June 12, 2023 • 52 mins
In Episode 5 of "Four Years of Heat" Israel Gutierrez goes behind the scenes of the Heat's 2012 Finals win over the Thunder, and how three weeks changed the entire public perception of LeBron James. The team hits its stride during the 2012-13 season and wins 27 in a row, with insights from Ray Allen, Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem. Plus another dramatic playoff run to the Finals in 2013.
Four Years of Heat is a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You know, speaking of that time, you know something that
was really a touch of my heart and with Miami,
you donasas them u D. He came to my video shoot,
one of my first videos called Born and Raised in
the County of Dad and to this day he walks
out to it all the.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Time he was in the video. So it's just love.
And you know, you just brought the championship. You know,
those days were like so maya mental. It was so
big for the city.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
We're still proud and nobody could take that away from
us because it's like it's it's in stone and history.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
That time Kaled was speaking of was actually four years
before Lebron and Boss joined Miami. When The Heat won
its first title in two thousand and six, it was
Miami establishing itself as one of the premier franchises, pairing
championship success with the natural draws of the Miami lifestyle.
It was that title that even allowed Miami to be
one of the finalists to land Lebron in free agency.
(01:07):
Welcome back to four years of Heat. I'm your host
Israel Gutierrez and this is episode five.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
The Crown.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
In twenty twelve, that winning experience was still fresh in
the memories of head coach Eric Spolstra and the two
players remaining from that six championship, Dwayne Wade and Eudonnas Haslam.
Combined that with the pain still felt by all the
players returning off the finals disappointment against Dallas, and the
Heat checked all the necessary boxes when it came to
experience and motivation. Their opponents in the twenty twelve finals,
(01:42):
The Oklahoma City Thunder couldn't say the same. They were
a young team led by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and
James Harden, all of whom were twenty three or younger
and had won just one playoff series in their young
careers prior to the twenty twelve playoffs. They were led
by a coach in Scott Brooks, who was just in
his fourth year at the position.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
It was all a.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Stark contrast to what the Heat faced in the veteran
Celtics in the conference finals and their head coach, Doc Rivers,
who'd already won a title as a coach in two
thousand and eight. Mario Chalmers was in his fourth year
in the league in twenty twelve and had started all
sixty four games he played that regular season. He learned
from his veteran teammates that series just how much experience
(02:23):
in these situations actually.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Helps a team.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
It's not just something analysts say when they're trying to
predict the outcome of a series. Experience actually matters. Here's Chalmers, like.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
You said, the said before that we played Boston older team,
the EXQ to a T. They got Doc Rivers, who
has some of the greatest ato players ever. So you
know with them, you got to focus on all of
the little things, and the little things is going to
you do the little things right, it's going to help you.
With us going into the OKC series, we knew that
there was a young team. We knew they had two
(02:57):
three stars James Harmer was a star at that time,
and we knew that they was young. And even though
I'm young, I'm hearing these old guys, the older guys,
the Shane Battier's and the d Ways and Lebrons talk
about like they don't have the experience that we had.
And I remember in that series Shane Baddi a kme
to and he was like he's like this, Seri's gonna
be big for both of us. I'm like, why he said,
cause were gonna have the two hardest matchups, Like, what
(03:19):
do you mean? He's like, You're gonna have Westbrook and
most of the time I have KD. He said, the
biggest thing that we have to do is get them
to not work with each other.
Speaker 6 (03:28):
And I was like, how do you do that?
Speaker 7 (03:30):
He was like, every time Westbrook get the ball, just
telling them to.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Go Westbrook season open.
Speaker 8 (03:33):
That gets to the rabbit LA.
