My relationship with him is incredible. D Wade, He's a brother of mine. He supports everything that we do. You know, we call him, you know, Wade County Day County like because he really represents hometown and we.
Love that about him.
Lebron chains another brother that just him and his whole team, Maverick and Rich Paul, It's the whole Lebron family. We've always showed me love and I was blessed to do like commercials with Lebron, and we've done a lot of great things outside of basketball. Anytime I've seen Chris Bosh out there, another brother that just with pure lover, always showed me love and the legend man. We had a squad that was unstoppable.
The squad DJ Khaled was so proud of. They did seem unstoppable. Even after a game Lebron James was forced out of because of the ninety five degree temperature inside San Antonio's arena, Miammi just went on to win Game two and were right back in the same position as they were the previous season. Welcome back to four years of Heat. This is episode eight, the finale, as the Heat and Spurs prepared for Game three in Miami. There wasn't a lot that differentiated the twenty fourteen Finals from
the twenty thirteen version. The Spurs started the series with home court advantage, which was different, but by the time they'd reached Miami for Game three, they'd lost that, and there's no way the insertion of Boris Diao into the starting light up ahead of Thiago Splitter would make that much of a difference for the Spurs. Even an older team like Miami can get the necessary boost from their
now seasoned home fans to carry them through. Plus the allrea of a three peat, an accomplishment that hadn't been executed since Kobe and Shacks Lakers from two thousand to two thousand and two, would provide just the necessary motivation given how close Miami was to finishing the job.
Welcome to Miami, Game three of the NBA Finals, Let's go Heat.
Well, those thoughts lasted for about the next twelve minutes of basketball. Once the series returned to the Heat's house. This is where the nice guy Spurs would hand out one of the most sobering defeats of this Heat era, a different kind of stunning than the MAVs in twenty eleven The first quarter alone told the story of this series. In it, the Spurs shot eighty seven percent. I'll say that again. The Spurs shot eighty seven percent in the first quarter of an NBA Finals game. They missed two
of their fifteen shots. They missed none of their three pointers. The Spurs assisted on nine of their thirteen baskets in the period, and for good measure on the defensive end, blocked two heat shots and grabbed two steals.
Mills, He'll penetrate Moule's pass left corner.
Letard, great ball bo but by the Spurs.
The WHII.
Leonard loads up and knocks down.
A three thirty eight to twenty three Spurs pike fifteen.
Ye great executioner, great execution.
This is a Spurs team that is running the offense to perfection.
On the heat side, Lebron James nearly matched the Spurs brilliance in that opening quarter. He missed one of his six attempts, scoring fourteen points with an assist and no turnovers. The rest of the heat weren't terrible either. Miami shot fifty three percent for the period and somehow found themselves trailing by sixteen after just twelve minutes of play. There was barely a drop off in the second quarter for
San Antonio. The Spurs shot an NBA Finals record for a half of nearly seventy six percent and led at halftime seventy one to fifty. The Diau addition to the starting lineup made San Antonio's ball movement as crisp as it had been all season, and at just the perfect time, they were exercising demons in the most enjoyable way possible.
Leonard finish a straw with the right half.
The Heat closed to within seven points in the third quarter and within ten in the fourth, but the Spurs always responded with devastating shots and extended runs. In the end, the Spurs won Game three by nineteen points, taking back the home court edge and snatching back the mental advantage.
It has just been one of the great offensive starts in NBA playoff history. Spurs with a huge response here in Game three and now lead the twenty fourteen NBA Finals two games to one. Well the resounding road win here in Miami.
Greg Popovich summed up his team's near perfect performance in the postgame press conference.
I don't think we'll ever shoot seventy six percent in a half. Ever, again, it's the NBA Finals. Well, you can't do be me and ocre out there if you want to win a game. Everybody's going to play well.
But even that performance wasn't enough to fully convince Boris Diau that the Spurs had taken control of the series.
We felt that we played great, but we know what it is and we know the playoffs. It's not because game three we shooting seventy five and everything goes well, that Game four is going to be the same because we saw the service before. Sometimes you win by twenty in the next game you lose by twenty, so you still got a you know, state focused.
DL's teammate Matt Bonner would play sparingly in this series, but he was just as engaged as any of his teammates, who all still felt the pain of losing those last two games in American Airlines Arena a year earlier.
We got home court advantage back, and I don't want to say we were satisfied with that, but you know, if we went back to San Antonio two to two with home court advantage, we would have been We're like, all right, we did what we came here to do, and I remember Coach Pop read that on us and brought everybody in and was in our face like we didn't come here to get one We came here to get two wins, you know, So wipe the smiles off your faces and let's be ready to play Game four.
