NBA: Dream year for James’ Heat
The Heat used their young legs and improved depth against the Oklahoma City Thunder who couldn’t hold off Miami stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the five-game championship series.
This was also James’ coming out party as in a one-year span, he went from being the villain that abandoned Cleveland to the hero of South Beach.
“I dreamed about this opportunity and this moment for a long time,” said James. “My dream has become a reality now and it is the best feeling I have ever had.
“I did it the right way. I didn’t shortcut anything. I put a lot of hard work and dedication in it and hard work pays off.”
The Thunder won game one of the finals 100-94 with Kevin Durant scoring 36 points. But they couldn’t contain James, Bosh and Wade in game two as they blitzed the Thunder defence for 72 points in a 100-96 win. The Heat won game three 91-85 and survived a 43-point performance from Thunder guard Russell Westbrook to take game four 104-98. They wrapped it up with a 121-106 win in game five as six players reached double figures.
Even though the Thunder fell short of winning the title they earned the respect of the league. They have been building a winner for the past three years and they used their young crop of stars to storm through the early rounds of the post-season.
Oklahoma City opened the 2011-12 season by going 12-2. They swept Dallas in the first round (4-0) and then embarrassed the LA Lakers four games to one. They had to rally after dropping the first two games against San Antonio to win the semi-finals in six games.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2012.
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