I'm always one of the most specialist records for me because I was on tour with litl Wayne and Ross and I was so excited to get with Drake, you know, seeing Drake and tell how much I want to, you know, make history with him. And he played me this one verse and hook and I was like, oh my god. He says it to me, and I was like, Yo, this is the record. Let me finish it. So he gave me the blessings to go finish it.
Now.
Wayne put Ross on it and Little Wayne on it. Ross knocked it out for me when we was on tour, and you know, Wayne goes in the studio every night, no matter what's going on, and he knocked it out like five six in the morning. And this is me coming off a tour. I'm excited, my careers starting to climb, and then boom, I record a song with Drake, Lil Wayne, and Rick Ross called I'm One. That record changed the
energy and the level of greatness for a decade. After that record came out, It's like everybody.
Had to step it up.
DJ Khaled was on top of the music world at about the same time his favorite team, the Miami Heat. We're living their dream as well. Welcome back to four years of Heat. I'm your host Israel Gutierrez and this is episode six.
The shot.
I'm on one, in which Lil Wayne drops a pat Riley reference and a Heat double Entandra in his verse, was released during Miami's first championship season with this core, and by the time the twenty thirteen finals began, the defending champion Heat had been through a sixty six win regular season that included a twenty seven game win streak and made it through the Eastern Conference playoffs, highlighted by a seven games series against a rugged rival, the Indiana
Pacers in the conference finals. Awaiting them in the finals was the type of test this Heat team hadn't experienced yet, a physically daunting task that was unlike the Pacers, who did it with size and toughness. The Spurs exhausted teams by making them chase a basketball constantly in motion, forcing one close out after another after another, only to still find an open opportunity, and if the shot went in, it only drained defenders a little bit more. It was
a constant test of conditioning and mental resilience. Eudonis Haslam remembers just how taxing it was to stay with these Spurs, especially in the last series of the year, after the Heat had already played ninety eight games to that point and were in their third straight year reaching the final series of the season.
Like I knew this about these guys.
I knew the way they played a game of basketball is the right way to play the game. Maximizing the potential of all your guys that's on the court at one time. Very few teams do that. You know, you might maximize the potential of one of two guys and the rest of the guys got to fill in the gaps of get the scraps. They maximized the potential of all five guys on the court at the same time.
You had to worry about all five guys.
Everybody was active, everybody was a threat, everybody was involved. It was just a basketball team, man, a great basketball team. So you know, we knew that they were going to push us, you know, to our limits, you know, mentally, you know, not just physically, but more so mentally than anything.
Shane Battier already felt he'd reached his physical limit by this point, after a regular season of playing as an undersized power forward for the small ball heat, Battier didn't even have much left for the Pacers in the conference finals. He hit just two of his fifteen shots in that series, all but one being three point attempts, and by Game seven,
Battier didn't play at all. So heading into a Spurs series where the ball whipped around the court much faster, Battier wasn't excited about his prospects.
I was exhausted by that. So I've played the entire year, full year. We have obviously a great year, and I spent, you know, thirty minutes banging at the power forward every single night, and the garden guys, you thirty forty pounds heavier than me, every single night. I could do it, and I did it, and I was smart about it. But by the playoffs, I was just gassed. I had no legs and that showed in my shooting, and I got to a point where I couldn't make a shot
and was beyond frustrated. I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed for how bad I was playing now, how much I was letting the team now.
Battier was always helpful with an intelligent quote, whether it was dissecting how to guard the best players in the league or gauging the mood of the team at any point. On the subject of his poor play and eventual benching. In Game seven against the Pacers, however, Battier probably offered his most memorable quote as a member of the Heat. He said of the benching, sometimes you've got to eat
a turd sandwich makes the ribbi I taste better next time. Okay, so maybe you didn't want to remember that quote, but it stuck anyway, And after that unfortunate meal, there was only one option for a follow up ribbi that season. It would have to be the Spurs of Tim Duncan, Manu Genobili, Tony Parker, and Kawhi Leonard, who offered a completely different look than those Pacers did.
Anyway.
Well, they played small.
They were able to match up our small ball, and so put Duncan on on cbe and put Kawhi at the at the flour and play Genobi and Parker and a shooter. And so where Indiana stylistically was much different game, it was much more ground and pound. The Spurs were able to take away some of our some of our space and with their speed and so that was really the first time a team tried to match up with us and go small, and it was it was like, you know, looking in the mirror.
What was staring back at Miami was the most dominant team in those playoffs. According to the numbers, the Spurs outscored opponents by seven full points in their twenty one games at postseason. The only other team that was even close was the Heat, at a six point four differential. Just for reference, in the twenty one to twenty two postseason, the champion Warriors outscored opponents by an average of five points in their twenty two games, the largest gap that postseason.
Matt Bonner was a reserve on that Spurs team that had beaten the Lakers, Warriors, and Grizzlies that postseason. He'd already won a title over Lebron James while with the Spurs in two thousand and seven, when they defeated Lebron's Cavaliers. Bonner also happened to be a teammate of Chris Bosch's, having began his career with the Toronto Raptors in two
thousand and four. He saw a Heat team that was more daunting than any opponent he'd faced so far in those playoffs a team so defensively capable, they employed tactics that didn't exactly match up with the times.