And then we came out that Game four is really the game where we ripped their hearts out.
The Spurs had taken the hearts of the Heat and not even the white hot home crowd could revive them. San Antonio shot fifty seven percent in Game four, a small drop off from the fifty nine in Game three, and won even more comfortably by twenty one points.
Green Fine split up beautiful feet at Dawl.
In the finish shot.
San Antonio has a double figure lead here in game four. They've had a double figure lead in each game. Was a series. Oh what a beautiful look for Boris d ol time out.
The time out called by Eric Spolster.
You guys are doing a great job of moving the ball as usual.
Now we got a lead again.
It doesn't mean to be conservative. It means we don't need to to make them guard.
And it wasn't just the ball movement that made the Spurs offense nearly unguardable this series. It wasn't just that Danny Green and Patty Mills and manager Nobli were all hitting their perimeter shots. There was one particular emerging force that officially tipped the scales in the Spurs direction.
Mills not that time.
Leonard on the follow slam Kawhi Leonard.
Wow, he came out of nowhere and have it at home. Kawhi Leonard, in his third season, was becoming an offensive force matching what was already a defensive Player of the Year caliber defense. There's an easy to find clip from the twenty thirteen finals of Lebron James turning to the scorers table as Leonard was re entering Game five and responding with a noticeable WinCE. According to Bonner, that was pretty much every player's reaction to seeing Kawhi.
I felt like Kawhi had everybody's number defensively, To be honest with you, like, I remember my first time playing against Kawhi when he was just to skinny rookie.
It was the lockout year, so like everybody just came in in December. There was no like off season team workouts or training camp or anything really I was like, all right, get you got a few days to get ready, and then we're going to start playing all these games back to back to backs, the whole nine.
And I remember, like normally I see like a skinny rookie come in, I'm gonna try to beast him. And I remember I got the ball and I'd just like, I'm just going to drive right through Kawhi and I drove into his chest and it was like driving into a brick wall.
And I remember the first hit.
I got knocked back and thinking like wait, what, how is that physically possible? And then the second time, I'm like, I'm gonna do it again. I go and he already had the ball from me and was going in the other direction. He just ripped me with his giant hands. It was right, So like immediately I'm like, all right, this guy, this is a different type of cat right here. I would not want to have him guarding me. So I'm sure Lebron or anybody else in the league would have that same attitude inside.
Chummers third man to the rim Anderson w from.
Behind by Leonard Kawhi.
That series offensively grew up because he was able to just go get buckets on offense you mentioned, Yeah, we did rely on the beautiful game and ball movement, but we had possessions where if that's all we had, would have been dead possessions. But Kawhi could get the ball in a position and just go make something happen and score, go into the basket, or he got confidence in his three point shot, especially from the corners or his little
pull up jumpers. It really clicked for him offensively. And yeah, I mean playing team basketball on offense and point five in the beautiful game and all that's great, but at certain points in the playoffs, the game is slower, it's physical. You need guys that can just go get you a bucket, and Kawhi was that for us, became that for us in that series letters drive finish.
In games one and two, Leonard didn't even crack double figures, scoring nine points in each of them, but in game three he led the Spurs with twenty nine and somehow was more dominant in Game four with twenty points, fourteen rebounds, three assists, three steals and three block shots.
You know you made some shots.
You played your z.
There couldn't be more FRAUDI of Game five in San Antonio would feel very much like Lebron's first title, but in reverse. The same way the Thunder effectively conceded to Miami. By Game five and twenty twelve, the Heat had nothing left for the Spurs in this one. Lebron summoned his powers for a thirty one ten to five line, but Bosh and Wade could only combine for twenty four points,
while no other Heat player hit double figure. The Spurs would celebrate their fifth championship in franchise history, beating Miami in five games behind Leonard as the finals MVP.
The San Antonio Spurs are the world champions.
The Spurs of capture their fifth and THEA championship.
Oh oh my god, Oh my god.
That's that's what it's about.
Baby, right, yes worthy.
Multiple time champions Greg Popovich, Tony Parker, and Tim Duncan discussed how meaningful this title was after the heartbreak of losing to Miami the previous season.
As every championship is different, and all the other ones were special and the groups were great, but this had to be the sweetest just because of what we endured last year.
That's the sweetest championship is my favorite one out of my four. Because of what happened last year and has been seven years. We celebrating like as first, our first win.