Speaker 9 (03:35):
So then oh, want to Freddy play from Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
So I'm sitting there going Westbrook like, oh you got it,
go go go. And so Westbrook did good forty three
and one of those games and went crazy, but we
still won because that was.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
Our game plan after let both of them get off
in the same game.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
So it was that playground style. I know, that's your shot,
you got that, that's you and it worked.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
It worked.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
I mean it made me look bad some games because
Wes west did go on. He didn't miss any shots,
but it definitely worked to the game plan.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
What's wild about the idea of literally asking Russell Westbrook
to shoot in order to disrupt the thunders chemistry is
the public narrative around the pair was exactly that they
don't work well together and therefore couldn't win at the
highest level. Surely, reaching the finals together was an indication
that it was all a false narrative, and that Durant
(04:24):
and Westbrook in particular are too talented to fail. Regardless
of the awkward chemistry.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Westbrook split slap pad, he puts it out of file.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
The Heat strategy was a difficult concept to remain faithful
in once the Heat lost the finals opener in Oklahoma
City one oh five ninety four behind thirty six points
from Durant and twenty seven eleven and eight from Westbrook.
Only one other player, Serge Ibaka, even scored in double
figures for the Thunder in Game one, and yet it
was a comfortable win.
Speaker 10 (04:53):
Weg right, Durant splicing left pouts past Low, Collinson high
stepped away for fuss six slams the Thunder in a
Dota Royal, I'll come from thirteen back to defeat, say Heat,
He'll take the one game to the lead.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Still, there was something about the initial game experience that
had the Heat believing the title was theirs. The last
time they'd lost a game Game five against the Celtics
and the conference finals. It felt as if the world
was about to collapse on them. After this loss, the
championships somehow felt closer than ever before. Shane Battier chose
(05:29):
the Heat that offseason to put an NBA championship on
his resume to match his college and high school titles.
He had a strong feeling he'd finally get it, despite
being down in the series one game to none. He
called this group a team of destiny. But there were
more tangible reasons for his belief as well, and it
had to do with who's Scott Brooks decided to put
(05:51):
on the court each night to match up with the
Heats now smaller lineup.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Here's Battier.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
We played really well, game won, and so we left
that game, We're like, oh, we're winning Game two. And
we came out and just you know, laid the hammer
on him, you know, and I think the guy who
I think is Kendrick Perkins, that was Scott Brooks, like
would refuse to take Kendrick Perkins out and do the
(06:17):
sensible thing of playing KD at the four and matching
up with our small ball, But instead, like they said,
this is how we play we're going to play backham
Perkins together, and so I got a free pass on defense.
I didn't have to guard anybody because Perk got one
one post up per game and that was it. And
then he didn't chase me out in three point line.
And so I shot like fifty percent from the from
(06:37):
the three in the in the finals, and we were
able to get our guys downhill with space, and it
was it was the perfect It was the perfect storm.
And so I got to look at that series. I'm like,
I don't know why they wouldn't go small play Kad
on me and totally match up. And so once we
got that game too and we won, We're like, oh yeah,
we're we're winning this. We're winning this.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
The Heat did win Game two in Oklahoma City, despite
playing smaller than the thunder Bosh pulled in fifteen rebounds,
James scored thirty two, and Battier hit five of seven
threes on his way to seventeen points.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
The drive gets to the n kicks it up, Battier's open.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
That's a three.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Battier, by the way, short changed himself with those shooting numbers.
He actually shot fifty eight percent from three in those
twenty twelve Finals.
Speaker 11 (07:21):
So hello short Ron, James kicks it up top batty,
He left wide open downs another.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
By the time Game four arrived, with the Heat up
two games to one, with two more games to be
played in Miami, there wasn't much drama remaining about the
Only question marks left were first, just how much scoring
could the Heat with stand from Westbrook and still win?
And second would Lebron throw a wrench in the operation
by suffering from some untimely muscle cramps. James had experienced
(07:50):
severe cramping in games before, dating all the way back
to his high school days, when he even went through
a series of medical tests because of it. The answer
to the first question was apparently foury three points, which
is what Westbrook scored in Game four, and the Heat
won by just six points. The answer to the second
was yes, Lebron would make matters more complicated due to cramps.
(08:11):
He exited Game four with five minutes fifteen seconds remaining
with severe leg cramps, only to return one minute later.
He hit one three pointer and missed another before leaving
the game again for good with fifty five seconds left
and the Heat up just three.
