June 8, 2023 • 47 mins
In Episode 4 of "Four Years of Heat" Israel Gutierrez explores how LeBron James and the Heat battled back from the Finals loss and then the entire Big 3 experiment hinged on one game in Boston. Rachel Nichols and Brian Windhorst give incredible insights into the depths LeBron sunk to after the loss to the Mavs, and Mario Chalmers talks about the journey the Heat took through the 2011-12 season. Everything comes to a head with the Heat trialing 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals and facing a must-win Game 6 on the road vs the Celtics. Dan Le Batard helps set the scene of the pressurized game, and Udonis Haslem and Shane Battier tell stories about how they knew LeBron was ready to step-up.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I mean, well, that song was the last song on
the album I was working on at that time. That
was the last song that got recorded, and it was
just something that came.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Together very beautifully.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
To make a long story short, as soon as I
heard my whole album, I was listening to it, I'll
never forget, and I was like, we're missing this one
thing and got with T Pain and T Pain is
he's such a genius, you know when he came up
with the food. All I do is win, hook and
this our energy bouncing off each other. We always made
(00:40):
great music. And as soon as that was done, I
immediately went to Ross's house and Ross did that verse
for me in five minutes. I immediately said that Ludacris,
I'm letting everybody know this is gonna.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Be the biggest one.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You know what I'm saying. Ludacrous says his verse back
immediately and he goes crazy.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Y know.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I always wanted to work with Soup Doll and I
just wanted to make sure I found the right record,
and I sent him All I do is win. He
knocked that out and sent it back and we end
up making a classic, a winner's anthem, an anthem for everybody,
because that's what I represent is love for everybody, and
it's just a.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
National anthem for all winners.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So to be able to be a city that wins
big and to have an anthem call I do his
win that plays worldwide is a blessing from God.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
One of DJ Khaled's signature hits had been blaring inside
NBA Arena since it was released in early twenty ten,
and up until that devastating finals lost against the Mavericks,
it felt like it was an anthem made strictly for
Lebron James and the Miami Heat until it determined Dirk
Noovinsky and then a post finals press conference made everyone
realize how not ready they were to be ultimate winners.
(01:55):
Welcome back to four years of Heat. I'm your host,
Israel Gutierres and this is episode four or Game six.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Lebron.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
The Mavericks had just disposed of the Heat on Miami's
home court, winning the last three games of the finals,
including one where James scored a career postseason low at
the time of eight points. Not even an hour later,
James appeared with Wade on the postgame podium together after
a few questions about the failures on the court, James
was asked to respond to those who might have wanted
(02:27):
to see him fail.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
Does it bother you that so many people are happy
to see you fail?
Speaker 6 (02:34):
Absolutely not, because at the end of the day, all
the people that is rooting on me to fail, you know,
at the end of day, they gotta wake up tomorrow
have the same life that they had before they woke
up today. You know, they got the same personal problems
that they had today, you know, and I'm gonna continue
to live the way I want to live and continue
to do the things that I want to do well
(02:55):
me and my family and be happy with that. So
you know, they can get a few days, a few months,
or whatever the case may be, on being happy about
not only myself but to Miami Heat not accomplishing the goal.
But you know, they got to get back to the
real world at some point.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
It was a response that gave his critics the ultimate
proof that Lebron had completed the villainous turn. Not only
had he abandoned Cleveland, but after failing on the biggest stage,
he would aim at their hearts again by reminding them
that he lives a different lifestyle. It was so unlike
James to lash out in that manner. It was apparent
(03:34):
to some that the year of absorbing the manufactured hatred
from across the country had finally caught up to him.
Dan Lebtard of Meadow Lark Media watched it all from
up close.
Speaker 7 (03:44):
It makes sense that someone that vulnerable in the postgame
press conference would try to cover himself with defensive barbed
wire and camouflage so that you couldn't see just how
hurt and.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Scared he was.
Speaker 7 (03:55):
But the truth, the truth was around that press conference
where he told all we had to go back to
our broke lives. The truth was before it when he
wouldn't post up JJ Burrea and was passing the ball scared,
and after it when he went into total hiding in
his home because he was ashamed of what it is
that we all just saw.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
When Lebron James's career is finally over, assuming that day
ever arrives, there'll be a few moments people will point
to that helped fine tune him into an ultimate winner.
This will likely be considered the most pivotal. Despite telling
the listening world that he was on top of it,
this would actually be Lebron's rock bottom when people hated
(04:36):
on the decision or said he'd be moving on to
a secondary role on a new team. James had a
season of basketball with which to argue back, but now
the defense had rested and Lebron's closing arguments were less
than stirring. He could only internalize to examine what went wrong.
Rachel Nichols spoke with Lebron at the finals against Dallas,
(04:56):
off camera at one of James's charity events that offseason,
and also back on camera for an interview before the
lockout short in twenty eleven. Twelve season began that December.
In that stretch, she noticed a person making some notable adjustments.
Speaker 8 (05:10):
He was clearly in just such a terrible place, he
would later say they he spent a couple of weeks
just locked in his house when go anywhere with to
see any one. It's certainly what we were hearing from
the people around him. And then he and Dwayne actually
went on vacation together, a vacation that they had planned
with the idea of, Hey, We're going to win the
NBA Finals and then take this trip to the Bomas
(05:31):
and celebrate. And they got to the house and it
has been recounted to me by multiple parties, including Lebron,
that when Lebron and Savannah got into the house, he
was looking over the balcony on the second floor and
jumped over the balcony.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Into the pool below.
Speaker 8 (05:50):
And I want you to think about that, Lebron James,
whose body is his life's work, who if he had
broken several bones, would have been a huge story and
a huge setback and certainly a risk, and sort of
that he thought about. The temperature around him at the
time was just so out of sight of himself that
(06:11):
he jumped off the balcony into a pool.
Speaker 9 (06:14):
So it speaks to his state.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Of mind that his future wife, Savannah Brinston was with
him in the Bahamas was no small note. Non basketball
family as part of what James was missing in his
first season in Miami. It had become such a vital
business trip he didn't bring family with him, so when
he needed relief from basketball stress, James didn't have the
usual comforts around him to provide daily perspective. Brian Windhorst
(06:39):
witnessed the Lebron he'd never seen before, and a decade
of following him.
Speaker 10 (06:43):
What he needed was home and not just physically home.
He went back home for the lockout and spent the
entire lockout in Akron virtually and more importantly, spent the
lockout with his girlfriend, Savannah and his two sons, who
who did not travel with him to Miami the first year.
And it was basically him realizing that he had gotten
(07:08):
away from who he was.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Lebron James was currently misunderstood. He wanted to help a
charity for children with his free agent announcement, not create
a sense of abandonment. He wanted folks to marvel at
what could be in the NBA, not hate him for
reshaping it. And with an extended offseason to consider all
of this because of a work stoppage that didn't allow
the season to begin until Christmas Day, Lebron had a
(07:33):
plan just lay the cards out on the table, including
a delayed apology to the people of Cleveland, whose sports
world was rocked. Nichols conducted the interview with James that
would effectively attempt to reset his image heading into his
second season with Miami.
Speaker 8 (07:49):
There had been a lockout and so everything got delayed.
But then we sat down before it was time for
him to report to camp to do the interview after.
Speaker 6 (07:58):
The finals, I said, in my room for two weeks,
did absolutely nothing, talked to absolutely nobody.
Speaker 8 (08:03):
And I do think that was a really important turning
point for him because it is the first time he
acknowledged that he would have done something differently with the decision.
It's first time he acknowledged what it must have felt
like for people in Cleveland. So I think that.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Was an important part of that interview.
Speaker 8 (08:18):
And another important part of that was, as you referenced
him saying, I don't want to be the villain anymore.
It's not why I play the game of basketball.
Speaker 11 (08:25):
I played a game.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Fun, joyful, you know, and I let my game do
all the talking, you know. And you know, I got
away from that. Going through my first seven years in
the NBA. I was always the you know, the liked one,
and to be on the other side, you know, they
called it the dark side or the villain, whatever they
called it.
Speaker 11 (08:44):
It was. It was definitely challenging for myself.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
It was a.
Speaker 11 (08:46):
Situation I'd never been in before and took a long
time to adjust to it. It basically turned me into
somebody I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
You know.
Speaker 11 (08:54):
You started to hear the villain, you know, now you
have to be.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
The villain you you know, and I started to buy
into it.
Speaker 11 (09:00):
I started to play.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Played a game of basketball at a at a level
or at a mistate that never played that before.
Speaker 8 (09:08):
Being angry, and I think saying it out loud was
important for him, and he certainly played that way in
the following year.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Thanks to ESPN for that sound from Rachel's interview. It
wasn't just Lebron manifesting that into reality, however. He couldn't
simply say he's happy and then suddenly rediscover his joy
for the game. He knew he had to eliminate some
weaknesses in his game, weaknesses the Mavericks exposed with his
own defense and some undersized defenders. People weren't going to
(09:36):
suddenly let Lebron forget about his unwillingness to post up
Mavericks defenders, so he'd only have one option. Mario Chalmers
would be the Heat starting point guard in the twenty
eleven twelve season. He saw a sneak preview of a
different Lebron that offseason.
Speaker 12 (09:51):
Last summer, Lebron called me and we worked out at
th Other Trong where he was on Miami, and like
that's all he did with Dave post work, and so
I knew in the back of his mind that was
something that he knew that he would acted he wanted
to get better at. So when he did see that again,
he's fully prepared for that moment.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
You Donnis Haslam entered the league the same season as Lebron, Wade,
and Bosh. He didn't believe a player of James's caliber
had that much room left to improve at this point
in his career.
Speaker 13 (10:19):
He'd be wrong, and to take nothing away from Dallas,
but I mean we pretty much dominated until they started
running his own and as NBA basketball players, I think
at that time.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
We were just shocked. You know, it kind of made
us stack.
Speaker 13 (10:32):
It kind of took away from athleticism and the skill
set that we had, and we just didn't know how
to attack it and still be ourselves within the game,
and it created some confusion. And I think, you know,
Bron took that personally upon himself, being the best player
on the team and the leader of that team, that
we didn't get it done. And I mean the transformation
that he made that summer was amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Man. He never wanted to play in the post. He
never wanted to be inside.
Speaker 13 (10:56):
He always wanted to be seen as a guard from
all the things that he didn't want to do.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Matter when he came to winning, you know, he got
out of his comfort zone.
Speaker 13 (11:03):
He got in the lab, and he came back a
completely different basketball player, which was crazy because you already
thought he had reached a pinnacle of who he could
be and what he could be, you know, came going
down to that block and you know, putting in that
work down there on that post was crazy because you know,
we had never seen anything like that.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
The lockout extended offseason felt like an excruciating delay to
the start of Lebron's redemption story, but in reality, it's
possible he needed the extra time. He was about to
attack his personal Mount Everest again. This time he'd make
sure he had everything he needed.
