributed to the Lakers' title run in 1979-80. Chones appeared in all 82 games and Lee came off the bench, including key playoff action.

Dwyane Wade captured MVP honors in the NBA finals in 2005-06, helping Miami to the championship. He averaged 34.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in that six-game span.  He captured another title in 2011-12.

In his fourth season with the Celtics as head coach, Doc Rivers guided the team to its first title in 22 seasons in 2007-08.