Speaker 11 (08:25):
Lebron is cramping up me he is down on the deck.
Speaker 6 (08:31):
The timing could not be any worse.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
But on the very next possession the game four, Hero
Chalmers drove for a layup to put Miami up four
with forty four seconds left. Then he hit three or
four free throws in the final seconds to seal the
win on the driving side to.
Speaker 8 (08:48):
The remp lay up and got it carry o Jummers
on the running lay up, Miami now by five and
the Miami he win the game four one oh four
ninety eight and lead three games, the one in the
NBA Finals.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Chalmers scored twenty five points, matching his playoff career high,
and his motivation for the career highlight of a game
was classic Chalmers. Kevin Durant was assigned to defend Chalmers
this game. Chalmers saw that as an insult.
Speaker 7 (09:21):
I had two bad games before it.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
Well, not two bad games, but I didn't have the
games I expected to have come into the finals. So
I was a little down on myself. So I remember
going to that shoot around. Coach Bo was on me.
Everybody was on me, like real, get your head up,
come on real, we need you. Tonight, gonna be all night, tonight,
gonna be all night, Like I heard that throughout the
whole shoot around, So I'm kind of like, all right,
are y'all gassing me up to tell me that y'all
want me?
Speaker 7 (09:41):
Like that's all I need. You tell me that you
need something from me. I'm ready to go.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
So now I remember after that, I took my nap
and d Wade had text me right before the game
or right before I head to the gym, and He's like, Yo,
be ready to night.
Speaker 7 (09:52):
I feel like it's gonna be a big one for you.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
I was like, okay, So already in my mind, I'm
thinking like, okay, something specially is gonna happen tonight. Then
when I seen that, it was like, why is KD
guard me? I'm not one of the stars on the team,
Like this is the finals, Like you're supposed to be
guarding Braun or d Wade, Like this is a matchup
for y'all. So by you guard me means that you're
trying to rest and save all your stuff for offense.
(10:18):
I'm not the type of player where I can't score.
I can't go get a bucket. I just don't because
I got three Hall of favors that do a little
bit better than me. So by that it's like, okay,
now that they see that your guarding me, they're running
a little bit more plays for me, for me to
be active and to get you active on defense so
you can't rest.
Speaker 7 (10:37):
And I'm actually hitting my shots. So now I'm in
the rhythm.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
Now I feel like I can go, and I keep going,
and my teammates keep feeding me, they keep finding me.
Speaker 7 (10:45):
I'm getting a little broken, played a little.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Easy way ups, open threes, and it was just like
everything was just going my way that game, and I
felt good. I felt great about it, and just one
of them games, like you said, I always have a
big game in the playoffs, like I always want to
leave my mark and whatever championship, whatever series on Man.
Speaker 7 (11:01):
Just so you could say we can rely on.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Mike in game five, it would be another reliable piece,
Mike Miller who helped shoot his good buddy Lebron into
a championship celebration. Miller hit seven of eight three pointers
on his way to twenty three points in twenty three
minutes off the bench.
Speaker 12 (11:17):
Miller for three bag Mike Miller from Downtown. Then the
Heat lead by fifteen.
Speaker 13 (11:26):
Manama shot block wait the Miller another three got another one.
Speaker 11 (11:31):
Oh my goodness, you are watching perfection, not to seventh.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Tray Miller was the player Eudonnis Haslam says connected the
dots with that Heat team, getting along with each individual,
so his performance in that championship clincher made for an
even more joyful experience. But all eyes were on Lebron
James as he was about to win his first championship
and his first Finals MVP Trophy. He and the remaining
(11:58):
starters were taken out of the game with three minutes
and one second left in the season and a twenty
two point lead.
Speaker 11 (12:04):
Ron James with a triple double. Most important game in
his career.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
Lebron James will come out of the game to.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
The roar of the crowd.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Wade, with a championship already in hand, made sure he
watched his good friend Lebron's reaction to winning his first.