Speaker 14 (11:34):
I looked around, and I hadn't felt like this edge
ever in the NBA. You know, reminded me of my
day's a duke, Like, oh, but we're what of this.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Is this?
Speaker 15 (11:43):
You're right there where what is this?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Lebron James's checklist before the start of the twenty eleven
twelve season seemed complete. Partially repaired relationship with the people
of Cleveland Check a rediscovered joy for the game check.
Moving Savannah and their sons to Miami check newly minted
post up game check. New teammates check there as well.
(12:13):
The most notable move that off season was the signing
of free agent Shane Battier. He'd be entering his eleventh
NBA season that year and had connections to Heat ownership
from his college days at Duke. After admittedly rolling his
eyes at Lebron's initial choice to create a super team
in Miami, Battier recognized a place for him after the
Heat came up short in year one. Early on in
(12:36):
his Heat tenure, Battier was suffering from some nagging injuries
that allowed him to sit back and absorb some of
what his Heat team was experiencing. As early as opening
day in Dallas. On Christmas, Battier noticed this felt different.
Speaker 15 (12:50):
I'll never forget the ring night for the Maps.
Speaker 14 (12:52):
We played them Christmas Day two thousand and eleven, and
you know, obviously none of the guys wanted to watch
Dirk and those guys get their rings, and like the
intensity of that moment back in the locker room waiting
to go out, they just wanted to kill these guys,
(13:15):
and just like you could feel the edge. And I'm like,
I looked around and I hadn't felt like this edge
ever in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
You know.
Speaker 15 (13:22):
Reminded me of my days a duke, Like, oh, but
we're winning.
Speaker 14 (13:24):
This this You're right, then, we're winning this, and we'd
go out. We destroyed Dallas, I think by thirty and
I'm just like, oh, man, you know we're gonna it's
gonna be a different year.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
The final score would end up being an eleven point differential,
but the decisive win would set the tone for a
truncated sixty six game season. Starts of eight and one
and twenty eight and seven would have Miami confident throughout.
The games were happening so fast there was almost not
enough time to remember the heat were disliked figures. All
(13:57):
you could do was marvel at this somehow improved version
of Lebron James, his new found chemistry with Dwayne Wade,
and the expanding all around game of Chris bosh operating forces.
Speaker 16 (14:08):
It blocked by Wade, the defense continues to impress James.
Tabash I had to finish, well, that's a nice looking
fast break.
Speaker 17 (14:17):
To block it.
Speaker 18 (14:19):
Bust out on the dribble, find James who touches it
to bosh tre mendous fast break.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Basketball, and while you were watching, the hatred was almost
unknowingly melting away.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Here's battier.
Speaker 15 (14:34):
It was a blur. It was a really weird season.
It was crazy.
Speaker 14 (14:37):
I mean, we sold out every arena we played that,
and so everyone wanted to see us. Everyone wanted to
come and do us. But I noticed early on that
the heat and maybe Lebron became much more of a
sympathetic character, the sympathetic hero, if you will, just knowing
the vitriol he went through the year before and the
(14:59):
scene in Cleveland, and it was pretty like negative there.
It was much more positive than I thought when I
went on the road, and I think that was born
out of the way they lost sort of the humility
they had, the sort of stomach from losing to Dallas,
and so the tenor of how people viewed us, especially
on the road, it did change. It did change, but
(15:21):
it was always a scene, always a scene. There are
always people at our hotel rooms. You know, we get
into San Antonio two three in the morning, there were
people there, and there was always people who just wanted
to see this team. Want to see the bron want
to see d Wade, want to see CB, just want
to see us, And it was it was like like crazy,
I'm not compared us to the Beatles, but it was.
Speaker 15 (15:40):
It was like a hysteria that I had never been
a part of my ten years in the league.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
There might still have been a hysteria around the team,
but there was certainly a growing sense of calm on it.
Even if it looked chaotic at times. Now that was
a planned chaos. It was a heat team on a
string at all times, creating having on the defensive end
and an offense you couldn't take your eyes off for
a moment. Dare you miss an all time iconic play?
Speaker 16 (16:07):
Wayne Wade with another steal three on one Jae, Holy smokes.
Speaker 17 (16:17):
You shit me.
Speaker 19 (16:20):
The way they get out in transition from defense to offense,
it's probably the best, no question, of any team currently
in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
The sense of order that allowed for said chaos came
in the form of a gesture from Wade that offseason,
while Lebron was fighting through that dark place and making
risky leaps from second floor balconies, Wade had a conversation
with James that unlocked one last feeling of home. Wade
told Lebron to treat the Heat as if it was
(16:53):
his team. Sure, it might say Wade County on a
bunch of the T shirts in Miami Dade County, but
on the hardwood, James should treat it as his own territory.
Waite talk to me about it at length for a
story I wrote for ESPN dot com in twenty twelve,
and while I don't have the original audio of an
interview that was likely recorded on an iPhone four, I
(17:14):
can't read to you Dwayne's comments. He said, quote, Lebron
is probably the most talented player we've seen in a while.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
But how good can we be?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Are we going to be good if me and him
are both scoring twenty seven a night?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Yeah, we're going to be good. But it would be
too much.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Okay, it's your turn. Now, it's your turn. I wanted
to give him the opportunity where he didn't have to.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Think about that.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
It's kind of like I told him, listen, I'll find
a way. Don't worry about me. I'll be there, but
you go out and be the player that we want
you to be. It was considered an extremely selfless move
from a player who was going shot for shot with
Lebron just two years earlier. The clarity of thought for
James allowed him to win his third MVP Trophy that season,
(17:58):
announcing himself back to his top of the league's self.
But it wasn't just the Wade gesture that suddenly put
him back into that space. Eric Spolster also drew from
his first season coaching James, Wade and Bosh. He and
assistant coach David Fizdale decided to flex their basketball knowledge
and change up the predictable offense that doomed Miami, most
(18:18):
notably against the Mavericks.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Here's battier and I.
Speaker 14 (18:22):
Give Eric Spolsor a ton of credit. I don't think
he gets enough credit for that run we had. He
really changed the way that we played. And you know,
we ran a lot of sets, or they ran a
lot of sets when they lost to Dallas, and it's
just a lot of like, isoball my turn?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Your turn?
Speaker 15 (18:39):
And there wasn't a.
Speaker 14 (18:40):
Lot of I guess you could say creativity to the offense,
and that you know, that's what Lebron do. Way and
CB needed to just have a little more creativity, a
little more flow a little more to really take their
talents to the max, to their highest potential. And the
next year it was a much different offense, much more
I wouldn't say democratic offense, but it allowed these guys
(19:00):
to utilize their skills better. And that was just a
process changed by Fizdale and Eric Spoltra, and so they
really left their mark on by our play style. His
biggest regret from the year before, he said, was he
was too afraid to make a drastic move and do
what's right, and so I think he kept trying to,
you know, just bludgeon the MAVs to death with the
(19:25):
plays that they had run in the last ten years
of the Miami Heat, and there wasn't a lot of innovation.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
The Heat played with more pace, which was a bit
easier with the year of chemistry under their belts and
a system with Lebron now clearly at the head.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
The result was a.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Forty six and twenty final record and a number two
seed in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
The rushed tempo of.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
The regular season and the Heat success throughout it would
never really allow for the pressure of the previous season
to show itself. The playoffs would more than make up
for that. It actually started with a pressure free, gentlemanly
game defeat of good buddy Carmelo Anthony and the New
York Knicks. Here's Lebron James with David Aldridge talking about
(20:06):
the first round win and the Heat's next opponent.
Speaker 20 (20:09):
You are obviously very close with Carmelo Anthony, Olympic teammates together.
You embraced them after this, after this game was over.
Speaker 17 (20:15):
What did you say to him?
Speaker 6 (20:17):
Man, it's some brotherhood that goes beyond basketball. It's my
first opportunity to go up against him in the playoff
series and it was It was fun man too. He's
one of the most competitive players I ever played against
in the series, so it was fun.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Man.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Wish them the best of the time. I see him
this summer and as we go for go.
Speaker 20 (20:33):
You have some other obligations right now. You got the
Indiana Pacers in the second round preview of that series.
Quickly you took three or four from him in the
regular season.
Speaker 6 (20:41):
Uh, they're very well coached team. You know, they play
inside and out. You know, with David West and Roy Hibbert, No,
guys do a great job controlling the pain and then
they have some perimeter play in George Hill, Danny Granger.
I mean, they do an unbelievable job. Paul George and
those guys off the bench as well, give him a big,
big boost. So, uh, you know we will savored us
(21:02):
way tonight. But then we get to work tomorrow and
get ready for En dawn Ron.
Speaker 20 (21:05):
Congratulations, we'll see in the second round game.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Miami had been preparing mentally for their other East rival,
the top seed a Chicago Bulls, but those thoughts were
dashed when Derreck Rose tore his ACL in his left
knee in the first game of Chicago's playoffs that season
against Philadelphia. When the Pacers settled in as Miami's second
round matchup, they didn't realize the group led by David West,
Paul George, Danny Granger, and Roy Hibbert would create the
(21:32):
kinds of problems Miami didn't have great answers for. And
when Bosh injured his hip flexer in Game one after
being fouled by Hibbert on a made basket, the Pacers
suddenly seemed more formidable than anyone could have imagined.
Speaker 6 (21:46):
Oh out of the basket took a hard hitt as
he finished.
Speaker 17 (21:51):
That three point play.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Now that was an explosion and Boss going strong to
that left hand guy Hibbert, who picks.
Speaker 17 (21:59):
Up his third.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
A Heat team that wasn't rich with size, had just
lost its starting power forward and was about to face
the Pacers for potentially six more games without him. That
meant a six foot eight, two hundred and twenty pound
battier would have to get.
Speaker 14 (22:13):
Big after you know, CB gets hurt, Spoke comes me
after the game and says, hey, we need to play small.
You know, will you will you be the power forward?
I said, hell, yeah, let's go. You know, it takes
me back to my Dukee days. So I knew I
had to bang with David West and he was a
big bully, and bangal with Roy Hibbert. I'm like, hey,
let's let's go, man, let's do it.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Fortunately the Heat still had a healthy big man it
could throw into the mix, the reliable you, Donnis Hasli.
Speaker 13 (22:40):
If there's one team that I could give too is Indiana.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Oh okay, let's get out in front of that right away.
Haslam was not a fan of these Pacers, but it
was this series that actually reinforced that distaste.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
It wasn't just Bosh that was injured in this series.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Wade was playing through soreness and the left knee that
would need to be drained before the start of Game
three in Indianapolis. The Pacers had already won Game two
by holding Miami to just seventy five points at home,
and in Game three, after that procedure that was supposed
to provide relief for Wade, he had the worst playoff
game of his career, with five points on two of
(23:19):
thirteen shooting, as the Heat were held to seventy five
points again and suddenly trailed the series two games to one.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Game four in.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Indianapolis would become the first test of the resolve built
in those previous finals, except this time it was Wade
who seemed to be carrying the weight of the franchise.
