Mario Chalmers became Alaska's first NBA champion and scored a rare basketball hat trick Thursday in Miami.
The 2005 Bartlett High grad contributed 10 points, seven assists, two rebounds and two steals in the Miami Heat's championship-clinching 121-106 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
An NBA champion in his fourth season as a pro, Chalmers now owns championships at all three levels of competition -- high school,college and NBA -- a claim only a handful of men can make.
Chalmers, 26, won two high school championships, helping the Golden Bears to state titles his freshman and sophomore years. He won an NCAA Division I title his junior year at Kansas, making the cover of Sports Illustrated for his clutch 3-pointer with the clock winding down to send the championship game into overtime.
Chalmers turned in a 25-point effort on Tuesday, his best game of the playoffs.
By BRIAN MAHONEY
Anchorage Daily News