Speaker 14 (12:26):
He talked about that moment so many times, when the
clock is winding down and you know you got the
game in hand and it's about to be a celebration,
And I turned around and looked at him, and I
just seen the smile on his face.
Speaker 6 (12:39):
He look like he look key at that moment.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press would keep his eyes
on James the rest of the way.
Speaker 15 (12:46):
There's that image of him, you know, jumping up and
down on the sideline and swinging his arms with The
very first thing he did when he knew supposed taking
him out of the game was he went over to
Chris Bosh and he just bowed his head into Chris's chest.
It was like relief, it was joy, it was thank you.
Like he doesn't always show a super ton of emotion,
(13:09):
but it was so telling to me that the first
person he went to go almost pay tribute to in
a way was Chris.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That was cool.
Speaker 15 (13:18):
And then the clock go zero and he doesn't storm
the floor. They're not holding each other back, they're not
doing any of that stuff that you would typically see
when the clock go zero for a championship.
Speaker 11 (13:28):
Let the coronation begin. Lebron James has helped Brown Miami
a champion of the basketball world. There'll be another barade
down beautiful Ben's game. Follah bah.
Speaker 15 (13:44):
He's got the towel up, and he goes down and
he embraces Kevin Durant and he wraps Kevin Durant up
and starts whispering in his ear about how your.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Time is coming.
Speaker 15 (13:55):
It was very cool in the moment that he recognized
there was more to the moment just you.
Speaker 7 (14:00):
But yes, the weight.
Speaker 15 (14:01):
Had been lifted and then he became lebron three point
oho or four point oh, whatever he became at that
point because on top of being the baddest man in
the world, now he's a champion on top of it.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
All right, that's why we trained each other twos ago.
Who's gonna be champions?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Man, It's been a long problem.
Speaker 16 (14:24):
We're today.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
James recovered from his lowest professional moment, failing against the
Mavericks on the biggest stage in basketball, to raise two
gold trophies one year later, on a day he called
the best of his life.
Speaker 6 (14:39):
We did Jews last year's experience.
Speaker 17 (14:41):
You know, you know, the heartbreak lost in the finals
and you know, me not playing to my abilities and
me not making enough players to help our team win
that series. You know, it was the at the time,
it was the worst thing ever happened to me. But uh,
you know, at that point in time, like I said,
I was not thinking outside the box at that point
in time, and you know I started, you know, after
(15:02):
I moped and laid around for a couple of weeks. Uh,
you know, I looked in the mirror and uh, you know,
figured out ways I can help this team win, you know,
figure out ways I can be better on and off
the floor. And now you know, today being the NBA champion,
you know, you know, that loss, you know, and that
heartbreak was the best thing that ever happened to me
because it basically refocused me, It rehumbled me, and uh,
(15:25):
you know, basically put me back in a position where
I just started back with the basics, and uh, you
know I was able to you know, regain who I am,
you know, both on and off the floor.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Miami was at the time one of the ten franchises
to win multiple titles, joining the Celtics, Lakers, Warriors, Bulls, Spurs,
seventy six Ers, Pistons, Knicks, and Rockets. Lebron James was
most believed on his way to fulfilling that infamous promise
of not one, not two, not three. To get to
(16:05):
this point, though, the parts around him had.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
To evolve as well.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
It wasn't just about upgrading the roster from one year
to the next. It wasn't just about Wade handing the
lead role to Lebron full time. It also included Chris
Bosh adjusting to a pair of teammates that dominate the
same area of the floor he did, and adjusting to
an NBA that was almost requiring big men to shoot
(16:30):
from three point range. And then there was Eric Spolstra,
the coach who'd been questioned since day one. The first
season with James Wade and Bosh featured too much predictable offense,
and Spolster would have his own regrets about the system
he was using all season. This first championship season would
provide the breakthrough both Bosh and spolsterra needed.
Speaker 9 (16:52):
Our team went through a lot together and all those
adversities in tough times, and then you're finally able to
get over the hump and climb that mountain and do
it collectively. It's an incredibly gratifying experience for Spolstra.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
His biggest philosophical shift happened after that disappointing twenty eleven finals.
