LeBron powers Heat to second straight title
Source: Agencies |
June 22, 2013, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
LEBRON James will always remember his first National Basketball Association championship. History will remember this one.
The way the Miami Heat won - or the way James wouldn't let them lose - makes them one of the greats.
A Game 6 comeback when it appeared to be over, then a stirring Game 7 victory over a proud opponent cemented a place with the NBA's giants for this Miami team and its leader.
"Last year when I was sitting up here with my first championship, I said it was the toughest thing I had ever done," James said. "This year, I'll tell last year he's absolutely wrong. This was the toughest championship right here between the two."
And the San Antonio Spurs will always know it's a title they let slip away.
James scored 37 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in a 95-88 victory late on Thursday in a tense game that was tight until Miami pulled away in the final minute.
James's points tally was the highest in a finals Game 7 in 44 years since Jerry West's 42 for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Boston Celtics in 1969.
Capping their best season in franchise history - and perhaps the three-superstar system they used to build it - the Heat ran off with the second straight thriller in the first NBA finals to go the distance since 2010.
Two nights after his Game 6 save when the Heat were almost eliminated, James continued his unparalleled run through the basketball world, with two titles and an Olympic gold medal in the last 12 months.
"I work on my game a lot throughout the offseason," said James, who was MVP for the second straight finals. "To be able to come out here and (have) the results happen out on the floor is the ultimate. The ultimate."
He made five 3-pointers, defended Tony Parker when he had to, and did everything else that could ever be expected from the best player in the game.
The Heat became the NBA's first repeat champions since the Lakers in 2009-10, and the first team to beat the Spurs in five NBA finals.
Dwayne Wade had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who overcame a scoreless Chris Bosh by getting six 3-pointers and 18 points from Shane Battier.
Players and coaches hugged afterward - their respect for each other was obvious from the opening tipoff of Game 1.
A whisker away from a fifth title two nights earlier, the Spurs couldn't find a way to win it all in what was perhaps the last shot for Tim Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili to grab another ring together. Duncan is 37 and Ginobili will be a 36-year-old free agent next month, the core of a franchise whose best days may be behind them.
Duncan had 24 points and 12 rebounds, but missed a shot and follow attempt right under the basket with about 50 seconds left and the Spurs trailing by two.
James followed with a jumper to make it 92-88, sending San Antonio to a timeout as Glenn Frey's "The Heat Is On" blared over the arena's sound system.
The way the Miami Heat won - or the way James wouldn't let them lose - makes them one of the greats.
A Game 6 comeback when it appeared to be over, then a stirring Game 7 victory over a proud opponent cemented a place with the NBA's giants for this Miami team and its leader.
"Last year when I was sitting up here with my first championship, I said it was the toughest thing I had ever done," James said. "This year, I'll tell last year he's absolutely wrong. This was the toughest championship right here between the two."
And the San Antonio Spurs will always know it's a title they let slip away.
James scored 37 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in a 95-88 victory late on Thursday in a tense game that was tight until Miami pulled away in the final minute.
James's points tally was the highest in a finals Game 7 in 44 years since Jerry West's 42 for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Boston Celtics in 1969.
Capping their best season in franchise history - and perhaps the three-superstar system they used to build it - the Heat ran off with the second straight thriller in the first NBA finals to go the distance since 2010.
Two nights after his Game 6 save when the Heat were almost eliminated, James continued his unparalleled run through the basketball world, with two titles and an Olympic gold medal in the last 12 months.
"I work on my game a lot throughout the offseason," said James, who was MVP for the second straight finals. "To be able to come out here and (have) the results happen out on the floor is the ultimate. The ultimate."
He made five 3-pointers, defended Tony Parker when he had to, and did everything else that could ever be expected from the best player in the game.
The Heat became the NBA's first repeat champions since the Lakers in 2009-10, and the first team to beat the Spurs in five NBA finals.
Dwayne Wade had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who overcame a scoreless Chris Bosh by getting six 3-pointers and 18 points from Shane Battier.
Players and coaches hugged afterward - their respect for each other was obvious from the opening tipoff of Game 1.
A whisker away from a fifth title two nights earlier, the Spurs couldn't find a way to win it all in what was perhaps the last shot for Tim Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili to grab another ring together. Duncan is 37 and Ginobili will be a 36-year-old free agent next month, the core of a franchise whose best days may be behind them.
Duncan had 24 points and 12 rebounds, but missed a shot and follow attempt right under the basket with about 50 seconds left and the Spurs trailing by two.
James followed with a jumper to make it 92-88, sending San Antonio to a timeout as Glenn Frey's "The Heat Is On" blared over the arena's sound system.
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