This one was more special than any others, the journey that we've been through in the last two years, everything together because of the time between the championships. I appreciate every game more. I appreciate every accomplishment knowing that it might be the last time I do it. You put all those things together, and it makes this one that much more special for me.
Afterward, while the Spurs were rejoicing with their home fans, the Heat players were coming to grips with what felt like an ending. It certainly was a conclusion for Shane Battier, Well, I retired.
I knew I was retiring, you know. So that was my last game, and I knew I knew probably going into that into training camp that year. This was probably my last game. I probably should have retired after his sixth series in game seven years before. Looking back at it, I probably sho k off just walked off, But I said, I'm on one more year, you know, and like I wasn't on the grind anymore. My kids are getting older.
I get to the gym, I say, I still like being here today, you know, I still want to play the game, and so like, when you're not willing to make that grind anymore and make those sacrifices, you're cheating the game. And you could cheat the game, you shouldn't be playing. And that was sort of like, not only my perspective, but I think all of all of us. We cheated the championship path in protocol and we still
almost want it, which is funny. But we lose that game five in San Antonio and there was no one who was mad at that. We all just kind of like collectively sighed and said, man, that was an amazing run, and we all sort of felt that it was over.
Looking back, the entire four year run felt like a constant test of the Heat culture that members of the organization constantly speak about. The team that embraces conflict and ignores outside opinions and plays harder and smarter defensively just couldn't maintain that necessary edge for any longer. The never ending pressure finally drained a team that was spectacularly defiant for four seasons. Here's the dean of Heat culture, you, Donnis Haslam.
Yeah, No, it was a lot on us mentally physically and emotionally for those you know, those years playing the most basketball, playing the longest seasons. You know, I think we just didn't know how to handle it, you know, as a unit, you know what I'm saying. I think, you know, people just think it's just coming together playing basketball, winning games, And now that's part of what. We didn't handle the mental part of it very well, you know
what I'm saying. The times that, you know, we should have took a mental break and got our minds off it and just you know, refreshed and refilled, you know what I'm saying. And I think towards the end, we just started all pouring from an empty cup, you know what I mean.
And you can't do that.
As Haslam stated, the Heat at this point, after four long seasons, didn't appear to have the necessary fight to match the Spurs in the two thousand and four team finals. So what did that mean for the future of this team and this core? From the start, the Heats Big three bonded to create a shield against the outside noise. According to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, those three emerged successful from so many heated battles it was difficult to imagine summoning that same energy again.
Dwayne seemed tired, well, bronzeemed tired. I think they were all just tired. There were no breaks. It was four years, four finals, media tours, all the responsibilities, all the obligations, all the stuff they got Theirs into, you know, commercially, as far as endorsements and all that. But there was never a break. And I think a lot of it was just fatigue. I think the message had wrung. How okay, we came together, we proved everybody wrong, we won it twice.
What's left to do? Like they ran out of villains, Like it was originally the media and the noise, and then it was losing the Dallas and then you know, how are we going to get past this? How were we going to get past that? Once they got past everything, they ran out of things to hate.
They were also starting to run out of their reliable supporting cast. It wasn't just Battier, who played his last game that night in San Antonio. Brian Windhorst of ESPN noted just how much this team was relying on veterans to that point, making the prospect of several more years of deep playoff runs difficult to envision.
When the series ended, two players essentially announced their retirement in the locker room, and this has never happened before. Shan Battier said I'm done, and Ray Allen said I'm probably done. And then Rashard Lewis, who started games in that finals, he ended up having to retire too. So they were basically only playing six or seven guys in that finals, and three of them were playing the last games of their career.
What we didn't know at that time was Game five in San Antonio would also be the last playoff game of Bosh's career. The following season, in February of twenty fifteen, Bosh was diagnosed with the pulmonary embolism, which is when a blood clot gets dislodged from another part of the body and travels to the lungs. He wouldn't play again that season, and in February of twenty sixteen, another blood
clot was found, this time in Bosh's calf. He was eventually diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, a condition that would force him to retire from the game. His last NBA appearance ever was a regular season game on February ninth, twenty sixteen, also against the Spurs on the same American Airlines Arena floor, where he grabbed an all timer of an offensive rebound and kicked it out to a back pedaling Ray Allen to adjust the course of NBA history.
James Catchers puts up at three, We'll go recount, flash back out to Alan history toilet tie game with five seconds reverting.