He was so determined not to end another season feeling
like he could have done more, so he traveled across
the country to Eugene, Oregon, to meet with Ducks football
coach Chip Kelly. He'd reach out to so many more
coaches that offseason, including Mike Krzyzewski, John Klipowi, and Urban Meyer.
(17:30):
His pace and space concept, most influenced by Chip Kelly's
football philosophy, had the Heat playing fast and their stars
playing aggressively, utilizing their athletic advantages while leaving much of
the outside shooting to the support players. This way, teams
like Dallas couldn't take those advantages away by comfortably settling
into their defense.
Speaker 18 (17:51):
This brotherhood, they can't ever take it away from us.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Twenty five years.
Speaker 18 (17:55):
From now, we're going to be coming back together in
this semi circle and talking about this journey.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Even within that twenty eleven twelve season, however, Spolster was
proving he'd learned from his first season with this group.
He'd adjust however necessary. It was never more obvious than
in between playoff series against the Pacers and Celtics. Against
the Pacers, the Heat had to match up with a
bigger team and did it with their best big Bosh
(18:26):
missing due to injury. In the very next series against
the smaller Celtics team, Spolster changed everything about the offense.
Battier was one of the versatile players who allowed Spolster
to make the postseason switch with confidence.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
Yeah, we literally went to a like a five out offense.
You know, most of our sets when CP was healthy,
we're getting with these kind of like long, like ten
second plays and we'd get like a you know, a
cutter running across the floor, cause misdirection and try to
hit you know, one of our all stars where they
could go to work. So it's much more like traditional
(19:03):
like they don't play this win in the NBA anymore,
but like much more traditional sets. And we went to
an entirely like red based offense. We called it five out,
where the center actually was at the top of the
three point line and he was the key decision maker.
And it was a series of back cuts and curl
cuts and still getting our guys in position to do stuff.
(19:23):
But like and then the spacing was entirely different. And
so for the first time really since those guys have
been there. Because I was a group three point shooter
and would draw the defense out, these guys had a
room to operate and get downhill, and it was sort
of like, wow, this is different. You know, we actually
have space to operate now. And obviously you know, every
team went to playing small ball, but that's that's the
(19:46):
advantage of playing small where you create more space for
the best players to operate, and the lanes they can
get downhill get to the basket much larger, and it
just puts pressure on the defense an entirely different way,
and like like, defenses weren't used to that, so they
had a really really hard time adjusting to sort of
this news. You know, we call a pace in space
(20:07):
game that was brand new.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Spolster was also the unofficial founder of positionless basketball. Sure
he had Lebron James by his side, but no one
else had unlocked this version of Lebron. And after Spolster
withstood the firestorm that was this Heat team and came
out with a championship, he was as confident as his
players were. Stan Van Gundy was an assistant coach under
(20:33):
Riley with the Knicks and Heat. He was the head
coach of the Heat from two thousand and three to
two thousand and five. He coached the Orlando Magic to
a Finals appearance, coached and was president of basketball operations
for the Detroit Pistons, and coached the New Orleans Pelicans,
and is now a color analyst for TNT. Spolster was
an assistant under Van Gundy when he coached the Heat,
(20:54):
and he coached against Van Gundy for more than a decade.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I think one of the things that made them scary
as a competitors. I knew damn well that Eric would
do a great job with that. And I think one
of the reasons that Eric, say, as good as he
is in general, but was great with that group is
Eric's ego never gets involved in the thing. Eric is
(21:20):
just a guy who's always searching for the best way
to do things and the best way to maximize his
players and his team. And he's never going to get
caught up in an ego battle, you know. I don't
think it ever bothered him that during that time he
still didn't get as much credit as he deserved. All
(21:42):
the credit went to Pat, And I think a lot
of people saw like Pat was behind the scenes, like
pulling the strings and you know, had an ear piece
in and was just Eric was doing which was not
close to the truth. And I think a lot of people,
a lot of coaches would have gotten upset or been
unnerved by that. Eric's able to block out all those things,
(22:06):
all those distractions, all those ego things just never mattered
to him. I mean, he just stayed focused on doing
the best job for that team. And I think, look,
you don't have to be around that for very long
as a player before you have great respect. And then
on top of it, it wouldn't take you very long
(22:27):
to figure out that he knows what he's talking about
basketball wise. I mean he can teach, he can coach,
he can game plan, he can xin like, this guy's
really really good. So you put those two things together,
his tactical ability and his lack of ego, there's a
(22:49):
third thing there is He's firm. I mean, you know,
like Eric's not gonna just back down. If guys like
I don't feel like and walk through today, well we're
gonna do walk through today, you know, regardless if they
think it's too long. It's he's just not like he's
going to decide what's right. I'm not saying he won't
(23:10):
listen to his players, but he's going to decide what's
right and he's going to stick to it. And you
know he's not afraid. I mean, he's he's got a
lot going for him. He was the perfect coach for
that group.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Sposture was at the very least an ideal coach for
Bosh during this journey. From the start of his time
with Miami, Bosh was regularly ridiculed. Even if insults were
aimed at Lebron, Bosh would often get hit with shrapnel.
