Miami Wins NBA Title
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Lebron James of the Miami Heat wrapped his arms around the NBA trophy starring at it in amazement in front of a loud Miami crowd on Thursday. After eight previous seasons of failed playoff experiences, the King was finally going to get his ring.
The Miami Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-106 in a game that the Heat seemed destined to win. The Heat won four straight games after losing Game 1 to win the best-of-seven series 4-1.
The Heat led most of the game, only trailing in the first quarter. Despite poor shooting, the Thunder were able to keep the game within reach in the first half only trailing by 10 points in halftime. The second half was all Miami as they outscored the Thunder by 14 in the third quarter and led by as many as 26.
The Oklahoma City Thunder fought hard in Game 5 and brought the game to within five points in the third quarter before a turnover by Kevin Durant led to six unanswered Heat points. The Thunder hoped to get a chance to come back to Oklahoma City for the series, but they can now only wait until next year.
“It hurts. It hard, man. We’re all brothers on this team, and it just hurt to go out like this,” said Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. “We made it to the Finals, which was cool for us but we didn’t just want to make it there. Unfortunately, we lost, so it’s tough.”
Durant led the game with 32 points and 11 rebounds. After a 43 point effort in Game 4, Russell Westbrook had his worst shooting performance in the Finals with 19 points on 4 of 20 shooting.
The Miami Heat are champions for only the second time in franchise history since the 2006 Finals win against the Dallas Mavericks. Lebron James gets to finally call himself an NBA champion after his controversial leave from the Cleveland Caveliers, a team James played for his first seven years, finally paid off.
James was named the Finals MVP scoring a triple-double with 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds. The last time a player scored a triple-double was in 2003 by Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs. This marked the first time in the 2012 playoffs that the Heat’s “Big Three” all scored 20 or more points in the same game. Chris Bosh scored 24 points and Dwyane Wade finished with 20 points and eight rebounds.
The Miami Heat were unstoppable from the three point line scoring a NBA record tying 14 three pointers. Mike Miller scored seven 3’s in Game 5 after failing on all three pointer attempts in the previous games. Miller finished with a post season-high 23 points off the bench.
“Tonight was that opportunity. A lot of us dreamed of these situations. For me, coming from South Dakota and having an opportunity to play in two NBA Finals now is a dream come true,” said Miller, who had suffered through injuries all season. “I wasn’t going to miss that for anything in the world.”