They had a lot of talent, but they were really well coached. They all had really high basketball i q's in Their level of execution on both ends of the floor was a very high level. Like they guarded pick and rolls by hard hedging, which you rarely see this day and age in the NBA. They had one of the top defenses in the league on top of all the talent down on offense. But I just remember like there was no let up no matter what five they
had on the court. There was no like, all right, we can relax a little bit, or we could take advantage of this line up. There was very there was like no weaknesses.
Game one of that finals would beg to differ.
The box score was a bit of a puzzle, as the Heat shot better than the Spurs from the field and the three point line and out rebounded San Antonio, but the Spurs would only turn the ball over four times the entire game compared to Miami's eight, giving San Antonio the few more shot attempts it needed, and with his team up two points with digits on the clock, Tony Parker turned a broken play into a game winning bank shot that remains one of the craziest finishes to
an NBA Finals game, and yet not even the craziest finish of this series.
Shot clock at won Parker not going to get a shot off any What a.
Shot for Parker.
Parker discussed his wild banker afterward.
It was a crazy play.
I thought I lost the ball like three or four times and didn't work out like I wanted to. But you know, at the end, I was just trying to get a shot up and felt good when I left my hand, and I was happy you.
Went in just like that.
The Heat were down one game to none in the NBA Finals for the second straight year. Unlike the last Finals, when Miami was confident it would recover from its Game one loss to the Thunder, this loss to the Spurs left the Heat confused. Where were the glaring mistakes to fix it? Was hard to tell, but somehow Lebron only
manage eighteen points, the most on the team. Wade had seventeen and Boston Allen both had thirteen, and given how it ended with the Spurs capitalizing on a little luck at the end, it felt like a season of amazing feats was already on the brink of ending with a second finals failure in three seasons.
Here's hassling.
We were a little nervous. We're a little nervous, I tell you.
Losing game one, okay, See, we built confidence because you can look back and say, okay, I made this mistake, I made that mistake. If I don't do this, I don't do that. These are different things that San Antonio. You're like, where did we go wrong?
What happened? You know what I'm saying? When did this? You know what I mean?
So now they said they have you searching a little bit, you know what I'm saying, instead of going right in the locker room saying, you know what, I knew.
I messed that up. I knew I messed this up. We fixed this, We'll be fine. Now.
You just kind of searching a little bit, and they put you in that place where is what we do, are is what we're bringing? Is it good enough? Is it enough?
They put you in that place of a little a doubt.
Sometimes that's the doubt you get from San Antonio because unlike some teams, they're not gonna lose it, You're gonna have to win it.
To pull this series out against the Spurs, not only would the Heat have to face an offense it gives you no time to think and runs you ragged, they'd have to face a defensive philosophy that had already confounded
Lebron James in the past. Not only did Spurs coach Greg Popovich implement a defensive game plan against Lebron in the two thousand and seven Finals that earned his Spurs a title, but Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle brought back similar strategies to slow Lebron and eventually win the twenty eleven Finals. The first two plus quarters of Game two did very little to quell the concerns of the Heat that Popovich defense once again kept Lebron under wraps, as he missed
ten of his first thirteen shots in that game. Late in the third quarter, the Heat were trailing by a point. In arena decked with Heat fans wearing white was noticeably nervous as the Spurs were calmly keeping Miami in check for a second straight game. That's when Mario Chalmers, the point guard who saved the day in Game four against the Thunder in the previous finals by having a big scoring night against Kevin Durant came to the rescue again.
Before the series began, Chalmers figured this wasn't going to be a great series for him once he learned the Spurs tried not to anger their opponents.
I know it's gonna be a tough series for me.
Where they told me that San Antonio is a team that kills you with kindness, and like everybody knows me.
I'll love a confrontation. I love when you talk to me. I'm gonna talk.
Back, but I can't handle Oh you missed that shot, You'll make it again next time, Like huh, Like how are you on the opposite team telling me I'm gonna make the shot next time? I shoot it, Like I can't hit it.
I don't know what to.
Say to that.
So who would say that?
All of them?
Tim Duncle said, Tony Parker will say like they were such a nice team and nice guys.
Was like.
Like, no, we're out here for blood, like this is for the Championshi, Like, I'm not supposed to like you. I was supposed to respect you, which I do respect you, but I'm not supposed to like you. In this moment, and you're not giving me nothing to not like you, like you papped me on the back, you helping me out, like you just being a nice guy. And it's kind of like I like that, Like I don't like you being a nice guy to me. You can do that off the court, but basketball were going at it.
In Game two, though Chalmers didn't need the Spurs players to tick him off. The score and situation already did. The Heat were at home and it was starting to feel like that Game six in twenty eleven, when Dallas quieted the Heat's home crowd for good. With three eleven left in the third, Chalmers drove for a layup, which he converted while being fouled by Spurs guard Danny Green.
Chalmers counted hand along. I don't know if Green actually got a piece of it. Either way, James miss fires, but Chalmers with an aggressive move.