It was a sudden end to a career that was somehow still blossoming. Bosh was becoming the proto type NBA big man, having just reached thirty years old in twenty fourteen. Instead of seeing what he could truly become, we could only look back to that four year run of finals to truly assess his value. Here's Haslam.
Chris Bosh was the key to that bro. A lot of people don't understand that, you know what I'm saying. As great as Dwayne was, it is the greatest lebron is and none of it works without Chris. None of it works without Chris.
You know.
He was probably the guy that sacrificed the most but played the biggest role for us, if that makes sense. So I was just thankful for the four years spent the opportunities, the growth, the evolution, the success, the tears of joy, the tears of pain. I was just thankful for the entire experience.
Man.
Ain't no hard feelings, no no hate, no no, no, none of that. I was happy, man. And to this day we still maintain those relationships because nobody felt the way. You know what I'm saying. Everybody understood that we had a great four year run.
Man.
Everybody benefited, Perhaps no single individual benefited more than Lebron James. He'd hit more than a few career benchmarks. From twenty ten to fourteen. He'd won his first two titles and finals MVPs. He'd won two more regular season MVPs, matching Wilt Chamberlain's total of four and only leaving Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar having more. He'd have his two most efficient seasons, sharpening his all around game with a set of post skills he didn't have upon arrival.
Stan Van Gundy coached against Lebron in all three of his stops, but said Miami brought out the best defensive version of James. Lebron twice finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting once in two thousand and nine with Cleveland, losing the award to Orlando's Dwight Howard, and once with the Heat in twenty thirteen, losing to Memphis's Mark Gasol. Here's stan Van Gundy on James's defensive development, and the thing.
I will say in Miami is Lebron was always he's I thought a good defender, and certainly under Mike Brown in Cleveland he was good. But then he got there and like you said, he didn't have a huge, huge offensive role, or he did, but not outsized where he had to do everything. And you know, he got with other good defenders in a good system, and he was overwhelming defensively. I mean I thought there were if it
weren't for Dwight at that time. I mean he had you know, he had years where he could have been defensive Player of the Year. Material. That's the biggest thing I saw from him in Miami was his defensive dominance. And we'd already seen it in Cleveland a little bit, but he carried a bigger offensive load there so was probably not able to devote as much to it.
James had all the tools by twenty fourteen, and a decent amount of hardware too. It's why the loss to the Spurs could have been a bit mystifying for him. How could this Heat team lose in five games so easily when he remains the most destructive player on the planet. Did the Heat planned properly enough to maintain championship level play as he and Bosh enter their thirties, or did the Spurs just bring James to the realization that it
was time to reassess it all. Jackie McMullin believed the Spurs forced James to look beyond Miami sooner than expected, as the league got a glimpse of the future.
There's no doubt in my mind that that series made him realize, Yep, we can't beat Nope, we're done. I believe that with all my heart, and I go back and look on that series. The stan Antonio Spurs in Game three played one of the most perfect games of basketball I've ever seen in my life. It was the preview for the rest of the league. The NBA is a copycat league, always has been, and Bob Myers was
going to be the GM of the Warriors. All the people watching that, everybody said, all right, this is what we got to do.
And maybe Lebron was thinking about winning and filling those voids on his championship mantle at this point, or maybe he was thinking about what it felt like the previous time he'd lost in the finals in twenty eleven, when he found comfort in home. There had been signs, if you chose to see them as such, during Lebron's time in Miami that he signaled he might leave sooner than expected. Windhors saw them and knew a return to Cleveland would
be in Lebron's future. He just wasn't sure exactly when.
I knew he was seriously considering it, But I was just so careful is he not to say it? Because I just I didn't have the greatest feel when he opted out of his contract like ten days before he had to, and then when he took meetings, he actually was at the meetings, but when his agent took the meetings, I knew that he was seriously considering it, and I only thought he'd go to Cleveland. I mean, I had I knew he was going to go back to Cleveland in the winter of two thousand and twelve, his second
year in Miami. I didn't know when it would be. And I really did think that he might try to give the Heat one more year because boj and Wade were still in their primes. There were still some p things that the Heat could have done in free agency to turn over the team, and they had kind of done that. They had drafted, They'd moved up in the draft to draft another guard, They'd signed a couple of free agents. I thought he might give the Heat one more year, but I did think he'd go back to Cleveland.
I just didn't want to be the guy who said that he was going to go back and then he didn't go back.