He had just come off his worst career playoff game
on a sore knee, and the idea that he could
be Lebron's partner in winning multiple championships suddenly seemed bleak.
(23:48):
Wade even visited with his Marquette coach, Tom Crean, who
was coaching Indiana at the time.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Here's battier, and.
Speaker 14 (23:55):
We felt horrible for him because he was obviously in pain.
His knee was swollen, so it wasn't like you. And
D's a warrior, so you know when he's when he's
banged up and say he's banged up, you know he's
really banged up.
Speaker 15 (24:08):
But that's what makes Hall of Famers.
Speaker 14 (24:10):
That's why d Wade, you know, behind Kobe and Mike's
probably the third greatest shooting guard of all time, with
respects to Jerry West.
Speaker 15 (24:20):
You show up.
Speaker 14 (24:20):
You show up when you're when the pressure is on
the line the most. And that's why I argue that
you need to go to the NBA Finals, win championships
to be considered one of the greatest because of their consequences.
And if you never put yourself in that position where
your legacy is in the line and people are gonna
talk about you and downgrade your entire career, you can't
(24:41):
be in that conversation. And that's why ultimate respect for
d Wade and Lebron and Chris and Ray Allen, all
these guys. They show up when legacy is on the line.
And that was that that game four against in Indiana.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Wade was vintage and scoring thirty points with nine rebounds
and six assists in this legacy marker of a game.
Speaker 17 (25:03):
Wade coming to the basket, so he's got a three
ended up. Get a couple of field goals here for
Dwayne in the last nie and that was beautiful Lebron.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
James yelled up battye a cleared out and then they
ran a back door move with Wade running on the baseline.
Speaker 17 (25:17):
Beautiful bass and look by Lebron.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Lebron scored forty of his own with eighteen rebounds and
nine assists in what was one of his best statistical
playoff games of his heat tenure, showing he'd had more
than Wade's back games.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Attacking Barbosa, bang and a fucking for Lebron thirty seven.
Now that's a sheer upper body strength and then acrobatic
ability to take the contact.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Fittingly, Wade got some additional help from his most familiar
of teammates in this crucial clash. Haslam was coming off
the bench at this point, but he knew he'd find
enough opportunities to support Wade, his teammate of nine seasons.
Miami had tried second year center Dexter Pittman in the
middle in Game three, and in Game four it was
(26:06):
Ronnie Torioff getting the starting knot in the middle, but
it was Haslam that gave Miami twenty five critical minutes.
With the Heat leading by just a point in the
fourth quarter, Haslm followed a way bucket by drawing an
offensive foul in Indiana's lou Adminson. The collision left Haslm
bleeding from above his right eye, but he wouldn't allow
Heat trainer Jay Sable to take him to the locker
(26:28):
room for the necessary stitches.
Speaker 13 (26:29):
I I remember get hit the eye when I got
hit my damn, I you know what I'm saying. I
was pissed, and I think Jay tried to take me.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
To the locker room.
Speaker 13 (26:38):
But I knew if I went to the locker room
to get stitches that I probably missed too much of
the game to be able to help win, right.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 13 (26:45):
By the time I go get stitched up and try
to come back, who knows. So I was like that,
tap it up, we don't have time.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I gotta go.
Speaker 13 (26:54):
And it was also around the time where they thought
that the game plan was to leave me open. I
don't know what they were smoking, but their game plan
was to make me beat them. I understand Lebron and
Dwayne is great, but don't disrespect the work that I
put in. Don't disrespect my craft, don't disrespect who I am.
And I felt like that was disrespectful.
Speaker 17 (27:12):
Heats the dribble alive. It's Haslam prospect, way go, you've done.
It's Haslam. What a quarter he's had.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Wade, James and Haslam scored eighty four of the Heat's
one hundred and one points in the series evening win,
and yet he'd save his most memorable moment for the
next game. It was the second quarter of Game five
in Miami, with the series tied at two games apiece
and the Heat leading by only seven points at the moment,
and Bosh was still not healthy enough to play. Just
(27:41):
about ninety seconds earlier in the game, Tyler Hansbrough committed
a flagrant foul on Wade, drawing some blood and the
ire of Haslim.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
The previous a couple of games as he goes, so
whoever gets fouled, But it's so difficult, and Wade looks
like you got hit pretty hard.
Speaker 17 (27:58):
But Hansbrough came.
Speaker 18 (28:01):
Over his back and they contact with him theck and
Lebron James is appealing to the.
Speaker 17 (28:06):
Officials looking for the flavored called I think the officials
are discussing that right down on the class.
Speaker 13 (28:12):
That handshake is what pissed me off, because I get it,
it's a physical game. At last game, the lou Munskin
gout hit me, he was the guy hit me. See,
I don't forget that stuff. Musen hit me and gave
me stitches. Hansburg hit d Wayne and gave him stitches. Now,
right after Hansburg hits the Wayne, I watched Hansboro, who
(28:33):
hit d Wayne, and Munson who hit me, go slap
each other five like good job. At that point, the
decision was made. That decision is made, you know what
I'm saying. And at that supposed set and I say,
supposed toy out of this. As soon as the time out,
I walked to the timeout and I said, I'm somebody up.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Spoe looked at me and he said whatever he said.
I don't know. I couldn't hear him. I had already went.
Speaker 13 (28:58):
To that dark place, and I said, supposed to stay
out of this, stay out of it.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
That's it, you know what I'm saying, That's it.
Speaker 13 (29:06):
And I made my and it was crazy because the
very next play I couldn't have drew it up any better.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I couldn't have drew it up any better.
Speaker 13 (29:14):
I'm the low man on the rotation of a pick
and roll, hands burros coming right at me.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I literally thought in my head.
Speaker 13 (29:21):
Like if I don't take this opportunity, I might not
get a better one.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
And I just did. I handled my business.
Speaker 13 (29:26):
It's more so like, you know what I'm saying, like,
just understand, we're here to play basketball, but we ain't finna,
you know, just turn the other cheek to certain things
that are going on. You know what I'm saying. My stitches,
the Wayne stitches, the handshake. It's starting to seem a
little intention here, you know what I'm saying. So we're
just gonna let you know we with all that too.
(29:46):
I had no intentions on blocking the ball.
Speaker 18 (29:49):
Oh hauck, I may flayrant turn it off. I was
hands woman, play thing out some of the fuck Gray
that he paced off Cup that was shuffer the other
night and things.
Speaker 17 (30:03):
They're getting very threaten though.
Speaker 5 (30:05):
First well they've been physical throughout this series, but now
it's getting ugly. Mark, and for Eudanna's has them, this
is clearly paidback. He just clubs with two hands hands
bull The problem here, Mark, the crowd loves it. But
if this is a flagrant too. Remember Haslem is their
best post shooter with Bosh out, He's the one that
(30:27):
provided that.
Speaker 17 (30:27):
Spacing the other day in Game four.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
If he's kicked out, no Bosh, no Haslm, that.
Speaker 17 (30:33):
Is a major blow for Miami. Well, they're saying there's
a flagrant in one. I think that's a flagrant too.
Speaker 13 (30:46):
Yeah, like I say, is I made my mind it
once I went to the huddle, it's going to happen.
I didn't know it's gonna happen in very nice play,
but the lower working mysterious waves. I mean, everybody just
like laughing and talking about it. But most so it
was like the reaction of their players. Nobody approached me
after I did that, for all the tough guys in
(31:07):
this locker room, for everybody who's supposed to.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Be big and bad.
Speaker 13 (31:10):
Nobody approached me from your team when I did that,
and Matt let me know we had your heart. Nobody
from your team came and did nothing to me, not
even come my weight, not even looked my weight.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
We got your heart.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Haslam would be suspended for Game six, as with Pittman,
who got suspended for three games following a flagrant two
he took on Lance Stevenson seconds before the Heats blowout
in Game five was complete with an even thinner front court.
The Heat went to Indiana and bludgeoned the Pacers in
Game six to clinch the series. Wade turned Banker's life
(31:43):
Fieldhouse into his personal playground again, scoring forty one with
ten rebounds in the clincher.
Speaker 16 (31:49):
Now the Pacers need to stop something they have not
been very successful on with this man. Wait to the basket,
pound it out a foul, want to.
Speaker 17 (31:57):
Play from weighing on a chance for a three point per.
Speaker 21 (32:01):
We got a lot of them basketball left, you know.
I think when you talk about three games, you know,
two guys, you know, being dominated at the same time.
I think this is probably the most that we have
been when it talk about playoffs. I don't know regular
season we've had some good games, but I think the
way that we've played off each other, we've played very well,
(32:22):
and you know, obviously we envisioned this at times, you know,
So it just happened that we needed more than a
series because we was missing a very big piece with
Chris Bosh being out.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
It couldn't possibly get more intense than that. Right, Wade's
legacy on the line, and by extension, Lebron's brothers bloodied,
and the team's depth tested to its capacity because of
an injury and suspensions, Well it could. All it required
was two words. Boston Celtics weren't the two thousand and
(33:01):
eight Celtics. That team won a championship with instant chemistry
around a trio of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.
This team, four seasons later, had a lot more Rajon
Rondo in its formula, and while on court chemistry was
still strong, off court issues were arising. Allen had been
a part of trade rumors, and the future Hall of
(33:22):
Famer was effectively being told Rondo would be Boston's future
and it's quite possible to move to the bench would
be an Allen's near future. KG wasn't his two thousand
and eight self, the depth wasn't great, and even Pierce's
production would suffer some from Rondo's emergence. This four seed
(33:43):
wasn't the team that was supposed to take out the Heat.
Yet there were the Celtics, having eked out a series
tying Game four in Boston in overtime by outscoring the
Heat four to two in the extra five minutes.
Speaker 16 (33:56):
Wait picked up by Daniel's final seconds looks up Head's fake.
Speaker 17 (34:01):
Puts up a three for the win. Look good Celtics winning.
Speaker 16 (34:05):
Then the conference final is tied at two games apiece.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Surely Game five in Miami would settle the Heat. It
did quite the opposite. Bosh would return and play off
the bench, but the Heat offense was miserable, shooting under
forty percent from the field, and the Celtics stunned the
Heat despite a combined fifty seven from James and Wade
Down a five.
Speaker 16 (34:31):
Seconds wave puts up a three, won't go rebound Garnett Crowson.
Speaker 17 (34:35):
Ahead to two.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
It the Pufficks win Game five, take a three two lead,
a huge win on the road.
Speaker 16 (34:44):
Is Miami now one loss away from elimination? A stunning
result here at the American Airlines a Raider.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
The narrative shifted mightily for the Miami Heat. In a
span of just two games. The Heat went from a
team looking like it would coast to another finals appearance
to a team that had everything on the line in
just one game, and that game would be played in Boston.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Here's Levitard.
Speaker 7 (35:13):
I don't believe that there has ever been a game
in South Florida that had more pressure on it, not
a Game seven in the World Series, because a Game
seven in the World Series wasn't for the blueprint of
the franchise, wasn't for the architecture of this thing is
going to break down in laughter if you lose Game six,
(35:34):
the America is going to celebrate your epic echoing failure
four years because things will change if you lose this game.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
I don't believe that there has ever in.
