The Miami Heat won Game 7 and the NBA Finals over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night, 95-88 in Miami. This is the third title in the history of the Heat, and their second consecutive. The Heat have been in the Finals all three years since the Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh was assembled. They lost the first year to the Dallas Mavericks in 6 games, but won the next two years.
James won the NBA Finals MVP for the second consecutive year also. He finished Game 7 with 37 points and 12 rebounds. By winning the Finals MVP, along with the regular season MVP, he is only the third player to win both in the same year more than once. The Boston Celtics’ Larry Bird also completed the feat twice, while the Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan did it four different years. James’ 37 points tied Celtic Tommy Heinsohn in 1957, for the most points by any player in an NBA Finals’ Game 7 ever.
Wade, who was supposed to have a bad knee, scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds, to win his 3rd Championship with the Miami Heat. Yes, he won a title before James arrived, in 2006 over the Mavericks. Mario Chalmers added 14 points for the Heat, and Shane Battier came alive, making 6 of 8 3-pointers, to finish with 18 points.
The Spurs’ Tim Duncan didn’t go down without a fight. He had 24 points and 12 rebounds, but he did miss a short shot, and a possible tip-in with 48 seconds remaining that would have tied the score. Duncan was trying to get his 5th Championship. Kawhi Leonard has emerged as a key player for the Spurs in the last two games. In Game 7 he had 19 points and 16 rebounds. Manu Ginobili had 18 points, and Tony Parker had 10 points, but on 3 for 12 shooting from the field.
After breaking the record for most 3-pointers in an NBA Finals, with 25 in the first 5 games, Danny Green cooled down tremendously in Games 6 and 7. He made a 3-point shot in each game to extend the record to 27, but he took 11 shots in the last 2 games to make those shots, and he was a total of 2 for 19 from the field in the last 2 games. The Spurs’ hot shooting from Game 5 and the first half of Game 6, dropped back down below 40% in the last game a half of the Finals. They shot 37.8% from the field, compared to 43.9% for the Heat in game 7.
This could have been the last hoorah for the current core of the San Antonio Spurs, with Duncan at 37 years old, and Ginobili turning 36 next month, but there is some uncertainty with the Miami Heat also. There’s been a rumor for a long time that James will eventually go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he started his career, because he’s from Ohio. But why would he leave the Heat for a while? Wade is the oldest of their Big 3, and he’s only 31 years old.
The Heat will attempt to win their 3rd consecutive championship next year, and no small amount of credit goes to their head coach, Erik Spoelstra. He is only 42 years old, and has led Miami to the playoffs all 5 years he has been their leader, and the last 3 years the Heat has been in the Finals. Spoelsta was an assistant with Miami, when they won the title in 2006, and he is just the 8th head coach to win consecutive championships in NBA history. Will the Miami Heat achieve dynasty status with a 3rd straight NBA title next year? If their core players stay healthy, I don’t see why not.
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Sports With Frank Thomas