The next year, the Heat had secured free agents Josh McRoberts and former Pacers rival Danny Granger. They even drafted Shabbaz Napier out of Yukon, someone Lebron had mentioned was his favorite player in the draft. But James's desire to chase championships didn't dwindle after two rings. It only grew stronger. Here's battier again.
Lebron has had more expectations around his career than anyone in the history of maybe sports, and he's delivered and then so okay, and so his his scorecard is different. But the way he judged, the way judges himself.
It's different.
And I think in his heart he knew the only way to get to Jordan the conversation with Jordan was to go back to Cleveland and win one there, because you know when winning one in Cleveland is worth two in Chicago discause of their history, and it was, and so I think Lebron was playing a bigger game. I think he's always felt that he wanted to give one to UH, to the Calves. So like I never thought that he was going to go to like l A
from Miami or or somewhere else. I think I thought that, like if he left, he would he would go back to Cleveland. It's not something like he'd talk about. We didn't talk about it in the locker room or anything like that. It was just a feeling that like, yeah, okay, that makes sense, and like I wasn't I didn't begrudge him, and I totally understood.
Lebron became a free agent and in late June of twenty fourteen, when he exercised an early termination option in his contract. He held free agent meetings with teams in Las Vegas in early July, including one with Heat team president pat Riley. Some believe Lebron had his decision made by the time he met with the Heat Brass, but in the same way, James was believed to be hesitant up until the moment he said I'm taking my talents
to South Beach. Tim Reynolds believes James wanted to be certain he was making the correct choice.
He went through all that in Vegas to say, am I doing the right thing? I think he was just being a savvy investor doing his homework at that point. I don't think it was a charade. I don't think he was wasting anybody's time. I don't think it was mean spirited. I don't think it was hollow. I think his mind was pretty much made up. But he wanted to make sure that he was absolutely doing the right thing.
So on July eleventh, twenty fourteen, Lebron made it official with a story told to Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated. He was heading back to his home base of Northeast Ohio to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He'd take what he learned in Miami and try to transfer those championship habits to the Caves, and in doing so, he ended one of the most entertaining and league shifting four year stretches the NBA has ever seen. Here's Windhorst.
What a wonderful time in the history of the NBA. The Miami Heat. That run was such an influential and pivotal and historical time. They had a lot of amazing things happen, not only on the basketball court, but just culturally. You know the Harlem Shake video. You know, the incredible Game six Ray Allen shot. It's a historic NBA moment. The amazing Game seven where you know, Duncan and Lebron are going back and forth at each other. I mean,
what else can you ask for? You know, the back and forth with the Celtics, the back and forth with the Bulls. So many big games in Miami, those big playoff nights with the entire arena dressed in white and seven Nation Army, you know, rocking on the sound system. I mean, these are you know, memories that will forever last for people who were involved with it. I mean,
it was four years, it felt like more. It ended abruptly and unfortunately, but I don't think anybody truly associated with it, whether it was people within the Heat organization or the fans or Lebron himself. I don't think they would have changed anything. I think they're glad everything happened. You know, the Heat had some bad breaks a little bit after that that you know, had nothing to do with Lebron, and then he obviously left them in a tough state. They had to rebuild a little bit. But
I don't think they regretted that. I think everything that they did to get that four year run was worth it. And those banners are up there. Those banners are up there, and those four finals runs are there, and so it was a real piece of NBA history those four years. It probably was the right length the time. You know, it was just long enough for people didn't quite get sick of it, and they were entertained by it, and everybody was kind of able to still have other acts in their careers after that.
What Lebron James did in announcing his return to Cleveland following four years and two titles in Miami was closed the loop on what would end up a heartwarming tale. His return meant more than any apology. It was the giant hug those two sides really needed to experience after the hurt caused by the decision. But for the Heat and their fans, it was an entirely different feeling. There was a sudden longing because they knew those four years
couldn't be recreated anytime soon, not without Lebron. And then you were forced to make the immediate assessment, did the Heat get everything out of their time with Lebron? And what would have happened if he stayed for a bit longer.
You know, we went to four straight. Five was in four years, and you know, we're not discrediting what we was able to accomplish in these four years. We lost one we won too, and we lost another one, you know, and take fifty percent, you know, in four years. You know, in championships any day, obviously you want to win all of them, but that's just the nature of the game.
You win some, you lose some. You know, you just got to come back the next year and you know, and be better as an individual, as a team, you know, and go from there. But you know, I know, me and d Wade and c B you know, not proud of the way we played, you know, and all three of us, you know, that's the last thing we're thinking about, is what's going on this summer.