Speaker 7 (35:46):
My lifetime covering sports in this market a more pressurized
game than that one that Lebron James played in Game
six in Boston. I doubted that that team would be
able to do that. I doubted that Lebron would be
able to do that.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I did not.
Speaker 7 (36:03):
Trust based on the previous what would it be one
hundred and sixty some odd games that that team had played,
that that performance was available to anybody. I did not
think that that's how that would go when they went
into Boston. I expected them to lose that basketball game.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
If the Heat don't win Game six and the Game
seven that would follow, major adjustments would be on the
way it's possible Chris Bosh would get traded. It's likely
you Donnis Haslam, the Miami native, doesn't finish his twenty
year career with the Heat. Lebron James's attempt to win
a championship with his friends and change the league as
a result would have been deemed a historic failure, not
(36:45):
to mention another year.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Of being the butt of jokes.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press tells a story of
when Shane Battier watched Lebron deal with those thoughts in
real time before Game six.
Speaker 9 (36:57):
There was Shane Battier told me a really cool story.
The night before Game six. They are in Boston, they're
going to dinner. Car pulls up as they're walking on
the street. I don't know how big the group of
Heat guys was. There was a few of them. Shane
and Lebron were quoted. Car pulls up, rolls down the window, Lebron,
you suck, and then the guy starts laughing at himself
(37:21):
and drives away. That's it, Lebron, you suck. And they're
all sitting there like, well, that just happened. And about
twenty minutes later, Shane told me that he realized that
Lebron had not said anything yet, and he's like, and
that's what I knew.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
We were good.
Speaker 9 (37:40):
And the next night forty five, fifteen to five.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
The butterfly effect from losing Game six would have been
so massive it's hard to imagine how different the Heat
franchise and the entire league would have looked. But only
one look truly mattered. On the evening of June seventh,
twenty twelve, in Boston's TD Garden, it was the one
on Lebron's face. Battier certainly noticed.
Speaker 14 (38:05):
We know what that game meant. Everyone who came to that,
you know, the garden, what are they called? They knew
if we went today, it's the end of the Big
three eras everyone came to barry the Heat, everybody, all
those all those Celtic fans, right, and so we we like,
we didn't have to like do this big speech.
Speaker 15 (38:23):
We knew what was on the.
Speaker 14 (38:24):
Line, right, But the look, the look on you know,
Lebron's face, I got this, I got this.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
The last time Lebron had faced this level of championship pressure,
he looked to be shrinking on his way to an
eight point finals game and a loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
So there was some hope for the Celtics, but the
heat's pregame commute from their hotel to the arena offered
another source of motivation for Lebron. It was much longer
than usual, with the team bus fighting heavy Boston traffic.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Here's e Donnis Haslam.
Speaker 13 (38:54):
I already knew he was gonna go crazy because they
tried to pull some trickery. You know, we got to
the game, like sixty business before the game, the bus,
the traffic.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I don't know, it's a little skeptic. I'm a little
skeptical behind that all played out.
Speaker 13 (39:12):
But we literally walked in about with sixty on the
clock and Bron was pissed and he looked at me and.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Dwayne, and I don't know Dwayne said something to him.
Speaker 13 (39:24):
He just gave us his face and he said, don't
worry about it. And we was like, oh, they'd have
made him mad, they'd have made him mad. We were right, yeah,
we'll follow, leave, we follow. You know, he made it
very clear, he made it very clear, don't worry about it.
I got it, And I think he was a little
(39:44):
pissed off, just like we were. Man, come on, man,
at that stage, at that point, there's no way you
should show up to the arena with sixty.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
On the clock.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Maybe the shortened pregame experience gave James less time to
weigh the massive consequences, but this was a version of
Lebron James no.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Had seen before.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Sure, he'd scored twenty five straight in a playoff game
against the Pistons, but this game was a calculated mission
from beginning to end, in a place where the distaste
for him runs thicker than anywhere else in the league.
Battier could feel it from the bench.
Speaker 14 (40:17):
You know when Lebron in Deed and c he played
a certain level of force, You're just like, holy crap,
this is this is why they're generational players, the force
and just like you just like let's go. And it
was so inspiring and like it was almost like throwing
a no hitter. Like you didn't want to talk to Lebron.
You don't want to like look at him like you're
(40:37):
doing it. We don't want to, Jake say it. Like
we knew we were sitting there on the bench going holy,
like this is this is crazy. But he was in
such a zone that day and in Boston knew it,
and Boston knew they had no shot.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
Even Jackie McMullen, who knows Celtic's history and tradition as
well as anyone else, understood what a series win against
the Heat would have meant for the franchise, and her
eyes were fixed on one person only.
Speaker 15 (41:05):
I'm not watching anybody else.
Speaker 9 (41:06):
I don't really care what anybody else does.
Speaker 8 (41:09):
This is this is Lebron's boom er Bus moment.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
And he starts off with six for seven, fourteen points
in the first quarter and just looks absolutely like he's
ready to wreck a team. And you know, looking back,
people say, oh, you're only saying that based on the result,
but Lebron didn't really look like that very often.
Speaker 16 (41:32):
James for three pucks. It in Lebron, James from Town Town.
He's got twelve already, and that he could have scored.
Speaker 17 (41:39):
Ten in a row.
Speaker 16 (41:40):
James spin's trying to draw some contact. What a great
start to Lebron. James six of seven from the field.
Speaker 17 (41:48):
And he's in the paint.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
He maintained that look in the second quarter, going six
of seven again from the field to score thirty by
halftime and carry his team to a thirteen point lead
at the break.
Speaker 16 (42:00):
James tries again and puts it in again. Nine for
ten from the field right now unstoppable and some of
these are tough, tough shots games again leave right now
is on a special zone here on the first half,
Fosh down low against Ray Allen turns he'll jump football.
Speaker 17 (42:20):
Go James, let's flying in and throws it down. He's
got twenty seven first half.
Speaker 16 (42:26):
Points extra special passes as change fits another a thirty
point first half.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
It wasn't the best statistical game of Lebron James's career.
It would only be the most important and a stat
line that Lebron and most Heat fans will never forget.
Forty five points, fifteen rebounds, five assists in a ninety
eight seventy nine win that saved the Miami Heats championship
experiment and shifted the narrative around Lebron even faster than
(42:55):
that game four in Dallas did.
Speaker 16 (42:57):
And this has been one impressive dominal before it's James
flips it up left handed thanks to then He's got
forty five. The Heat forced the game seven the Eastern
Conference Finals, all tied to three games a piece.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
Here's Lebron on the court with Doris Burke after his
career defining masterpiece Lebron.
Speaker 22 (43:16):
No player has to play under the kind of scrutiny
and pressure that you do. How do you stand and
deliver the kind of performance you did tonight.
Speaker 6 (43:25):
I just wanted to try to leave my team the
best way I could, whatever I needed to do out
on the floor. I tried to be there for him
to night, and you know, I'm glad we was able
to get this win and now you know, force the
game seven.
Speaker 22 (43:36):
What is it like knowing that regardless of what happens
with the team, the failure rests on your shoulders.
Speaker 6 (43:42):
Well, you know, I just go out and just do
what I've been taught, and that's to play at a
high level and have fun with it. And at the
end of the day, I won't regret anything. If I
know I played hard and I gave it to my
own I won't regret anything, no matter the outcome. And
you know that's why I've been this whole season.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
James didn't win the Gold Trophy yet, but as LeBatard explains,
he secured one important item, everyone's respect.
Speaker 7 (44:06):
You rarely get the story arcs that go from your
mentally frail, your choker, your week. You're someone who can't
and doesn't know how to win a championship. To oh, Holy,
against my will, you have begrudgingly made me respect you.
I have to respect that because what I just saw
(44:27):
is something that knocked over any doubts I had about you,
your character, your strength, what you just did. And as
I recall that stat line, he wouldn't get a lot
of help in that game. That was just him again
and again and again with a Dwayne Wade who was,
you know, a little bit banged up, and I just
remember that he had what Tom Brady has, which is,
(44:52):
no matter how much you might hate this guy or
not want him to win, or think that he's got
athletic gifts that that are put by a crib in
a crib, by a holy man, that you have to
respect what you just saw.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
Coach Spoe, Chris Bosh, and d Wade all saying Lebron's
praise is after the game, it.
Speaker 11 (45:12):
Was he was absolutely fearless tonight and it was contagious.
Best I've seen, one of the best this league has
ever seen. And you know, he he's helped us a
lot so we can live to play another day. He
played amazing.
Speaker 21 (45:27):
You know, he was locked in from the beginning of
the game like I've never seen him before. I Mean,
the shots he was making was you know, unbelievable. You know,
some good defense and he just he just made it. So,
you know, he really put on the MVP performance tonight,
and not just on not just scoring the ball, but
rebounding the ball defensively.
Speaker 11 (45:46):
He did it all tonight, you know.
Speaker 17 (45:47):
So it was great.
Speaker 21 (45:49):
It was great to see him come out and lead
this team the way he did today. We just gave
him the ball and got out the way.
Speaker 3 (45:55):
After a Game seven in Miami that's still provided more
tension than expected. The Heat actually trailed in the fourth
quarter of that game. Lebron in the Heat felt as
free as ever. They need to feel good about themselves too,
because the team they were about to meet in the finals,
the Oklahoma City Thunder team that was playing in Seattle
when Lebron first entered the league, they looked like they
(46:17):
could out heeat the Heat, bringing in a trio of
high end stars they drafted themselves. That team, led by
a young Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, would
put an immediate scare into the championship. Ready heat the
city Feller take came on, still to come on, four
(46:38):
years of heat.
Speaker 12 (46:39):
Like I always want to leave my Mark in whatever championship,
whatever series. I mean, just so you could say we
need to rely on Mark.
Speaker 11 (46:47):
On top of being the baddest man.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
In the world. Now he's a champion, on top of.
Speaker 6 (46:50):
It, you know, today being an NBA champion, you know,
you know that loss, you know, and that heartbreak was
the best thing that ever happened to me.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
I'll admit.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
That's the way I mean.
Speaker 15 (46:59):
I'm sitting in Orland.
Speaker 23 (47:00):
I'm saying, well, Lebron couldn't beat it in Cleveland, and
Chris couldn't beat us in Toronto, So yeah, run on
down to Miami and get some you know, get some
help from Dwayne, and now you guys can.
Speaker 12 (47:14):
Be good if I bring that mentality into Miami, like I'm.
Speaker 14 (47:18):
Supposed to play more, I'm supposed to start, I'm supposed
to do all these things.
Speaker 15 (47:23):
Then I'm setting myself up for failure.
Speaker 13 (47:26):
They was just assumed we were just gonna walk in
here and beat these people. And people don't understand you
add gasoline to the fire. We go in here and
play these teams.