Chalmers would convert the free throw and on the next play assist on a Ray Allen three pointer. Then, after assisting on a Lebron layup, Chalmers finished the quarter with another and one.
Chalmers into the lane push shot gun it unfound hand a reel to the line for another round one.
In the fourth, Rio added another short jumper to give him eight points and two assists during a twenty three to two run that gave Miami a sudden nineteen point lead. The game was never close again, and despite Chalmers outscoring all his teammates with nineteen, it was enough of a team effort to comfortably beat San Antonio and tie the
series at a game apiece. In the hallway from the court to the Heat locker room, a space the team calls Championship Alley, cameras caught Lebron praising his point guard big timers.
Big time boy, what puck?
Still, the Heat had given up home court advantage to the Spurs and were facing the daunting task of having to play three consecutive games in San Antonio and win at least one to avoid elimination and regain the home court edge. Well, Game three did just as much to hurt Miami's hopes as Game two did to booie the Heat. After winning by nineteen in Game two, the Heat lost
by thirty six. In Game three in San Antonio, the Spurs shooters were at their most lethal, as Danny Green and Gary Neal combined to hit thirteen three pointers in just nineteen attempts.
Neil has to put it off way outside, then he knocks it down. Carry Neal having the game of his life here in the NBA Finals. Neil tries it again, puts it in carry Neal coming on a show. The twenty one point lead, He's got twenty four letter drives. Neil touched past the green another three pointer.
That's good.
Thirteen threes for San Antonio.
And to this point, Lebron James's scoring totals were eighteen in Game one, seventeen in Game two, and fifteen in Game three. It was a troubling pattern that if it followed the one from the twenty eleven Finals, would then see Lebron have his worst performance in Game four. And unlike the Dallas series, James wasn't getting the same level of support from Wade. Miami's shooting guard had only scored
forty three points through three games himself. In fact, by the time the Heat reached Game four of the Finals, Wade had only experienced two twenty point scoring games the entire postseason, scoring twenty one way back in Round one against Milwaukee and another twenty one coming in Game seven
against the Pacers. If Wade was going to win his third title in his tenth year in the league, he'd need to be more of a compliment to James, just like the previous postseason, when the Heat needed Way to win Game four in Indiana and he responded with thirty points, nine assists and six rebounds. They needed him to come up Hughes in another Game four that also felt like a must win.
He looks up from must we gotta go get it back tonight, try to begin it.
I not is difficult.
Is costed it last?
Second weight weight.
Wade was at his best when a championship team needed him most, scoring thirty two points with six rebounds, six steals, and four assists. James and Bosh also combined for fifty three, giving Miami the performance from their stars that they desperately needed for a one oh nine ninety three win.
Alan kicks it out to Wade. Wade to the basket off but under and backs it in. What a performance from Dwayne Wade and the Heat with their largest lead of the night.
It was the type of show you Donnis Haslam had seen from Wade so many times through their first ten years together.
I've always, you know, sat back and just watched you, Wade Man, and just be a part of his journey, you know what I'm saying. Obviously, you know, if I wasn't out there setting screens for him, I was watching them.
So you know, when you when you.
Have a relationship with somebody like that, you know, you just happy to see them do well, no matter what situation there.
And so for me, I was just happy to see my boy out there doing well.
Wade went on to play forty eight more playoff games in his career after those thirty two points in Game four, and he'd only surpass that total one more time in a twenty sixteen series against Toronto. It was the last time Wade would call upon his powers at that championship level, and it would come at the absolute perfect time. The finals were tied again at two to two, giving Miami
the critical home court advantage right back. It was usually Wade relying on James in big playoff moments, but James knew this was a much needed performance from his co star, and he said as much afterward.
More than anybody, we needed d Wade to be the Flash of six. He definitely came through for us. Every single play that we need he made, especially in the fourth quarter, who was doing a zero step and he was wrapping the ball over people's heads, dunking the ball. I mean, he was all over the place, man, and we needed that type of game from him to even the series out.
By Game five, the Spurs were looking to change the momentum, so coach Popovitch made a couple of adjustments. Man U Jenobili, who'd made a career of coming off the bench, would be inserted into the starting lineup, and there would be one more major defensive adjustment. Six foot eight forward Boris Dia would play more minutes and guard Lebron James for almost all of them. Yeah, the Spurs had Kawhi Leonard, but he couldn't handle Lebron by himself. Not in his
second year in the league. Diao, whose minutes were ragged to start the series, provided the perfect option to defend Lebron, especially with the strategy Popovich implemented, which was essentially to try to force James into contested two point jumpers. Diao didn't even play in the first round of the twenty thirteen in playoffs because of a procedure on his back that kept him out nearly a month. By the finals, he was a major player.
Again, here's d l So, you know in April, just a few games before that, I had a back surgery. Uh they drilled through my spine and and my back muscle to take an assist that was inside my spinal canal. So I was trying to come back from that, and and the back is something that takes some time and you using your back for everything. And so I was already, you know, struggling coming back from from this injury. And that's why the playoff already started. It's stuff to kind
of get back into the game. You know, the coach already has his team that they started the playoff, and you have a momentum. So so yeah, early on, I wasn't playing much in those in those playoffs, just coming back from from that injury. But then it's basically wanted to try something different people on the Brown at that time.