Rachel Nichols was there for the Heat finale in twenty fourteen and did since there was a bit left on the table for that team.
It felt a little bit like a lost opportunity when he left. I mean, they had done so much, they had won two titles. S say, oh, gee, you know they went on this big, grand adventure and didn't get anything out of it. You would never say that, but
it did feel like there could be more. And as someone who loves watching sports partly to get to watch people reach their full potential, for that team, it felt like there could have been more and it would have been fun to see that, and that if the air conditioning in the building during one of those final games hadn't failed, that possibly that series could have gone differently.
It definitely felt like that at the time, and so standing in the locker room after they lost that final game, it is the quietest postgame locker room I have been in, and I have been in all kinds of losing locker rooms, but that was so pin drop quiet. I think in part because everyone felt, oh, this could just not be the end of this final series of this season. This could be the end, and I think it was already hanging in the air.
But remember when you Donnis Haslam said everybody benefited from James's tenure in Miami, Well, that includes the Heat organization. Lebron didn't just learn how to win in Miami. He showed everyone just how prepared the Heat organization was to build winners. It was a symbiotic relationship that would be confirmed six years later when Lebron and the Lakers faced off with Eric Spolster in the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. Here's Rachel Nichols.
It's interesting he would later go on to stay that he felt like going to Miami was his four years of college right, that he never got that experience, that that's where he learned to be a grown up, That's where he learned to be a professional in that way. And I don't think that was necessarily a knock on the Cleveland organization as it had been. I think it
was more about what the Miami Heat actually offered. I think that Heat culture expression is not just something that people in Miami state to make themselves feel better.
It is real.
It is a level of professionalism in that organization that just doesn't exist in other places throughout sports. And I think he felt like that so significantly changed him as a player, as a person. It was his first time significantly away from home that he then felt launched to go back out into the world and do other things.
Now.
I don't know in the moment how people in Miami felt about that comparison, because it does feel a little bit like, oh, you came here for college. Great, thanks a lot. We actually thought this is a long term marriage, but the fact that he was I think maybe it came out sounding a little flipped to some people in Florida. But I do think the expression of what he was trying to say had so much respect layered in it.
And I think that without that Miami experienced, Lebron James would be a completely different player, a completely different human. And I think to say that it is one of the most important parts of a very long and interesting and very story is not an understatement at all. The Miami Heat are part of Lebron James, and Lebron James is always going to be part of my Heat.
Of course, James will forever be linked with the Heat. His image is in so many parts of the team's arena. There's a banner marking his twenty twelve Olympic gold medal in the rafters right along with the championship banners he helped raise, and his number six will likely get retired
in Miami once he officially hangs it up. What he accomplished in Miami remains the most successful four year stretch of his career and the closest thing to a sports dynasty South Florida has seen since the Miami Dolphins in the early nineteen seventies, and yet it'll forever be thought of with some question marks. Dan Lebtard of Metal Arc Media believes those Heat teams did just enough to satiate a rabid fan base, but also left just enough on the table to wonder if there should have been more.
It puts even further perspective on how my unumenttal that Bosh offensive rebound and Ray Allen three pointer in Game six really were.
Here's Levitard, that team would have been a historic underachiever if not for that shot. One title would not have been enough for everything that was, the coverage, the noise around that basketball team as it was izzy. I feel like two two championships is sort of a push. I feel like it's a tie on people who hated the Heat versus people who love the heat. Everyone walks away with the unsatisfied feeling of that wasn't an overachievement, It
wasn't an underachievement. It was just sort of like, eh, two out of four. That's pretty good, but probably could have and should have been more. Probably if I had asked Chris Bosh and Lebron James and Dwayne Wade when they were dancing on that stage in Arena and a party before it all started, hey, if you guys win two, how's that going to feel? My guess is they would have said not enough. My guess is that they would have said, we got to win more than that. It's
not going to just be too is it? Later on, Golden State and some other teams would come and do things that were similar, but they started it. The play of San Antonio in that series at the end was such a vengeant storm of pent up hostility and anger because they thought they should have won the last time they played that. That's the best basketball team I've ever seen.
That's the best basketball play I've ever seen. The team that engulfed them at the end, the Heat team that was tired, and I don't really understand this part is he I don't understand why the winning of championships is so hard that teams like Golden State at the end break apart, because it's just too emotionally, mentally, physically draining to play in that pressure cooker for that long.
One of the notes James seemed to take with him was the need for superstar level teammates in a league that was now trying to recreate the heat model. Lebron created another buzzworthy trio once he got to Cleveland, with former number one pick Kyrie Irving already on board and all star Kevin Love getting traded from Minnesota. Here's Jackie McMullen.