Speaker 14 (47:34):
We have Hall of Famers up and on the line,
we're defending champs, and we just got into a zone
and like I said, it was easy. It wasn't, but
it just felt like, Okay, yeah, we're gonna win every
single night.
Speaker 15 (47:45):
We stuff on the floor.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
Four years if he dies, A production of iHeartRadio and
the NBA
I mean, well, that song was the last song on
the album I was working on at that time. That
was the last song that got recorded, and it was
just something that came.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Together very beautifully.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
To make a long story short, as soon as I
heard my whole album, I was listening to it, I'll
never forget, and I was like, we're missing this one
thing and got with T Pain and T Pain is
he's such a genius, you know when he came up
with the food. All I do is win, hook and
this our energy bouncing off each other. We always made
(00:40):
great music. And as soon as that was done, I
immediately went to Ross's house and Ross did that verse
for me in five minutes. I immediately said that Ludacris,
I'm letting everybody know this is gonna.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Be the biggest one.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You know what I'm saying. Ludacrous says his verse back
immediately and he goes crazy.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Y know.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I always wanted to work with Soup Doll and I
just wanted to make sure I found the right record,
and I sent him All I do is win. He
knocked that out and sent it back and we end
up making a classic, a winner's anthem, an anthem for everybody,
because that's what I represent is love for everybody, and
it's just a.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
National anthem for all winners.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So to be able to be a city that wins
big and to have an anthem call I do his
win that plays worldwide is a blessing from God.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
One of DJ Khaled's signature hits had been blaring inside
NBA Arena since it was released in early twenty ten,
and up until that devastating finals lost against the Mavericks,
it felt like it was an anthem made strictly for
Lebron James and the Miami Heat until it determined Dirk
Noovinsky and then a post finals press conference made everyone
realize how not ready they were to be ultimate winners.
(01:55):
Welcome back to four years of Heat. I'm your host,
Israel Gutierres and this is episode four or Game six.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Lebron.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
The Mavericks had just disposed of the Heat on Miami's
home court, winning the last three games of the finals,
including one where James scored a career postseason low at
the time of eight points. Not even an hour later,
James appeared with Wade on the postgame podium together after
a few questions about the failures on the court, James
was asked to respond to those who might have wanted
(02:27):
to see him fail.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
Does it bother you that so many people are happy
to see you fail?
Speaker 6 (02:34):
Absolutely not, because at the end of the day, all
the people that is rooting on me to fail, you know,
at the end of day, they gotta wake up tomorrow
have the same life that they had before they woke
up today. You know, they got the same personal problems
that they had today, you know, and I'm gonna continue
to live the way I want to live and continue
to do the things that I want to do well
(02:55):
me and my family and be happy with that. So
you know, they can get a few days, a few months,
or whatever the case may be, on being happy about
not only myself but to Miami Heat not accomplishing the goal.
But you know, they got to get back to the
real world at some point.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
It was a response that gave his critics the ultimate
proof that Lebron had completed the villainous turn. Not only
had he abandoned Cleveland, but after failing on the biggest stage,
he would aim at their hearts again by reminding them
that he lives a different lifestyle. It was so unlike
James to lash out in that manner. It was apparent
(03:34):
to some that the year of absorbing the manufactured hatred
from across the country had finally caught up to him.
Dan Lebtard of Meadow Lark Media watched it all from
up close.
Speaker 7 (03:44):
It makes sense that someone that vulnerable in the postgame
press conference would try to cover himself with defensive barbed
wire and camouflage so that you couldn't see just how
hurt and.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Scared he was.
Speaker 7 (03:55):
But the truth, the truth was around that press conference
where he told all we had to go back to
our broke lives. The truth was before it when he
wouldn't post up JJ Burrea and was passing the ball scared,
and after it when he went into total hiding in
his home because he was ashamed of what it is
that we all just saw.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
When Lebron James's career is finally over, assuming that day
ever arrives, there'll be a few moments people will point
to that helped fine tune him into an ultimate winner.
This will likely be considered the most pivotal. Despite telling
the listening world that he was on top of it,
this would actually be Lebron's rock bottom when people hated
(04:36):
on the decision or said he'd be moving on to
a secondary role on a new team. James had a
season of basketball with which to argue back, but now
the defense had rested and Lebron's closing arguments were less
than stirring. He could only internalize to examine what went wrong.
Rachel Nichols spoke with Lebron at the finals against Dallas,
(04:56):
off camera at one of James's charity events that offseason,
and also back on camera for an interview before the
lockout short in twenty eleven. Twelve season began that December.
In that stretch, she noticed a person making some notable adjustments.
Speaker 8 (05:10):
He was clearly in just such a terrible place, he
would later say they he spent a couple of weeks
just locked in his house when go anywhere with to
see any one. It's certainly what we were hearing from
the people around him. And then he and Dwayne actually
went on vacation together, a vacation that they had planned
with the idea of, Hey, We're going to win the
NBA Finals and then take this trip to the Bomas
(05:31):
and celebrate. And they got to the house and it
has been recounted to me by multiple parties, including Lebron,
that when Lebron and Savannah got into the house, he
was looking over the balcony on the second floor and
jumped over the balcony.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Into the pool below.
Speaker 8 (05:50):
And I want you to think about that, Lebron James,
whose body is his life's work, who if he had
broken several bones, would have been a huge story and
a huge setback and certainly a risk, and sort of
that he thought about. The temperature around him at the
time was just so out of sight of himself that
(06:11):
he jumped off the balcony into a pool.
Speaker 9 (06:14):
So it speaks to his state.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Of mind that his future wife, Savannah Brinston was with
him in the Bahamas was no small note. Non basketball
family as part of what James was missing in his
first season in Miami. It had become such a vital
business trip he didn't bring family with him, so when
he needed relief from basketball stress, James didn't have the
usual comforts around him to provide daily perspective. Brian Windhorst
(06:39):
witnessed the Lebron he'd never seen before, and a decade
of following him.
Speaker 10 (06:43):
What he needed was home and not just physically home.
He went back home for the lockout and spent the
entire lockout in Akron virtually and more importantly, spent the
lockout with his girlfriend, Savannah and his two sons, who
who did not travel with him to Miami the first year.
And it was basically him realizing that he had gotten
(07:08):
away from who he was.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Lebron James was currently misunderstood. He wanted to help a
charity for children with his free agent announcement, not create
a sense of abandonment. He wanted folks to marvel at
what could be in the NBA, not hate him for
reshaping it. And with an extended offseason to consider all
of this because of a work stoppage that didn't allow
the season to begin until Christmas Day, Lebron had a
(07:33):
plan just lay the cards out on the table, including
a delayed apology to the people of Cleveland, whose sports
world was rocked. Nichols conducted the interview with James that
would effectively attempt to reset his image heading into his
second season with Miami.
Speaker 8 (07:49):
There had been a lockout and so everything got delayed.
But then we sat down before it was time for
him to report to camp to do the interview after.
Speaker 6 (07:58):
The finals, I said, in my room for two weeks,
did absolutely nothing, talked to absolutely nobody.
Speaker 8 (08:03):
And I do think that was a really important turning
point for him because it is the first time he
acknowledged that he would have done something differently with the decision.
It's first time he acknowledged what it must have felt
like for people in Cleveland. So I think that.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Was an important part of that interview.
Speaker 8 (08:18):
And another important part of that was, as you referenced
him saying, I don't want to be the villain anymore.
It's not why I play the game of basketball.
Speaker 11 (08:25):
I played a game.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Fun, joyful, you know, and I let my game do
all the talking, you know. And you know, I got
away from that. Going through my first seven years in
the NBA. I was always the you know, the liked one,
and to be on the other side, you know, they
called it the dark side or the villain, whatever they
called it.
Speaker 11 (08:44):
It was. It was definitely challenging for myself.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
It was a.
Speaker 11 (08:46):
Situation I'd never been in before and took a long
time to adjust to it. It basically turned me into
somebody I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
You know.
Speaker 11 (08:54):
You started to hear the villain, you know, now you
have to be.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
The villain you you know, and I started to buy
into it.
Speaker 11 (09:00):
I started to play.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Played a game of basketball at a at a level
or at a mistate that never played that before.
Speaker 8 (09:08):
Being angry, and I think saying it out loud was
important for him, and he certainly played that way in
the following year.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Thanks to ESPN for that sound from Rachel's interview. It
wasn't just Lebron manifesting that into reality, however. He couldn't
simply say he's happy and then suddenly rediscover his joy
for the game. He knew he had to eliminate some
weaknesses in his game, weaknesses the Mavericks exposed with his
own defense and some undersized defenders. People weren't going to
(09:36):
suddenly let Lebron forget about his unwillingness to post up
Mavericks defenders, so he'd only have one option. Mario Chalmers
would be the Heat starting point guard in the twenty
eleven twelve season. He saw a sneak preview of a
different Lebron that offseason.
Speaker 12 (09:51):
Last summer, Lebron called me and we worked out at
th Other Trong where he was on Miami, and like
that's all he did with Dave post work, and so
I knew in the back of his mind that was
something that he knew that he would acted he wanted
to get better at. So when he did see that again,
he's fully prepared for that moment.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
You Donnis Haslam entered the league the same season as Lebron, Wade,
and Bosh. He didn't believe a player of James's caliber
had that much room left to improve at this point
in his career.
Speaker 13 (10:19):
He'd be wrong, and to take nothing away from Dallas,
but I mean we pretty much dominated until they started
running his own and as NBA basketball players, I think
at that time.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
We were just shocked. You know, it kind of made
us stack.
Speaker 13 (10:32):
It kind of took away from athleticism and the skill
set that we had, and we just didn't know how
to attack it and still be ourselves within the game,
and it created some confusion. And I think, you know,
Bron took that personally upon himself, being the best player
on the team and the leader of that team, that
we didn't get it done. And I mean the transformation
that he made that summer was amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Man. He never wanted to play in the post. He
never wanted to be inside.
Speaker 13 (10:56):
He always wanted to be seen as a guard from
all the things that he didn't want to do.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Matter when he came to winning, you know, he got
out of his comfort zone.
Speaker 13 (11:03):
He got in the lab, and he came back a
completely different basketball player, which was crazy because you already
thought he had reached a pinnacle of who he could
be and what he could be, you know, came going
down to that block and you know, putting in that
work down there on that post was crazy because you know,
we had never seen anything like that.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
The lockout extended offseason felt like an excruciating delay to
the start of Lebron's redemption story, but in reality, it's
possible he needed the extra time. He was about to
attack his personal Mount Everest again. This time he'd make
sure he had everything he needed.
Speaker 14 (11:34):
I looked around, and I hadn't felt like this edge
ever in the NBA. You know, reminded me of my
day's a duke, Like, oh, but we're what of this.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Is this?
Speaker 15 (11:43):
You're right there where what is this?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Lebron James's checklist before the start of the twenty eleven
twelve season seemed complete. Partially repaired relationship with the people
of Cleveland Check a rediscovered joy for the game check.