Then he took a chance with me. Di.
I was drafted twenty first in the same draft class as James Wade and Bosh. Back then, he was effectively a big guard without as much bulk. By twenty thirteen, DIA's body was more solid and he was able to do just what Popovich asked, give Lebron just enough space to get off a jumper, but no ability to get to the rim.
So yeah, a lot easier said than done.
So that's the overall concept now, not letting him get close to the basket, that's the other part.
You know.
It was like, yeah, make him take jumpshond but how and so and that's why you know, they tried to put me on him, And maybe I was a little more efficient at it because of the body type as well. I had enough weight, enough strength to actually trying to keep him away from coming too close, so I could use actually my body, I could use the length to actually back up a little bit because if you too close, obviously he would it would beat you because he was
also you know, very quick, fast and powerful. So I had to back up a little bit and use a little bit of my size to be able to disrupt as well as a shot.
It's not you know, just let him shoot.
That's not you know what we meant by okay, right, you'd rather have him take him outside chat he has to. He still has to be a contested chot because if he's wide open, he's gonna he's gonna make the shot. So it was just speaker poison. It was just better for us to have him taking an outside chat that is contested. I want to say it again, it's not just an open outside chot, but it was.
It was.
It was better for us d than him coming close to the basket.
Dial's additional presence appeared to affect James. In Game five, Boris played twenty seven minutes and Lebron was just eight of twenty two from the field. He hit two of four to three pointers, but only hit one two point shot in seven tries. The Spurs defense was also disrupting Lebron at the rim, as he only made four of
his ten attempts near the basket. In a third quarter timeout, leading by two points, Popovich explained to his team what it would take to finish the job and take the series lead again.
This game, it's a big boy game, physicality, toughness with the ball. It's supposed to be hard. It's the final, all right, Give him some adversity, knock the stuffing out of him.
The result was a ten point Spurs win that put the heat on the brink of elimination. Returning back to Miami for Game six and seven, San.
Antonio Spurs take a three to two lead in the NBA Finals, doc to Miami.
We've been here before and going back home being confident about, you know, our game, being confident about you know, getting a win, which we are.
The Heat would have to win both in order to earn its second straight championship. Without those two wins, Miami would fall to one and two in three Finals appearances since James's arrival. It wasn't quite like going into Boston for a Game six because you had a championship in your back pocket. But it was beginning to feel like a historic regular season would be deemed rather meaningless because
the Spurs had just too much firepower from Miami. What would it take to overcome this deficit and fend off the Spurs? Only a game Lebron James would call by far the best game he's been a part of, and arguably the biggest shot in NBA Finals history.
You know what, twenty plus seconds ago and us being down five, you know, the human nature, doubt starts to creep into your mind.
You see San Antonio fans popping in jerseys, you know, jumping up and down.
It's a dark moment.
We're back in Miami, where the NBA Finals return.
Or Game six, well the Spurs close out.
And win their fifth championship, or can Miami force a decisive Game seven?
Game six between the Heat and the Spurs in American Airlines Arena was everything a sports fan could ask for. There was the Jugger Nott favorite, the Miami Heat, attempting to avoid elimination at home in front of boisterous but nervous fans, all dressed in white. There were the underdog San Antonio Spurs, established winners, trying to complete a seemingly impossible task in a challenging setting.
Go Man, Go has a fun protect tone court. Hey, when you think you gave everything that you got, you gotta give more.
Sure, you gotta give more, man, It's all about us.
You could feel the tension in the building throughout the game, and neither team was truly able to take control. The Heat actually took a forty to thirty three lead in the second quarter, it's largest of the game, and it looked for a moment like Miami would create some distance from San Antonio.
Wait pumps sooner, Jenoble Natty wide open heaps of praise.
But the Spurs would truly put the heat's feet to the fire with a seventeen to four run to close the half with a six point lead.
Harker gets in the paint, kicks it out, d out for three, won't go, Blinder tips up and then what's one point three from landing?
What a hustle play for Blinder?
I have a second quarter comps doing in on one of those runs.
And then open the third quarter with a Genobli three pointer that put the Spurs up nine points.
The tension was building.
Here's battier tension was this is the right word.
You know.
We were just looking for a spark, anything, just get us going. We this never happened. It just never came. That six to zero run, that eight to two runs, just never never had it. And they kept making shots and quite as hitting threes. As were just like, go be kidding me. So I'm like to say, I'm gonna say that we were the most confident group in the huddle.
Never gave up. We never gave up. Then in the huddle, you know, we were just say stay with it, stay with it, stay with it, stay with it, stay with it.
But did you feel it? You're saying stay with it, but did you feel it?
I don't I said it. I was trying to will it into existence. That's what we were all trying to will that that feeling into existence. I don't know in our heart of hearts if we truly truly felt confident, but we were trying to fake it till we made it.
