Friday 21 June 2013

Miami Heat are NBA Champions

With the football season over, my attentions have turned stateside with basketball's NBA Finals.

This season came to an end when the Miami Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs in the deciding Game 7 match to clinch the series 4-3. The Heat led by the league's best player in Lebron James have now won back to back titles.


My highlight of the series, Ray Allen's 3 pointer in Game 6 to take the game into overtime.

I have to say this year's finals have been compelling! For most of the season, it seemed that Miami would cruise their way to another championship and Lebron James would cement his position as the greatest player of his generation.

It didn't go quite to plan. The Heat needed 7 games to beat the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals and now in the finals they've come against and ageing but formidable San Antonio Spurs led by their own legend and 4 time NBA championship winner Tim Duncan.

The series has been brilliant to watch. It's been a real see-saw battle with each team winning one match then losing the next.

I've loved the narratives for a different players. There's Lebron, the superstar. Winning one title isn't enough for the critics; he has to win multiple championships.

For the Spurs the quiet legend of Tim Duncan trying to win a 5th title.

But this series was big for back up players making a name for themselves. The 3 point shooting of Gary Neal and Danny Green and the rise of youngster Kawhi Leonard, surely the future for the Spurs.

The veterans also stepped up as well. Manu Ginobili rolled back the years in Game 5, and Ray Allen's 3 pointer in Game 6 had me falling out my seat!

Miami eventually triumphed but I felt sorry for the Spurs, they were so close to winning the series and contributed so much, I didn't think they deserved to lose.

The last word has to go to Lebron James and the Heat, Lebron gets a lot of criticism some of it unfair, but he stepped up when it mattered and is building on his legacy of being one of the all times greats of the game.




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