Moving Savannah and their sons to Miami check newly minted
post up game check. New teammates check there as well.
(12:13):
The most notable move that off season was the signing
of free agent Shane Battier. He'd be entering his eleventh
NBA season that year and had connections to Heat ownership
from his college days at Duke. After admittedly rolling his
eyes at Lebron's initial choice to create a super team
in Miami, Battier recognized a place for him after the
Heat came up short in year one. Early on in
(12:36):
his Heat tenure, Battier was suffering from some nagging injuries
that allowed him to sit back and absorb some of
what his Heat team was experiencing. As early as opening
day in Dallas. On Christmas, Battier noticed this felt different.
Speaker 15 (12:50):
I'll never forget the ring night for the Maps.
Speaker 14 (12:52):
We played them Christmas Day two thousand and eleven, and
you know, obviously none of the guys wanted to watch
Dirk and those guys get their rings, and like the
intensity of that moment back in the locker room waiting
to go out, they just wanted to kill these guys,
(13:15):
and just like you could feel the edge. And I'm like,
I looked around and I hadn't felt like this edge
ever in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
You know.
Speaker 15 (13:22):
Reminded me of my days a duke, Like, oh, but
we're winning.
Speaker 14 (13:24):
This this You're right, then, we're winning this, and we'd
go out. We destroyed Dallas, I think by thirty and
I'm just like, oh, man, you know we're gonna it's
gonna be a different year.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
The final score would end up being an eleven point differential,
but the decisive win would set the tone for a
truncated sixty six game season. Starts of eight and one
and twenty eight and seven would have Miami confident throughout.
The games were happening so fast there was almost not
enough time to remember the heat were disliked figures. All
(13:57):
you could do was marvel at this somehow improved version
of Lebron James, his new found chemistry with Dwayne Wade,
and the expanding all around game of Chris bosh operating forces.
Speaker 16 (14:08):
It blocked by Wade, the defense continues to impress James.
Tabash I had to finish, well, that's a nice looking
fast break.
Speaker 17 (14:17):
To block it.
Speaker 18 (14:19):
Bust out on the dribble, find James who touches it
to bosh tre mendous fast break.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Basketball, and while you were watching, the hatred was almost
unknowingly melting away.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Here's battier.
Speaker 15 (14:34):
It was a blur. It was a really weird season.
It was crazy.
Speaker 14 (14:37):
I mean, we sold out every arena we played that,
and so everyone wanted to see us. Everyone wanted to
come and do us. But I noticed early on that
the heat and maybe Lebron became much more of a
sympathetic character, the sympathetic hero, if you will, just knowing
the vitriol he went through the year before and the
(14:59):
scene in Cleveland, and it was pretty like negative there.
It was much more positive than I thought when I
went on the road, and I think that was born
out of the way they lost sort of the humility
they had, the sort of stomach from losing to Dallas,
and so the tenor of how people viewed us, especially
on the road, it did change. It did change, but
(15:21):
it was always a scene, always a scene. There are
always people at our hotel rooms. You know, we get
into San Antonio two three in the morning, there were
people there, and there was always people who just wanted
to see this team. Want to see the bron want
to see d Wade, want to see CB, just want
to see us, And it was it was like like crazy,
I'm not compared us to the Beatles, but it was.
Speaker 15 (15:40):
It was like a hysteria that I had never been
a part of my ten years in the league.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
There might still have been a hysteria around the team,
but there was certainly a growing sense of calm on it.
Even if it looked chaotic at times. Now that was
a planned chaos. It was a heat team on a
string at all times, creating having on the defensive end
and an offense you couldn't take your eyes off for
a moment. Dare you miss an all time iconic play?
Speaker 16 (16:07):
Wayne Wade with another steal three on one Jae, Holy smokes.
Speaker 17 (16:17):
You shit me.
Speaker 19 (16:20):
The way they get out in transition from defense to offense,
it's probably the best, no question, of any team currently
in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
The sense of order that allowed for said chaos came
in the form of a gesture from Wade that offseason,
while Lebron was fighting through that dark place and making
risky leaps from second floor balconies, Wade had a conversation
with James that unlocked one last feeling of home. Wade
told Lebron to treat the Heat as if it was
(16:53):
his team. Sure, it might say Wade County on a
bunch of the T shirts in Miami Dade County, but
on the hardwood, James should treat it as his own territory.
Waite talk to me about it at length for a
story I wrote for ESPN dot com in twenty twelve,
and while I don't have the original audio of an
interview that was likely recorded on an iPhone four, I
(17:14):
can't read to you Dwayne's comments. He said, quote, Lebron
is probably the most talented player we've seen in a while.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
But how good can we be?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Are we going to be good if me and him
are both scoring twenty seven a night?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Yeah, we're going to be good. But it would be
too much.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Okay, it's your turn. Now, it's your turn. I wanted
to give him the opportunity where he didn't have to.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Think about that.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
It's kind of like I told him, listen, I'll find
a way. Don't worry about me. I'll be there, but
you go out and be the player that we want
you to be. It was considered an extremely selfless move
from a player who was going shot for shot with
Lebron just two years earlier. The clarity of thought for
James allowed him to win his third MVP Trophy that season,
(17:58):
announcing himself back to his top of the league's self.
But it wasn't just the Wade gesture that suddenly put
him back into that space. Eric Spolster also drew from
his first season coaching James, Wade and Bosh. He and
assistant coach David Fizdale decided to flex their basketball knowledge
and change up the predictable offense that doomed Miami, most
(18:18):
notably against the Mavericks.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Here's battier and I.
Speaker 14 (18:22):
Give Eric Spolsor a ton of credit. I don't think
he gets enough credit for that run we had. He
really changed the way that we played. And you know,
we ran a lot of sets, or they ran a
lot of sets when they lost to Dallas, and it's
just a lot of like, isoball my turn?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Your turn?
Speaker 15 (18:39):
And there wasn't a.
Speaker 14 (18:40):
Lot of I guess you could say creativity to the offense,
and that you know, that's what Lebron do. Way and
CB needed to just have a little more creativity, a
little more flow a little more to really take their
talents to the max, to their highest potential. And the
next year it was a much different offense, much more
I wouldn't say democratic offense, but it allowed these guys
(19:00):
to utilize their skills better. And that was just a
process changed by Fizdale and Eric Spoltra, and so they
really left their mark on by our play style. His
biggest regret from the year before, he said, was he
was too afraid to make a drastic move and do
what's right, and so I think he kept trying to,
you know, just bludgeon the MAVs to death with the
(19:25):
plays that they had run in the last ten years
of the Miami Heat, and there wasn't a lot of innovation.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
The Heat played with more pace, which was a bit
easier with the year of chemistry under their belts and
a system with Lebron now clearly at the head.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
The result was a.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Forty six and twenty final record and a number two
seed in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
The rushed tempo of.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
The regular season and the Heat success throughout it would
never really allow for the pressure of the previous season
to show itself. The playoffs would more than make up
for that. It actually started with a pressure free, gentlemanly
game defeat of good buddy Carmelo Anthony and the New
York Knicks. Here's Lebron James with David Aldridge talking about
(20:06):
the first round win and the Heat's next opponent.
Speaker 20 (20:09):
You are obviously very close with Carmelo Anthony, Olympic teammates together.
You embraced them after this, after this game was over.
Speaker 17 (20:15):
What did you say to him?
Speaker 6 (20:17):
Man, it's some brotherhood that goes beyond basketball. It's my
first opportunity to go up against him in the playoff
series and it was It was fun man too. He's
one of the most competitive players I ever played against
in the series, so it was fun.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Man.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Wish them the best of the time. I see him
this summer and as we go for go.
Speaker 20 (20:33):
You have some other obligations right now. You got the
Indiana Pacers in the second round preview of that series.
Quickly you took three or four from him in the
regular season.
Speaker 6 (20:41):
Uh, they're very well coached team. You know, they play
inside and out. You know, with David West and Roy Hibbert, No,
guys do a great job controlling the pain and then
they have some perimeter play in George Hill, Danny Granger.
I mean, they do an unbelievable job. Paul George and
those guys off the bench as well, give him a big,
big boost. So, uh, you know we will savored us
(21:02):
way tonight. But then we get to work tomorrow and
get ready for En dawn Ron.
Speaker 20 (21:05):
Congratulations, we'll see in the second round game.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Miami had been preparing mentally for their other East rival,
the top seed a Chicago Bulls, but those thoughts were
dashed when Derreck Rose tore his ACL in his left
knee in the first game of Chicago's playoffs that season
against Philadelphia. When the Pacers settled in as Miami's second
round matchup, they didn't realize the group led by David West,
Paul George, Danny Granger, and Roy Hibbert would create the
(21:32):
kinds of problems Miami didn't have great answers for. And
when Bosh injured his hip flexer in Game one after
being fouled by Hibbert on a made basket, the Pacers
suddenly seemed more formidable than anyone could have imagined.
Speaker 6 (21:46):
Oh out of the basket took a hard hitt as
he finished.
Speaker 17 (21:51):
That three point play.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Now that was an explosion and Boss going strong to
that left hand guy Hibbert, who picks.
Speaker 17 (21:59):
Up his third.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
A Heat team that wasn't rich with size, had just
lost its starting power forward and was about to face
the Pacers for potentially six more games without him. That
meant a six foot eight, two hundred and twenty pound
battier would have to get.
Speaker 14 (22:13):
Big after you know, CB gets hurt, Spoke comes me
after the game and says, hey, we need to play small.
You know, will you will you be the power forward?
I said, hell, yeah, let's go. You know, it takes
me back to my Dukee days. So I knew I
had to bang with David West and he was a
big bully, and bangal with Roy Hibbert. I'm like, hey,
let's let's go, man, let's do it.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Fortunately the Heat still had a healthy big man it
could throw into the mix, the reliable you, Donnis Hasli.
Speaker 13 (22:40):
If there's one team that I could give too is Indiana.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Oh okay, let's get out in front of that right away.
Haslam was not a fan of these Pacers, but it
was this series that actually reinforced that distaste.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
It wasn't just Bosh that was injured in this series.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Wade was playing through soreness and the left knee that
would need to be drained before the start of Game
three in Indianapolis. The Pacers had already won Game two
by holding Miami to just seventy five points at home,
and in Game three, after that procedure that was supposed
to provide relief for Wade, he had the worst playoff
game of his career, with five points on two of
(23:19):
thirteen shooting, as the Heat were held to seventy five
points again and suddenly trailed the series two games to one.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Game four in.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Indianapolis would become the first test of the resolve built
in those previous finals, except this time it was Wade
who seemed to be carrying the weight of the franchise.
He had just come off his worst career playoff game
on a sore knee, and the idea that he could
be Lebron's partner in winning multiple championships suddenly seemed bleak.
(23:48):
Wade even visited with his Marquette coach, Tom Crean, who
was coaching Indiana at the time.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Here's battier, and.
Speaker 14 (23:55):
We felt horrible for him because he was obviously in pain.