Lebron didn't have to fake it. He'd made it before in a similar circumstance with his team's championship hopes on the line just a year earlier, so his response to the Spurs threat was to put his head down and power through. At some point there, he lost his white headband and committed three turnovers in a sort of bold in the China Shop type of stretch. It was maniacal, but it worked, as James scored half of his thirty.
Two points in the fourth quarter.
Bosh explained how a desperate Lebron did anything in everything the team needed at the moment.
We needed a big shot, we needed a block of stop leadership, anything. He's just been able to plug in that hole.
Sunday, Mike Lebron James, who had lost his headband.
You know, it doesn't hurt that he's the best player in the world.
So he signed a ducking height, chucket fight, Lebron sliding it away.
Want a play Lebron fakes up off the.
Glass, said under duncan doing it on both ends.
The MVP went out the headband.
He was seven to eleven from the field in the period with two assists in a block shot. His stretch of head bandless play actually got Miami a three point lead with under two minutes remaining. But while the Heat thought they could exhale briefly, Parker and Jenobilians dead took all of the air out of the building.
Dude shot by Parker, step back three.
Tony Parker scored the next five points, including a three pointer, and after Kawhi Leonard stole the ball from James on the next possession, Genobili drew a foul from Ray Allen and hit a pair of free throws to put the Spurs up four and after yet another Lebron turnover. This was the downside of Lebron's bulling the China Shop approach,
Genobili then split a pair of free throws. The Heat were trailing ninety four to eighty nine with twenty eight seconds left to play, as the Heat called a twenty second timeout.
You know what twenty plus seconds ago and us being down five, You know, the human nature doubt starts to creep into your mind.
You see San Antonio fans popping in jerseys, you know, jumping up and down.
It's a dark moment.
As the team was in their desperate huddle, everything around them appeared to be preparing for a Spurs celebration. Not only were a good amount of heat fans beginning to exit the building, but an NBA championship tradition was already underway. Arena personnel were crouching into place just beyond the edges of the court, holding the yellow ropes that would cordon off the court in preparation for the trophy presentation on it.
Said trophy was being transported onto the floor. Also within view of those excited Spurs players and coaches, Spurs family and team personnel were gathering behind the Spurs bench with passes already in hand that would allow them to cross those yellow ropes and join in on the celebration. It was all actually happening right in front of them, so it was hard for the Spurs not to already feel
like champions. Matt Bonner made the briefest of appearances in Game six, he spent almost all his time on that bench, and at this moment, Bonner was fighting every instinct to celebrate.
I'm a huge like don't count your chickens before they hatch type guy, like, you know, stay focused, and that's part of the Spurs culture, in the Spurs way, like you know, one game at a time, forty eight minutes, play harder and smarter than your opponent. So even though yeah, we were in a pretty good spot, we had two shots to beat them in Miami and win the championship. I was at no point was that like, oh, we can do this, you know. It was like, it's not
It doesn't happen until it actually happens. And so coming into game six, I don't know what I expected. You know, there's a certain ebb and flow to your point about a seven game series that's hard to quantify or put your finger on. But there's certain games where it's like all right, and fans I think can pick it up too, or anyone watching that watches a whole series, it's like,
all right, this one's gonna be a tough one. So on for me, like Game six was kind of a surprise that we were in the position we were in to win it, and it was like, Oh my gosh, like is this really gonna happen? Like are we gonna beat these guys?
Like this team's unbelievable.
And here we are up five points, there's under a minute left. There they're having to foul us. Like I'm looking to my left, there's the Larry O'Brien trophy. The whole court's roped off of the security, our friends and family are standing behind the bench with after game celebration passes. It's like it's like, holy smokes, like this is surreal, Like we're about to win the NBA championship in Game six. Did not see this coming, and then no one saw what coming What happened after that.
What happened after that was twenty eight seconds of some of the most unforgettable basketball in history. During a timeout with his Spurs leading by three and twenty eight seconds away from a championship in Game six, Popovich saw that the heat switched out Bosh in favor of sharpshooter Mike Miller, who famously hit a three pointer earlier in the game despite one of his shoes having come off his foot to play before.
Mike Miller was only one sneaker on.
Miller, so Popovich took out his big guy Tim Duncan for a more versatile defender in Diau. It was a move pop had made plenty before and would do again. This desperate possession began with the brick of a three point attempt from Lebron, but Miller, who was in for Miami's best rebounder, remember, grabbed his only offensive rebound of the game and kicked it back out to his buddy Lebron, who knocked down this three point attempt to narrow the gap to ninety four to ninety two.
With just twenty seconds remaining.
James catches fires a three way off rebound, still specked up by Miller, back out to James. Another three, Yet God, James knocks it down. Two point game. We're twenty seconds remaining.
The Spurs called their last time out. Popovich would set up the inbounds play, knowing the Heat had to foul if they wanted to extend the game, and subbed Duncan back into the game to inbound the ball. Miami specifically wanted to foul Kawhi Leonard, and they got that opportunity.
Duncan looking has to get it in, finds Leonard. Leonard fouled by Miller, who did a good job fouling right away.