Even Van Gundy had jokes he called Bosh Dwayne Wade's
lapdog after he chose Miami.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I mean, I don't really and I do regret the comment,
mainly because I've got unbelievable respect for Chris Boss. We
had played him his Toronto team in the playoffs and
you know, had a tough series with them because of
Chris Bosh so certainly knew how good he was, respected
(24:05):
his approach to the game and everything else. I think
at the time it was just a little bit of discuss,
I guess for these guys, you know, just he and
Lebron really like having to sort of hop on the
bandwagon because they couldn't get it done on their own,
you know. Is the way I looked at it in
(24:27):
retrospect looking back. You know, look all of us coaches, players, everybody.
You look for the best situation you can find. Now
we all do it in our jobs. I mean, if
tomorrow you could find a situation that was a lot
better for you and your job, you'd certainly want to
do that. We all do, and so to begrudge those
(24:49):
guys that really wasn't fair of me. But that's the
way I was looking at it time, Like I looked
at it as a weakness. I'll admit that's the way
I'm sitting in Orlando. I'm saying, well, Lebron couldn't read
us 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
(25:12):
guys can be good.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Supposed to heard what was being said about Bosh. More importantly,
he knew what kinds of sacrifices Bosh had to make
to join this championship team, so supposed to reminded listeners
every chance he got that Bosh was the most important
piece on that team. It's hard to completely agree when
you know his teammate is the league MVP, but Spoke
(25:35):
often made his point. Battier certainly recognized Bosh's sacrifice despite
joining in Bosh's second year with the Heat.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
You know, ceb probably had him to sacrifice the most,
the most touches, the most opportunity. Look in Toronto, he
was used to getting the ball, you know, twenty twenty
four times in the mid post, the low posts and
the high posts, and he could just sort of right
and wheel and deal. And they tried that, you know,
the first year the Big Three, and it just didn't
(26:04):
work just because the spacing was was poor and Lebron
and d weren't great three point shooters, so Cbe just
didn't have room to operate. And so he really had
to change his his his game come much more of
a pick and roller. But again, like he was a
power forward who didn't shoot threes that entire regular season.
You know, we started Joel, Anthony and CB at the
(26:27):
four or five, and so most people think about Chris
Bosh as this like stretchy, you know, first early adopter
as a small ball center, but he was still like
a traditional power forward. Throw the ball to him on
the blocks that let him go to work. You know,
he evolved into like the ultimate weapon in terms of
just being an unbelievable pick and roll defender. They probably
(26:48):
the best pick and roll defender in the league that
second and third year, and he was like the skeleton
key that unlocked really everything defensively for us, and you know,
offensively expanded his game. But he he sacrifice a lot.