His knee was swollen, so it wasn't like you. And
D's a warrior, so you know when he's when he's
banged up and say he's banged up, you know he's
really banged up.
Speaker 15 (24:08):
But that's what makes Hall of Famers.
Speaker 14 (24:10):
That's why d Wade, you know, behind Kobe and Mike's
probably the third greatest shooting guard of all time, with
respects to Jerry West.
Speaker 15 (24:20):
You show up.
Speaker 14 (24:20):
You show up when you're when the pressure is on
the line the most. And that's why I argue that
you need to go to the NBA Finals, win championships
to be considered one of the greatest because of their consequences.
And if you never put yourself in that position where
your legacy is in the line and people are gonna
talk about you and downgrade your entire career, you can't
(24:41):
be in that conversation. And that's why ultimate respect for
d Wade and Lebron and Chris and Ray Allen, all
these guys. They show up when legacy is on the line.
And that was that that game four against in Indiana.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Wade was vintage and scoring thirty points with nine rebounds
and six assists in this legacy marker of a game.
Speaker 17 (25:03):
Wade coming to the basket, so he's got a three
ended up. Get a couple of field goals here for
Dwayne in the last nie and that was beautiful Lebron.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
James yelled up battye a cleared out and then they
ran a back door move with Wade running on the baseline.
Speaker 17 (25:17):
Beautiful bass and look by Lebron.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Lebron scored forty of his own with eighteen rebounds and
nine assists in what was one of his best statistical
playoff games of his heat tenure, showing he'd had more
than Wade's back games.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Attacking Barbosa, bang and a fucking for Lebron thirty seven.
Now that's a sheer upper body strength and then acrobatic
ability to take the contact.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Fittingly, Wade got some additional help from his most familiar
of teammates in this crucial clash. Haslam was coming off
the bench at this point, but he knew he'd find
enough opportunities to support Wade, his teammate of nine seasons.
Miami had tried second year center Dexter Pittman in the
middle in Game three, and in Game four it was
(26:06):
Ronnie Torioff getting the starting knot in the middle, but
it was Haslam that gave Miami twenty five critical minutes.
With the Heat leading by just a point in the
fourth quarter, Haslm followed a way bucket by drawing an
offensive foul in Indiana's lou Adminson. The collision left Haslm
bleeding from above his right eye, but he wouldn't allow
Heat trainer Jay Sable to take him to the locker
(26:28):
room for the necessary stitches.
Speaker 13 (26:29):
I I remember get hit the eye when I got
hit my damn, I you know what I'm saying. I
was pissed, and I think Jay tried to take me.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
To the locker room.
Speaker 13 (26:38):
But I knew if I went to the locker room
to get stitches that I probably missed too much of
the game to be able to help win, right.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 13 (26:45):
By the time I go get stitched up and try
to come back, who knows. So I was like that,
tap it up, we don't have time.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I gotta go.
Speaker 13 (26:54):
And it was also around the time where they thought
that the game plan was to leave me open. I
don't know what they were smoking, but their game plan
was to make me beat them. I understand Lebron and
Dwayne is great, but don't disrespect the work that I
put in. Don't disrespect my craft, don't disrespect who I am.
And I felt like that was disrespectful.
Speaker 17 (27:12):
Heats the dribble alive. It's Haslam prospect, way go, you've done.
It's Haslam. What a quarter he's had.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Wade, James and Haslam scored eighty four of the Heat's
one hundred and one points in the series evening win,
and yet he'd save his most memorable moment for the
next game. It was the second quarter of Game five
in Miami, with the series tied at two games apiece
and the Heat leading by only seven points at the moment,
and Bosh was still not healthy enough to play. Just
(27:41):
about ninety seconds earlier in the game, Tyler Hansbrough committed
a flagrant foul on Wade, drawing some blood and the
ire of Haslim.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
The previous a couple of games as he goes, so
whoever gets fouled, But it's so difficult, and Wade looks
like you got hit pretty hard.
Speaker 17 (27:58):
But Hansbrough came.
Speaker 18 (28:01):
Over his back and they contact with him theck and
Lebron James is appealing to the.
Speaker 17 (28:06):
Officials looking for the flavored called I think the officials
are discussing that right down on the class.
Speaker 13 (28:12):
That handshake is what pissed me off, because I get it,
it's a physical game. At last game, the lou Munskin
gout hit me, he was the guy hit me. See,
I don't forget that stuff. Musen hit me and gave
me stitches. Hansburg hit d Wayne and gave him stitches. Now,
right after Hansburg hits the Wayne, I watched Hansboro, who
(28:33):
hit d Wayne, and Munson who hit me, go slap
each other five like good job. At that point, the
decision was made. That decision is made, you know what
I'm saying. And at that supposed set and I say,
supposed toy out of this. As soon as the time out,
I walked to the timeout and I said, I'm somebody up.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Spoe looked at me and he said whatever he said.
I don't know. I couldn't hear him. I had already went.
Speaker 13 (28:58):
To that dark place, and I said, supposed to stay
out of this, stay out of it.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
That's it, you know what I'm saying, That's it.
Speaker 13 (29:06):
And I made my and it was crazy because the
very next play I couldn't have drew it up any better.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I couldn't have drew it up any better.
Speaker 13 (29:14):
I'm the low man on the rotation of a pick
and roll, hands burros coming right at me.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I literally thought in my head.
Speaker 13 (29:21):
Like if I don't take this opportunity, I might not
get a better one.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
And I just did. I handled my business.
Speaker 13 (29:26):
It's more so like, you know what I'm saying, like,
just understand, we're here to play basketball, but we ain't finna,
you know, just turn the other cheek to certain things
that are going on. You know what I'm saying. My stitches,
the Wayne stitches, the handshake. It's starting to seem a
little intention here, you know what I'm saying. So we're
just gonna let you know we with all that too.
(29:46):
I had no intentions on blocking the ball.
Speaker 18 (29:49):
Oh hauck, I may flayrant turn it off. I was
hands woman, play thing out some of the fuck Gray
that he paced off Cup that was shuffer the other
night and things.
Speaker 17 (30:03):
They're getting very threaten though.
Speaker 5 (30:05):
First well they've been physical throughout this series, but now
it's getting ugly. Mark, and for Eudanna's has them, this
is clearly paidback. He just clubs with two hands hands
bull The problem here, Mark, the crowd loves it. But
if this is a flagrant too. Remember Haslem is their
best post shooter with Bosh out, He's the one that
(30:27):
provided that.
Speaker 17 (30:27):
Spacing the other day in Game four.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
If he's kicked out, no Bosh, no Haslm, that.
Speaker 17 (30:33):
Is a major blow for Miami. Well, they're saying there's
a flagrant in one. I think that's a flagrant too.
Speaker 13 (30:46):
Yeah, like I say, is I made my mind it
once I went to the huddle, it's going to happen.
I didn't know it's gonna happen in very nice play,
but the lower working mysterious waves. I mean, everybody just
like laughing and talking about it. But most so it
was like the reaction of their players. Nobody approached me
after I did that, for all the tough guys in
(31:07):
this locker room, for everybody who's supposed to.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Be big and bad.
Speaker 13 (31:10):
Nobody approached me from your team when I did that,
and Matt let me know we had your heart. Nobody
from your team came and did nothing to me, not
even come my weight, not even looked my weight.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
We got your heart.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Haslam would be suspended for Game six, as with Pittman,
who got suspended for three games following a flagrant two
he took on Lance Stevenson seconds before the Heats blowout
in Game five was complete with an even thinner front court.
The Heat went to Indiana and bludgeoned the Pacers in
Game six to clinch the series. Wade turned Banker's life
(31:43):
Fieldhouse into his personal playground again, scoring forty one with
ten rebounds in the clincher.
Speaker 16 (31:49):
Now the Pacers need to stop something they have not
been very successful on with this man. Wait to the basket,
pound it out a foul, want to.
Speaker 17 (31:57):
Play from weighing on a chance for a three point per.
Speaker 21 (32:01):
We got a lot of them basketball left, you know.
I think when you talk about three games, you know,
two guys, you know, being dominated at the same time.
I think this is probably the most that we have
been when it talk about playoffs. I don't know regular
season we've had some good games, but I think the
way that we've played off each other, we've played very well,
(32:22):
and you know, obviously we envisioned this at times, you know,
So it just happened that we needed more than a
series because we was missing a very big piece with
Chris Bosh being out.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
It couldn't possibly get more intense than that. Right, Wade's
legacy on the line, and by extension, Lebron's brothers bloodied,
and the team's depth tested to its capacity because of
an injury and suspensions, Well it could. All it required
was two words. Boston Celtics weren't the two thousand and
(33:01):
eight Celtics. That team won a championship with instant chemistry
around a trio of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.
This team, four seasons later, had a lot more Rajon
Rondo in its formula, and while on court chemistry was
still strong, off court issues were arising. Allen had been
a part of trade rumors, and the future Hall of
(33:22):
Famer was effectively being told Rondo would be Boston's future
and it's quite possible to move to the bench would
be an Allen's near future. KG wasn't his two thousand
and eight self, the depth wasn't great, and even Pierce's
production would suffer some from Rondo's emergence. This four seed
(33:43):
wasn't the team that was supposed to take out the Heat.
Yet there were the Celtics, having eked out a series
tying Game four in Boston in overtime by outscoring the
Heat four to two in the extra five minutes.
Speaker 16 (33:56):
Wait picked up by Daniel's final seconds looks up Head's fake.
Speaker 17 (34:01):
Puts up a three for the win. Look good Celtics winning.
Speaker 16 (34:05):
Then the conference final is tied at two games apiece.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Surely Game five in Miami would settle the Heat. It
did quite the opposite. Bosh would return and play off
the bench, but the Heat offense was miserable, shooting under
forty percent from the field, and the Celtics stunned the
Heat despite a combined fifty seven from James and Wade
Down a five.
Speaker 16 (34:31):
Seconds wave puts up a three, won't go rebound Garnett Crowson.
Speaker 17 (34:35):
Ahead to two.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
It the Pufficks win Game five, take a three two lead,
a huge win on the road.
Speaker 16 (34:44):
Is Miami now one loss away from elimination? A stunning
result here at the American Airlines a Raider.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
The narrative shifted mightily for the Miami Heat. In a
span of just two games. The Heat went from a
team looking like it would coast to another finals appearance
to a team that had everything on the line in
just one game, and that game would be played in Boston.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Here's Levitard.
Speaker 7 (35:13):
I don't believe that there has ever been a game
in South Florida that had more pressure on it, not
a Game seven in the World Series, because a Game
seven in the World Series wasn't for the blueprint of
the franchise, wasn't for the architecture of this thing is
going to break down in laughter if you lose Game six,
(35:34):
the America is going to celebrate your epic echoing failure
four years because things will change if you lose this game.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
I don't believe that there has ever in.
Speaker 7 (35:46):
My lifetime covering sports in this market a more pressurized
game than that one that Lebron James played in Game
six in Boston. I doubted that that team would be
able to do that. I doubted that Lebron would be
able to do that.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I did not.