As Leonard was at the line preparing the first free throw, Ray Allen was behind him, raising his arms in a request for the remaining crowd to get loud.
During the regular season, Kawhi Leonard eighty two percent from line.
Spurs players on the bench were locked arm in arm, the tension written on their faces, A lot of pressure on.
A twenty one year old in his first NBA Finals.
Leonard missed the first and everyone in the arena immediately knew the Heat would have a chance. In between free throws, Duncan was again taken out of the game in favor of dil while Spolstra took out Miller and brought in Bosch. Leonard made the second free throw, increasing the lead to ninety five ninety two. With nineteen seconds left, neither team
had a timeout remaining. Ray Allen calmly inbounded to Mario Chalmers, who jogged the ball up the left side of the floor, as Allan went up the right side of the floor to use a screen set by Wade and Plant himself in the corner and it's.
Ninety five ninety two.
Spurs need a stop to secure this win. Chalmers in the front board against Tony Parker takes it left side, picked up by Leonard.
Chalmers, meanwhile, had gotten a screen from Bosch that forced the Spurs to switch, leaving Parker on b and Leonard defending Chalmers. This wasn't the Spurs normal pick and roll defense. This was their no threes pick and roll defense, and that's why all the switching occurred and why Duncan was out of the game.
So Miami needs a good three.
They've got time to set it up.
Chalmers left side reil.
That's when Bosh set a screen for lebron that he could either use to cut to the basket or flare out for a three.
Because Dia was shaded toward the basket.
Lebron chose a three point option, moving to his left behind Bosh and took a pass for a fairly open three point attempt.
James Catchers puts up a three. We'll go.
The key here was di Ou, rather than stay in the paint and prepare for a potential rebound, saw that Parker was trapped behind the Bosch screen. And attempted to jump out and contest what would have been a game tying three pointer from the best player in the world, the player he'd been a side tying to defend in the previous two games of these finals. But that meant Bosh could waltz freely toward the basket, watching Lebron's attempt float through the air while he took to the paint.
Bosh would then fight off Genobi for the rebound he snatched with two hands.
James outside three in the air off the rim. Doot Good screamed out for seven seconds.
Would Duncan have stayed in the paint and trusted a rebound would be on the way, We'll never know.
Here's Chalmers.
The biggest play of the game was Greg Papas taking out Tim Duncan. That was the biggest player of the game when he did that.
Did you notice it before the play started that Tim wasn't in there.
I seen him and I was like, oh, okay, and I thought it was kind of weird.
I was like, y'all really don't.
Have a rebound then, and I don't know what's gonna happen. Like So when they did that, they wanted to switch everything. So I seen that and I knew somebody would be open. So when Bron shot the shot, ceb just dove to the rim and he had no nobody really decides to box him out and got it.
And you know, so Cebe gets that rebound. Not a lot of people are looking at your side of the court. Your hands up wide open?
Is that were you thinking? When he's coming down with the ball. Please see me, I'm gonna make this shot.
In that moment, you know, you just like me, you know how I am. I want to take that last shot. I want to be in that moment. I don't care if Michael Jordan's on the court, Bron, Jesus Christ himself.
I want to take that shot.
So therefore, well you had Lebron and Jesus on the court. By the way, Yeah, in.
My mind, I'm open, like no matter what's going on, if you see me, I'm open. So my hands is up. But in reality, no, Ray Allen's right there. Everything happened the way it was supposed to happen.
What actually happened was basketball poetry, basketball wizardry, and basketball history. Bosch secured the rebound and immediately saw Alan backpedaling in front of him, bailing toward that point line on the right side of the floor. Genobili had fallen down while fighting Boss for the rebound, so Tony Parker rushed over to try and contest the shot. As Alan so gracefully gathered the pass, fixed both feet in that small space between the three point line and the out of bounds line.
His heels were hovering oh so gently above the white paint. It would have meant he was out of bounds if they'd come in contact. Alan had a handful of these situations throughout the year. He was very regularly the top option for important shots late in games, and that meant heat players were quite familiar with Allen's tendencies in these situations.
Here's Alan.
It was like if you had this bazooka in your back pocket that you had so he knew at any get moment, and he knew I was always moving around. You know this is It's interesting because we've been in this situation before, So I knew Lebron was floating towards the ball, and as we switched, Genobili would guarding me, and I just knew that we had to get the ball. It wasn't about shooting a three. It is about getting
the ball, and I was going to get it. And the minute when I seen CB get it, I said, let me get my butt back out to just three point line, which, interestingly enough, I had worked on that shot. I did that every day before a game, so it wasn't foreign. As that ball left my fingers, it just felt like it floated, didn't feel didn't feel like anything.
It felt like he'd done it a million times because he had. Just like Alan said, this team's chemistry was no mistake. Neither was Alan's ability to shoot and make a three in any situation. He was obsessive about his preparation, even practicing shots he'd never taken before in a game like this one. Jackie McMullin wrote about Alan's regimented ways while he was in Boston, and she saw all that preparation work for Alan in that exact moment.