I really believe that that win by the Spurs changed the course of NBA history because Lebron was moving on, and what better place to go than the place he
spurned in the first place. Let's make it all right, Let's keep that white hat on, nice and tight and go back to Cleveland and save the day with a young Kyrie Irving, who at that point we thought his future was limitless, and Kevin Love, who was in the prime of his career and was the prototypical stretch for I mean that was the way the league was going.
While Miami would be left reeling as a sports town, pat Riley would attempt to make the recovery from Lebron's exit not nearly as painful. He'd sign Luell Ding and All Star with the Bulls to replace James, and he'd keep Wade and Bosh on board, which was no easy feat given the sudden question marks around the team, and for a city that embraced Lebron while the rest of the country was throwing jabs and a lot more in
his direction. There must have been a hint of pride escaping Miami as the rest of the country also realized, Hey, this Lebron James wasn't a bad guy after all, here's Rachel Nichols.
It was disappointing for the city of Miami and for the heat and for the potential that what might have been. On the other hand, I was there in Cleveland when he was introduced back in Cleveland and did a big event for his charity, which as we know, turned into
his school. It's an incredible, incredible organization and the feeling and love of him back full circle in Cleveland, and I remember people they handed out little lights to people and springing their little lights, and it felt very much like, Okay, I understand why he felt like part of his story had to come back here and why there was unfinished business.
So for me in that moment, as someone who was covering him extremely closely and covering the Miami heat extremely closely, it felt like one of those both things can be true moments. It felt like, Gosh, I love the alternate sliding doors universe where he stayed in Miami and would have seen what would have happened. I also got this universe where he went back to Cleveland and we would later see win a title. There was a pretty great basketball story also.
That story arc peaked with a Cleveland championship in twenty sixteen and Lebron telling the people of that city it was for them.
I don't know why the man above give me it the artist role, but there's nothing a man above don't put your situations that you can't handle. And I just kept that same positive attitude, like instead of saying why melet's say and this is what he wanted me to do, and uh, Cleveland, this is for.
You and for Miami. All that remained was time to look back at that Heat team's legacy, which way did after the twenty fourteen finals.
Well, it's uh, man, we didn't know what to expect, you know when we decided to become teammates years ago. You know, we just knew that we felt as individuals that we can do it, that we can put our egos to the side and and not care about the individual part of the game and become a great team and become two leaders of that team. It's been a hell of a ride in these four years, you know. And you know we when we team, when we decided to play together, we didn't say, okay, let's try for
four years. You know, we said, let's just play together and let's see what happens. And we've been successful in the sense of what we what we try to accomplish, and as going to the finals and.
We did it.
We would love it be four for four. It's just not It wasn't in the cars for us to be there. But you know, we have no other reason not to be proud of each other for what we've accomplished on and off the court for these four years together.
Tim Reynolds says, despite all the attention on Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh that the concept of team around those Miami Heat squads was always the primary focus.
What you saw was four years of a lot of selflessness. And it's so funny that Lebron gets accused of being selfish all the time. Like Lebron could have had fifty thousand points by now. Lebron could have a scoring record long ago if he wanted it. He's an incredibly selfless player, and he got other people to sign on. Dwayne turned over his franchise to someone that would never happen today. Chris went from a one to a three in an instant and did so happily to be part of something bigger.
They were part of something bigger than themselves for four years and that's why that and overcoming all the hate, all the noise, all the challenge, how twenty nine other teams were lined up to beat you every single night. They embraced it, and I don't think you'll see something like that again.
There's been other Superstar course since that have failed to win titles, in part because of ego clashes, but just the fact that teams were able to follow the path of this Heat team an attempt to recreate the run for themselves speaks to the legacy left by Miami Here's Rachel Nichols.
People certainly point to that moment as the moment that players took control of their own destiny. Now you can go back and Nippick and argue, well, hey, Kareem of Bill Jabbar wanted to leave Milwaukee. He asked out of Milwaukee behind the scenes. But he did it behind the scenes. Nobody knew that at the time. This was a very public case of players controlling their own destiny, doing it through free agency, not just waiting for someone else to
trade them. And I think it completely changed the mindset in both the public side and most importantly in their fellow players' eyes, of hey, this is what we can do. And I think that even for the teams later on that weren't put together that way, I think it made players feel like they had more power in the game. And there are some ways that has turned in to be a problem for the NBA, and there's some ways
that's turned into be incredible for the NBA. And I think that is the legacy of that team for sure.
