Last Thursday night, the Miami Heat completed one of the more difficult tasks in the National Basketball Association—they repeated as champions, winning the Larry O’Brien trophy in back to back years. The Heat have now appeared in three consecutive championship finals, and won two of the last three. For all the hate that LeBron James endured for The Decision and the trio’s pre-celebration, predicting multiple championships, the—or at least James himself—seem to have either fulfilled that promise or to be on the brink of doing so. 23 teams in NBA history have appeared in the Finals, and 17 of those teams have won at least one championship. But only the Lakers, Celtics, Pistons, Bulls, and Rockets had repeated. On Thursday night, the Miami Heat became the sixth team in NBA history to manage to do so.Of course, Pat Riley, inventor of the term threepeat, and the team president of the Heat, will want to see a continuation of this championship run next year. And so will the members of the Miami Heat. Of course, it’s fantastic for the fans of the Heat and for those fans of the NBA who appreciate the fact that LeBron James is, in all likelihood, the best player to ever play the game. Of course, this championship is also what the Vegas odds showed would happen.And this is in no way meant to disparage the Heat or their fans or their amazing title run, but … Wouldn’t it be more fun if we’d woke up this morning to a world where the Spurs won? A world where we continued to over-analyze James and question his place amongst the all-time greats? Where we puzzled over Dwyane Wade, formerly nicknamed the Flash, and whether we still had any gas in the tank? Where we wondered whether the Big Three experiment was already over, and whether Chris Bosh would be traded during the off-season, another victim of the continual under-valuation of big men who can pass well? Where the Spurs, the old team that had one more run left in them—for something like six seasons in a row now – finally got over the hump, against a team that was undeniably better than them?Sometimes, in sports, the narrative becomes more important than the actual events. And sometimes, we only wish it did. The Miami Heat trounced their competition in the first two rounds of the Eastern Conference Playoffs and struggled mightily with the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Spurs had one of the best teams in the West, but were undoubtedly aided by a bit of luck in their match-ups, as well as Russell Westbrook’s unfortunate injury. The Spurs pushed the best team in the league to seven games and everyone on the Heat, from head coach Erik Spoelstra to James, acknowledged that this was the toughest series they’ve ever played. Next year, it all goes out the window. Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Danny Granger and Rajon Rondo, amongst so many others, will be back from injury. Who knows what trades will occur during this off-season, from Dwight Howard to Chris Paul? For now, the long grind of the NBA season—and the more-than two-month post-season—is finally over. The champs have been crowned. Congratulations to the Miami Heat.
Miami Heat Become Back-To-Back Champions
Nba Season Comes To Its Close
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