Not a popular thing to say in Boston, but I was glad for him because he had prepared his entire life for a moment just like that. And that's not hyperbole. Ray Allen is an OCD cat. Shaves his head at the exact same time every day. On game day. He had the exact same meal, chicken and rice. He had a very precise pregame routine.
He didn't leave.
Anything to chance ever. In fact, I remember they used to mess with him the Celtics. You know, Paul Pierson Ray were good friends long before Ray came on the Celtics and Ray had the same parking spot every day, and so Paul and some of the guys used to mess around and get there two hours early and park their car and Ray spot, you know, and they would mess with them all the time about I remember Paul telling me once they were on a plane after a
big win. Paul had had like thirty five points, and he was sitting, you know, he sat down on the plane and Ray goes, what are you doing. Go sit in the seat that you were in yesterday. And Paul's like, shut up, right, he goes, Paul, like he meant it, like go sit there. Everything had to be exactly so. So in that moment, Bosh gets the rebound, because Tim Duncan isn't in the game, potentially gets the rebound, kicks it out to Ray.
Alan took the pass, rose up for three, and created his most memorable NBA moment as a thirty seven year old in his seventeenth season in the league, on his fourth NBA team.
That's the beautiful thing about these moments because when the three ball goes in, it's like a It's like a bomb just hit because everybody jumps to their feet.
James catch Us, puts up a three, won't go recount, bosh back out to Alan his re ty game with five second.
You know, it's just like such an amazing feeling. You know, it's like the hairs on your arm.
Just raise up.
Back to Alan the long shot.
Alan, come down town.
What's five point two left?
It got it inbound set, Antonio.
They're gonna wave it off so that they can look at the shot.
I believe it.
Had been on that floor so much on that court shooting that same shot that in that exact shot. I've done that over and over again, so I knew where it was. You know, I knew exactly where I was on the floor. You just there's no reason not to.
Now.
I was nervous that I stepped on the line because all it took was one time, But I knew where I was. And that's just you know, you play a sport for so long, when you work on your whatever job that you have on a team, when you work on it, it just becomes second nature to you.
And that's all it was for me.
And you know, Mike Miller had this look on his face when we came to the huddle, and I know they called a three, but they're gonna review.
It to make sure my foot was behind line.
I was so nervous because if my foot was on the line, just a tad bit, then we'd be having a different conversation right now.
This moment where Ray Allen hit the biggest shot of his life, a three pointer that tied Game six of the Finals with five point two seconds left. As heat, players and fans let out a giant sigh of relief, would immediately follow with chaos. Did Allen step on the out of bounds line? Was it a turnover? Did he step on the three point line? Was it just a two point basket that didn't tie the game. All of
these questions would be answered after the brief chaos. Whistles were being blown, stopping played despite neither team having a time out, and Spurs coach Greg Popovich was running up the sideline furious that the referee even stopped the game because He wanted his team to act quickly before the celebratory heat can set up their defense, but the replay rules required the officials to review the Allen shot before play could continue.
Pay I want to three to the corner. Sure, no tie up. The cat just stopped the cut. That stopped to make sure it's a three. Allen hit a three from the corner to tie the game. San Antonio sees the clock stop because Mike Callahan, the official, wants to confirm a three or a two. Now the official say it's a three. Called on the floor. Well, rotch the replay.
It is clearly a three from Ray Allen. His feet are behind the line, and we are tied at ninety five, the all time three point shooter in the history of the NBA regular season and postseason. Ray Allen hit a huge three to tie this game.
Once it was determined that Allen's shot was a three and that he didn't step out of bounds, the Spurs could now inbound for a desperate full court play for a championship. Tony Parker took the inbound pass with Lebron James guarding him, dribbled all the way up the left side of the court, and eventually missed a running bank shot as he fell toward the seats on the baseline.
Those Parker final seconds Parker on the drive puts it up overtime.
There Day six, the buzzer sounded and overtime would begin soon, but not before Allan could officially recognize the enormity of his shot.
Man it just for me. I always say that it was written, you know, it was just it was just
meant to happen, you know. And these were of those situations where if I could give anybody in my life the opportunity for this one moment to make sure that they stayed focused and stayed at the task at hand, because you never known your numbers called you know, all the shots I've hit my career, like this is the one that people will talk about the most, and this will be the one that you know, at this stage, at this level, where it changed the tide of a
lot of people's careers on both sides, in certainly franchises. So players make plays and shoot or shoot, and I just remember just feeling, you know, such a great feeling to know that you did your job when your team needed you to do your job, you know, to do something and it's more than your job. It's going above beyond hit and doing something that you know, put your team in the situation to win a game where you you gain the mostmost of respect from all your peers.
That that is one of the greatest feelings and one of the reasons that you played this game to be able to be relied upon him, to be you know.
By your team.
Alan was relied upon to hit a pair of free throws with one point nine seconds left in overtime, and he did so to put Miami up three on the ensuing Spurs play. Bosh followed up that huge offensive rebound in regulation with a smothering block of a Danny Green three point attempt as the buzzer sounded. Green, by the way, had already broken the Finals record at the time for threes made in the series. That block was no minor feat. Game seven was officially necessary score.