Speaker 7 (36:03):
Trust based on the previous what would it be one
hundred and sixty some odd games that that team had played,
that that performance was available to anybody. I did not
think that that's how that would go when they went
into Boston. I expected them to lose that basketball game.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
If the Heat don't win Game six and the Game
seven that would follow, major adjustments would be on the
way it's possible Chris Bosh would get traded. It's likely
you Donnis Haslam, the Miami native, doesn't finish his twenty
year career with the Heat. Lebron James's attempt to win
a championship with his friends and change the league as
a result would have been deemed a historic failure, not
(36:45):
to mention another year.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Of being the butt of jokes.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press tells a story of
when Shane Battier watched Lebron deal with those thoughts in
real time before Game six.
Speaker 9 (36:57):
There was Shane Battier told me a really cool story.
The night before Game six. They are in Boston, they're
going to dinner. Car pulls up as they're walking on
the street. I don't know how big the group of
Heat guys was. There was a few of them. Shane
and Lebron were quoted. Car pulls up, rolls down the window, Lebron,
you suck, and then the guy starts laughing at himself
(37:21):
and drives away. That's it, Lebron, you suck. And they're
all sitting there like, well, that just happened. And about
twenty minutes later, Shane told me that he realized that
Lebron had not said anything yet, and he's like, and
that's what I knew.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
We were good.
Speaker 9 (37:40):
And the next night forty five, fifteen to five.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
The butterfly effect from losing Game six would have been
so massive it's hard to imagine how different the Heat
franchise and the entire league would have looked. But only
one look truly mattered. On the evening of June seventh,
twenty twelve, in Boston's TD Garden, it was the one
on Lebron's face. Battier certainly noticed.
Speaker 14 (38:05):
We know what that game meant. Everyone who came to that,
you know, the garden, what are they called? They knew
if we went today, it's the end of the Big
three eras everyone came to barry the Heat, everybody, all
those all those Celtic fans, right, and so we we like,
we didn't have to like do this big speech.
Speaker 15 (38:23):
We knew what was on the.
Speaker 14 (38:24):
Line, right, But the look, the look on you know,
Lebron's face, I got this, I got this.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
The last time Lebron had faced this level of championship pressure,
he looked to be shrinking on his way to an
eight point finals game and a loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
So there was some hope for the Celtics, but the
heat's pregame commute from their hotel to the arena offered
another source of motivation for Lebron. It was much longer
than usual, with the team bus fighting heavy Boston traffic.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Here's e Donnis Haslam.
Speaker 13 (38:54):
I already knew he was gonna go crazy because they
tried to pull some trickery. You know, we got to
the game, like sixty business before the game, the bus,
the traffic.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I don't know, it's a little skeptic. I'm a little
skeptical behind that all played out.
Speaker 13 (39:12):
But we literally walked in about with sixty on the
clock and Bron was pissed and he looked at me and.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Dwayne, and I don't know Dwayne said something to him.
Speaker 13 (39:24):
He just gave us his face and he said, don't
worry about it. And we was like, oh, they'd have
made him mad, they'd have made him mad. We were right, yeah,
we'll follow, leave, we follow. You know, he made it
very clear, he made it very clear, don't worry about it.
I got it, And I think he was a little
(39:44):
pissed off, just like we were. Man, come on, man,
at that stage, at that point, there's no way you
should show up to the arena with sixty.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
On the clock.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Maybe the shortened pregame experience gave James less time to
weigh the massive consequences, but this was a version of
Lebron James no.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Had seen before.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Sure, he'd scored twenty five straight in a playoff game
against the Pistons, but this game was a calculated mission
from beginning to end, in a place where the distaste
for him runs thicker than anywhere else in the league.
Battier could feel it from the bench.
Speaker 14 (40:17):
You know when Lebron in Deed and c he played
a certain level of force, You're just like, holy crap,
this is this is why they're generational players, the force
and just like you just like let's go. And it
was so inspiring and like it was almost like throwing
a no hitter. Like you didn't want to talk to Lebron.
You don't want to like look at him like you're
(40:37):
doing it. We don't want to, Jake say it. Like
we knew we were sitting there on the bench going holy,
like this is this is crazy. But he was in
such a zone that day and in Boston knew it,
and Boston knew they had no shot.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
Even Jackie McMullen, who knows Celtic's history and tradition as
well as anyone else, understood what a series win against
the Heat would have meant for the franchise, and her
eyes were fixed on one person only.
Speaker 15 (41:05):
I'm not watching anybody else.
Speaker 9 (41:06):
I don't really care what anybody else does.
Speaker 8 (41:09):
This is this is Lebron's boom er Bus moment.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
And he starts off with six for seven, fourteen points
in the first quarter and just looks absolutely like he's
ready to wreck a team. And you know, looking back,
people say, oh, you're only saying that based on the result,
but Lebron didn't really look like that very often.
Speaker 16 (41:32):
James for three pucks. It in Lebron, James from Town Town.
He's got twelve already, and that he could have scored.
Speaker 17 (41:39):
Ten in a row.
Speaker 16 (41:40):
James spin's trying to draw some contact. What a great
start to Lebron. James six of seven from the field.
Speaker 17 (41:48):
And he's in the paint.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
He maintained that look in the second quarter, going six
of seven again from the field to score thirty by
halftime and carry his team to a thirteen point lead
at the break.
Speaker 16 (42:00):
James tries again and puts it in again. Nine for
ten from the field right now unstoppable and some of
these are tough, tough shots games again leave right now
is on a special zone here on the first half,
Fosh down low against Ray Allen turns he'll jump football.
Speaker 17 (42:20):
Go James, let's flying in and throws it down. He's
got twenty seven first half.
Speaker 16 (42:26):
Points extra special passes as change fits another a thirty
point first half.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
It wasn't the best statistical game of Lebron James's career.
It would only be the most important and a stat
line that Lebron and most Heat fans will never forget.
Forty five points, fifteen rebounds, five assists in a ninety
eight seventy nine win that saved the Miami Heats championship
experiment and shifted the narrative around Lebron even faster than
(42:55):
that game four in Dallas did.
Speaker 16 (42:57):
And this has been one impressive dominal before it's James
flips it up left handed thanks to then He's got
forty five. The Heat forced the game seven the Eastern
Conference Finals, all tied to three games a piece.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
Here's Lebron on the court with Doris Burke after his
career defining masterpiece Lebron.
Speaker 22 (43:16):
No player has to play under the kind of scrutiny
and pressure that you do. How do you stand and
deliver the kind of performance you did tonight.
Speaker 6 (43:25):
I just wanted to try to leave my team the
best way I could, whatever I needed to do out
on the floor. I tried to be there for him
to night, and you know, I'm glad we was able
to get this win and now you know, force the
game seven.
Speaker 22 (43:36):
What is it like knowing that regardless of what happens
with the team, the failure rests on your shoulders.
Speaker 6 (43:42):
Well, you know, I just go out and just do
what I've been taught, and that's to play at a
high level and have fun with it. And at the
end of the day, I won't regret anything. If I
know I played hard and I gave it to my
own I won't regret anything, no matter the outcome. And
you know that's why I've been this whole season.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
James didn't win the Gold Trophy yet, but as LeBatard explains,
he secured one important item, everyone's respect.
Speaker 7 (44:06):
You rarely get the story arcs that go from your
mentally frail, your choker, your week. You're someone who can't
and doesn't know how to win a championship. To oh, Holy,
against my will, you have begrudgingly made me respect you.
I have to respect that because what I just saw
(44:27):
is something that knocked over any doubts I had about you,
your character, your strength, what you just did. And as
I recall that stat line, he wouldn't get a lot
of help in that game. That was just him again
and again and again with a Dwayne Wade who was,
you know, a little bit banged up, and I just
remember that he had what Tom Brady has, which is,
(44:52):
no matter how much you might hate this guy or
not want him to win, or think that he's got
athletic gifts that that are put by a crib in
a crib, by a holy man, that you have to
respect what you just saw.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
Coach Spoe, Chris Bosh, and d Wade all saying Lebron's
praise is after the game, it.
Speaker 11 (45:12):
Was he was absolutely fearless tonight and it was contagious.
Best I've seen, one of the best this league has
ever seen. And you know, he he's helped us a
lot so we can live to play another day. He
played amazing.
Speaker 21 (45:27):
You know, he was locked in from the beginning of
the game like I've never seen him before. I Mean,
the shots he was making was you know, unbelievable. You know,
some good defense and he just he just made it. So,
you know, he really put on the MVP performance tonight,
and not just on not just scoring the ball, but
rebounding the ball defensively.
Speaker 11 (45:46):
He did it all tonight, you know.
Speaker 17 (45:47):
So it was great.
Speaker 21 (45:49):
It was great to see him come out and lead
this team the way he did today. We just gave
him the ball and got out the way.
Speaker 3 (45:55):
After a Game seven in Miami that's still provided more
tension than expected. The Heat actually trailed in the fourth
quarter of that game. Lebron in the Heat felt as
free as ever. They need to feel good about themselves too,
because the team they were about to meet in the finals,
the Oklahoma City Thunder team that was playing in Seattle
when Lebron first entered the league, they looked like they
(46:17):
could out heeat the Heat, bringing in a trio of
high end stars they drafted themselves. That team, led by
a young Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, would
put an immediate scare into the championship. Ready heat the
city Feller take came on, still to come on, four
(46:38):
years of heat.
Speaker 12 (46:39):
Like I always want to leave my Mark in whatever championship,
whatever series. I mean, just so you could say we
need to rely on Mark.
Speaker 11 (46:47):
On top of being the baddest man.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
In the world. Now he's a champion, on top of.
Speaker 6 (46:50):
It, you know, today being an NBA champion, you know,
you know that loss, you know, and that heartbreak was
the best thing that ever happened to me.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
I'll admit.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
That's the way I mean.
Speaker 15 (46:59):
I'm sitting in Orland.
Speaker 23 (47:00):
I'm saying, well, Lebron couldn't beat it in Cleveland, and
Chris couldn't beat us in Toronto, So yeah, run on
down to Miami and get some you know, get some
help from Dwayne, and now you guys can.
Speaker 12 (47:14):
Be good if I bring that mentality into Miami, like I'm.
Speaker 14 (47:18):
Supposed to play more, I'm supposed to start, I'm supposed
to do all these things.
Speaker 15 (47:23):
Then I'm setting myself up for failure.
Speaker 13 (47:26):
They was just assumed we were just gonna walk in
here and beat these people. And people don't understand you
add gasoline to the fire. We go in here and
play these teams.
Speaker 14 (47:34):
We have Hall of Famers up and on the line,
we're defending champs, and we just got into a zone
and like I said, it was easy. It wasn't, but
it just felt like, Okay, yeah, we're gonna win every
single night.
Speaker 15 (47:45):
We stuff on the floor.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
Four years if he dies, A production of iHeartRadio and
the NBA
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