So CB deserves a lot of credit for his humility
and his competitiveness to Winder in that.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Stretch after a championship, Bosch and company not only knew
what they had was good enough to win it all,
they also knew Bosch's continued evolution would help the Heat
adjust to a league that was becoming more reliant on
three point shooting. Ray Allen was a part of Celtic's
teams that lost to James Wade and Bosch in the
previous two postseasons. Before that, he was pivotal to the
(27:29):
Celtics winning the two thousand and eight championship in his
first season with that team. The idea of him joining
the Heat after having such an intense rivalry seemed unfathomable,
at least to those who cheered him on or played
with him in Boston. But Allen had already been involved
in trade discussions that season, and the team was leaning
toward building with the younger with John Rondo. Allen's other
(27:53):
options that offseason included the Clippers, Grizzlies, Timberwolves, and Heat
and the heated encounters against Myami didn't exactly have them
on top of his list.
Speaker 16 (28:03):
Initially, I wasn't comfortable at all.
Speaker 19 (28:05):
It was it was such a difficult position that I
was in, and we were in a position where, you know,
we were on decline in Boston and there's a point
in our negotiations where they seemed like they just fell apart.
(28:26):
I had visited Miami and I was on the way,
and that was even odd by the way coming down
to Miami and kind of walking into Sposed office and
kind of talking to them about this whole process, and
there was that simbolus of you know, there's a wolf
in the henhouse, you know when I walk in. And
I legitimately was doing my due diligence because from there,
(28:49):
from Miami, I was about to fly to LA because
the Clippers are also on the table as well, and
I really was, you know, interested in playing in LA
for the Clippers. I couldn't see myself as a Heat,
you know, playing for the Heat.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
The Clippers, who Allan was quite interested in, signed another
shooting guard, Jamal Crawford, that offseason. The Grizzlies, Wolves, and
Heat were Alan's final options.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
Memphis needed guard.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Help on a defensive minded team, and Minnesota was a
young team built around Kevin Love that was far away
from winning at the level Alan craved. In the end,
it was Alan's respect for Lebron James that tilted the
scales toward Miami. When he chose the Heat, it was
something of a shock to the rest of the NBA.
The Heat's championship crew just added another sure fire Hall
(29:39):
of Famer, and he provides the team with even more
deadly shooting around those three dangerous attackers. It was an
embarrassment of riches for a Heat team ready to make
a repeat run. And the chemistry was evident right from
the beginning, getting off to a twenty and six start,
including wins against the Celtics and the opener, a Christmas
(30:00):
Day Finals rematch against the Thunder and the Spurs, a
team Allen in the Heat didn't know would come to
be their biggest rival. The way Allen explains it, that
chemistry was no accident.
Speaker 19 (30:14):
Well, chemistry is an interesting word because people think chemistry
like you walk into a situation and it's either there
or it's not. You know, people say, oh, just have
great chemistry with this person, Like chemistry is a choice.
It's not like you know these potions that we mix
into a beaker and then all of a sudden you
get this magical formula and allows everything to be great chemistry.
Speaker 16 (30:38):
When you're on a basketball team.
Speaker 19 (30:41):
You learn how to play under the rules, the circumstances,
the guidelines of that team, and you learn how to
respect the guys that are there, and you make yourself
a part of and you kind of motify yourself into
this existence of being what this team coach is And
then the people on the exterior did say, wow, they
(31:04):
got such a great chemistry. No, you worked for that,
Like I know, you know, going back to my Seattle days,
to Boston and in Miami, I know that I'm not
getting the nineteen to twenty shots I got in Seattle.
It diminished to Boston and in Miami. So if I
bring that mentality into Miami, like I'm supposed to play more,
I'm supposed to start, I'm supposed to do all these things,
(31:27):
then I'm setting myself up for failure.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
By February of that season, the Heat had added another
key role player in Chris Birdman Anderson, a six '
eleventh center who'd provide much needed rebounding and rin protection.
To start February, the Heat lost the game in Indiana
to that Giant Pacers team that was becoming quite comfortable
facing Miami. It was one of the points in the
season when a team with championship hopes checks in on itself.