Past the Green breedlot boss game over.
A Game seven and the Spurs were devastated. Here's Matt Bonner.
Did that really just happen? Because again, like you know, it's such a long, arduous process to reach that mountain top of winning an NBA championship. It starts in the offseason, in preseason and training camp in preseason, in eighty two regular season games, and then the playoffs is like a
whole other season. And then to get to that point where the trophies twelve feet to your left and you think you're about to win it, and then you know at the snap of the fingers it's ray Allen makes that shot and it's tied, and actually actually we're going back to square one. It's hard to put that into words, what that emotion was.
It might have been the biggest gut punch ever felt in an NBAS. The Spurs saw their future as champions, and then it was ripped away with ray Allen's shot and his immediate declaration to get those MFN ropes out of here. Lebron didn't mince words when discussing what it meant to be a part of that game.
Well as by far the best game I ever been a part of, something you would never be able to recreate once you're done playing a game, and I'm blessed to be a part of something like this.
Game seven would be nearly impossible to prepare for. With the sting of Game six still living fresh in Spurs minds, But would you believe it if I told you it could have been even more devastating for the San Antonio Spurs. That's impossible, right, Remember when I told you neither team had a time out when that game tying ray Allen
three pointer went in with five point two seconds remaining. Well, that was especially important because in those chaotic few moments where the referees were stopping play to replay the shot and make sure it was indeed a three pointer, Greg Popovich put Tim Duncan back in the game for Boris Dia without a time out. That was technically an illegal substitution. Here's the aps, Tim Reynolds.
That review is technically not a substitution. Opportunity Gus who's on the floor for the final five point two seconds, Tim Duncan, who should not have been back in the game. So it would have it appened we vied to a heat protest, and we all wanted to come back three days later to finish theket. If Tony Parker makes that shot, the heat absolutely would have protested that Tim Duncan should not have been on the floor.
So let's play this alternate ending out together, shall we? After the review and ensuing a legal substitution. Parker takes the ball the length of the floor, and, just like he did in Game one of the series, hits an incredibly difficult bank shot, this time as time expires.
First off, Parker's shot would have immediately.
Supplanted Allen as the greatest and Finals history because it would have set off probably the most insane championship celebration ever. But think about this, The Heat would have seen the
illegal substitution afterward and immediately filed a protest. If the Heat would have won the protest and it was a clear violation, it would have meant having to replay the final five point two seconds of regulation of Game six and then likely overtime, and if the Heat pulled out the win in ot, having to play a Game seven immediately afterward. It would have been easily the most hectic
Finals finish ever. Imagine the Spurs, still damp from Champagne celebrating their fifth championship in Miami, having to then regroup, replay five insanely intense seconds, and if they don't score, having to forget all that celebrating and approach a Game seven for all the marbles that they had already thought they had here's more from Reynolds.
But can you imagine what that would have done to the league, Like, Hey, here's a trophy, there's confetti, we're cutting down nets, we're destroying the locker room, like the Spurs would have had to go back into their unclean, champagne soaked locker room the next day or whatever it would have taken. It's it's so crazy to think that that could have very easily happened that way if Tony gets a little more oomphed on that very very makeable look that he had.
But Parker did indeed miss and while sympathy wouldn't have been part of the protest process, it is kind of easy to see how Papovitch could have made that mistake in such a crazy scene. It's very much a no harm, no foul situation, but it's an unspoken detail to one of the best games in Finals history that certainly adds to the intrigue of it. There was still a Game seven left to play in this classic series, but Game
six was unforgettable for anyone who watched. I remember being in the building at two or three in the morning following that game, with reporters and broadcasters everywhere still shocked by what they just saw, so imagine how much it was still on the minds of the Spurs. The Heat would need one more win to close the deal and repeat as champs, and that lingering Spurs pain would make Miami's mission that much more attainable. Jackie McMullin spent time
with the Spurs during the twenty thirteen offseason. Game six was every bit as devastating as you would have thought.
I remember talking to Brett Brown afterwards. Brett Brown was an assistant on that team, and he said he was sitting on the bench and he saw the ropes coming out, and he wasn't thinking, Oh no, no, don't do that. It's not the balloons you know in the forum prematurely right up in the rafters. Brett Brown in real time is going, oh my god, we did it. We just beat freaking Lebron. I can't this is I can't believe this, this is happening. And then it didn't happen.
On the next four years, if he that shot was the most biggest shot in the world.
I just show that shot to this day, I think about that shot.
Let's not make this Game six one of the greatest games to lose in Game seven or not make this championship worth having.
Lebron has missed a do whatever it takes. He is today's greatest player.
Like, at the end of the day, the respect that I have in this league and around here.
Is because I won. It's not because I'm a nice guy. It's not because I'm the oldest guy in the league. It has nothing to do with that.
They figured their best chance at beating the Miami Heat was to wear Lebron down.
And how do you do that.
You put him in the mixer because that was going to keep Miami Movie out of their comfort zone. Make Lebron work so much harder than anyone had ever made him.
Work four years. If he dies a production, If iHeartRadio and the NBA