LeBron Leads Heat to Second Straight NBA Title
The Miami Heat clinched back-to-back titles with a 95-88 win over San Antonio in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, relying heavily on another superb performance from LeBron James to shake off the stubborn Spurs.
Winning the title they needed to validate the best season in franchise history — and the three-superstar system they used to build it — the Heat won the second straight thriller in the NBA's first championship series to go a Game 7 since 2010.
"It took everything we had as a team," Dwyane Wade said. "Credit to the San Antonio Spurs, they're an unbelievable team, an unbelievable franchise. This is the hardest series we ever had to play. But we're a resilient team and we did whatever it took."
Two nights after saving the Heat in a Game 6 when the Heat looked finished, James continued his unparalleled run through the basketball world, with two titles and an Olympic gold medal in 12 months.
"I work on my game a lot, throughout the offseason," said James, who was MVP for the second straight finals. "I put a lot of work into it and to be able to come out here and (have) the results happen out on the floor is 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 Los Angeles Lakers in 2009-10, and the first team to beat the Spurs in the NBA Finals.
It was a tense final few minutes, when every score was answered by another score, each stop followed by a better stop. The Heat pushed their lead to six points a few times midway through the fourth but the Spurs would never be deterred.
San Antonio, so close to a fifth title just two nights earlier, couldn't find a way to get the tying basket in the closing minutes and saw the title slip through their fingers in what may well be the final season combining Tim Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili.
They were trying to become the first road team to win a Game 7 on the road since Washington beat Seattle in 1978, but the veteran trio ran out of gas just before the finish.
Duncan had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs, 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 — the shot the Spurs were daring him to take earlier in the series — to make it 92-88, sending San Antonio to a team timeout.
He then came up with a steal and made two free throws for a six-point lead, and after Ginobili missed, James stalked toward the sideline, knowing it was over and he was the last one standing again.
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.
The streamers from the ceiling, the delirious fans, seemed so unlikely when the Heat was down 10 points in the fourth quarter of Game 6. That was before James led the charge back, finishing with a triple-double in Miami's 103-100 overtime victory.
This one was nearly as tight, neither team leading by more than seven and the game tied 11 times.
Kawhi Leonard had 19 points and 16 rebounds for the Spurs, Ginobili had 18 points but Parker managed just 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting.
James avenged his first finals loss, when his Cleveland Cavaliers were swept by the Spurs in 2007. That helped send James on his way to South Florida, realizing it would take more help to win titles that could never come alone.
At his first Finals series with the Heat, James was part of a team that was beaten convincingly by Dallas. Then last year, Miami overpowered Oklahoma City in five games.
The Thunder were a talented but inexperience outfit, and San Antonio posed much more of a challenge with its veteran know-how and big-game experience. The key Spurs trio had combined for more than 100 playoff victories 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.
Meanwhile, it's a potential dynasty along Biscayne Bay, but also one with a potentially small window. Wade's latest knee problems are a reminder that though he came into the NBA at the same time as James and Bosh, he's a couple of years older at 31 with wheels that sometimes seem older.
James can become a free agent again next summer with another decision to make. Though he might be tempted by another challenge elsewhere, he's comfortable in Miami and close with Wade, and the Heat has the leadership and commitment to continue constructing a championship core around him.