While some would argue player empowerment and star player movement is a bad thing for the NBA and its fans. You could also argue what Lebron did was merely a continuation of what the late former commissioner David Stern did for the league by highlighting the individuals over the teams. Lebron effectively said to basketball fans, you can be a fan of me, even if you don't love the jersey
I'm wearing. Shane Battier didn't love the thought of Lebron joining the Heat initially, but his thoughts changed with the times, especially after three years playing beside James.
And like, this is not this is not your father's you know sports leagues, and I grew up the same way in Detroit and cheering for the Tigers and Lions and Pistons, And you know, he saw these guys drafted and they stayed their retire career. And it's just a different era and no better, no worse than what we grew up with. But you know it was it is amazing to see the joy Lebron is brought to the
world and game of basketball. And like he was an unbelievable teammate and one of my favorite teamates of all time, and he could have been really messed up with all
the attention that he got and expectations. He's actually a really good human being and a great teammate and a champion, a winner, and so to be part of that journey for three years, that's, you know, it's something I'll never forget and something I'm super proud of and still proud to be friends with all those guys and consider them some of my favorite teammates of all time.
But were they one of the greatest teams of all time? They never ended up setting the record for wins in a season. They came up seven games short of winning the most consecutively. They even stopped their championship count after not two But just having James, Wade and Bosh on one roster is enough to lump that team into the conversation. Mario Chalmers is surprisingly objective on this subject.
My biggest thing about these questions it depends the era. If I say, if you take it back to eighties nineties areas, I don't think we're one of the top teams just because we don't have that physical presence like the Kams and David Robinson's the Shacks and all that. But if you come to our air the two thousands and all that where we shoot in the most threes was movement.
Everybody's playing a high picked roll. Everybody shoot, and I think we'll be in the top three.
I think out there with the Bulls and the Lakers and teams like that.
The epilogue of this four year Heat run is actually still being written. Lebron James hasn't retired as of June twenty twenty three, ten years after his second title in Miami and with single titles with the Cavaliers and Lakers.
We still don't know if he'll finish with more Heat championships than with any other franchise, and the lasting effect for the Heat seems to be continuing, as Miami has taken two more trips to the finals since then, most recently getting there as an eight seed in twenty twenty three before losing in five games to the Denver Nuggets. And they did it around a player in Jimmy Butler
that Wade helped convince to come to Miami. You could even say the Miami Heat have established themselves as the premier organization in the NBA over the last twenty years, since the year Lebron was drafted first, Bosh fourth, and Wade fifth with.
The first pick in the two thousand and three NBA Draft. The Cleveland Cavaliers select Lebron James with the fourth pick in the two thousand and three NBA Draft. The Toronto Raptors select Chris Bosh from Georgia Tech University with the fifth pick in the two thousand and three NBA Draft, the Miami Heat select Dwayne Wade from Marquette University.
The Heat have made nine conference finals since then, been to seven NBA Finals, won three championships, have the reputation of being a winning franchise, are among the most attractive free agent destinations, and have a coach that's widely considered the best in the league.
So as a Game seven, they stand eye to eye with history and they did not blink. The Heat are going to the NBA Finals.
That's a proud moment for our franchise.
It gives me great pleasure to present the twenty twenty three Eastern Conference Championship JOPHI to your Miami Heat.
I remember covering the Heat's first championship for the Miami Herald in two thousand and six and thinking how big of a deal it was that the franchise that frustrated me and my friends so badly growing up because they couldn't get past the Knicks or couldn't matter as much as the Bulls had finally broken through, And then twenty ten came. Those next four years made the Heat into a national brand and made winning titles in Miami realistic
expectations for the next decade. It's by far the longest stretch of real success for a South Florida professional team in fifty years, and it started with one very important decision. The Miami Heat from twenty ten to twenty fourteen changed the organization, changed the NBA, and changed the city of Miami forever, even though it lasted only four years. Even though that ended up not being the most decorated team of that decade, still Miami wouldn't trade those four years
for anything. Just to ask DJ Khalig.
I wasn't upset at all.
All we do is win.
You gotta remember we won.
We're winners.
We have banners like there's nothing no one can ever say to us ever in light. Listen, just know we're the biggest in the game. I told you from Miami.
We different. We don't see nobody.
Like we don't.
It's nothing you could say, it's.
Nothing you could do. Were the biggest four years of heat. It's a production of iHeartRadio and the NBA