(31:54):
Former NBA player and coach Sam Mitchell thought the loss
was a warning sign for Miami and set much on
NBA TV.
Speaker 20 (32:01):
But Miami, his guys still got those questions lingered out there.
Everybody keeps saying they can turn it all when they
want to, But I just don't agree with that. Great
teams don't do that.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
They meet the challenge.
Speaker 20 (32:12):
They send messages to teams and they let them know
that we're stand the dumb the team.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
The heat response to that loss in Indiana started with
a bounce back win in Toronto two days later. Then
Miami swept a six game homestand including a win over
the Lakers, who had tried to make a super team
of their own, with Steve Nash and Dwight Howard joining
Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles to match Miami's It was
no match.
Speaker 6 (32:47):
I think Chalmers got a piece of it.
Speaker 11 (32:48):
The reflection Jags to dabasket who rows it down and
Elitea's nine largest stuffy afternoons.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Then Miami won four more on a road trip, starting
with another defeat of vclall home and City and included
a win in Chicago where they held the Bulls to
sixty seven points and forced twenty six turnovers. It was
Miami's ninth win in a row, and Wade and Lebron
talked about a defense that was reaching playoff level intensity.
Speaker 14 (33:15):
Through in the season, we wasn't playing the defense we
wanted to play, and I think we turned it up.
You know, understand it was as stake with this team,
and tonight, you know, this team picked us apart last
time we played over in the sense that they got
everything they wanted. Even though it was tougher them the
score and a half court, they still was able to
get the ball to the spots they wanted it would
enable them to get offensive rebounds. So tonight we wanted
to make sure that we pushed them out a little
bit more. We took a few more seconds off the
(33:37):
clock and just made a little harder.
Speaker 17 (33:38):
We want to try to create turnovers a low let's
he gets some easy buckets and fast breakpoints. So there's
just another win on the long NBA season. But the
best thing about the win we got better.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Miami had survived a double overtime game against Sacramento for
the twelfth win and needed a game winning layup from
Lebron with three seconds left to get win number sixteen
against the Magic Look with Cheff.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Part to play kick club Jones with they what's shoven?
Speaker 4 (34:03):
What fides?
Speaker 16 (34:04):
I'm a drive?
Speaker 10 (34:05):
Lesten let the heat league three seconds to play a
poll that her court keep ho miny ms many wins
have a winning Shixlin time to a sweet sixteen.
Speaker 17 (34:22):
Uh seen avatory. The middle was a little bit open.
I went to my right to left cross sole was
able to get into the painting finish.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
You guys were up twenty early in.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
The third quarter, before less than a quarter that they
took the league.
Speaker 6 (34:34):
What changed.
Speaker 17 (34:35):
We didn't get stops in the third quarter.
Speaker 7 (34:37):
We allowed him to gain confidence and they.
Speaker 17 (34:39):
Started making shots.
Speaker 16 (34:40):
We didn't get stops and it allowed him to.
Speaker 17 (34:42):
Get back into the game.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
At this game, the Cleveland game, the Kings game. What
is it about these non playoff teams?
Speaker 16 (34:48):
At home.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
That's been a challenge for you guys.
Speaker 17 (34:50):
You know, it doesn't matter who we're going against, no
matter the record, we just want to win. Uh. You know,
we took a step back was in the third quarter,
but we picked it up in the fourth. Poll was
able to get one more st and also get another bucket.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
When the Heat started a five game trip on March thirteenth,
the streak had reached nineteen straight. On that road trip,
the Heat won in Boston by overcoming a thirteen point
fourth quarter deficit to win by two, and it included
one of James's signature highlight plays. After forcing a Boston turnover,
Norris Cole lobbed a pass for Lebron, who crushed it
(35:24):
over a frantically defending Jason Terry, who was also called
for a foul. James hovered over Terry for just long
enough to receive a technical, but it was probably worth
it for that tiny bit of revenge from the twenty
eleven finals.
Speaker 8 (35:38):
Jason Terry, good defense way from behind, takes it away.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
Thomas Holland.
Speaker 18 (35:46):
Whoa and a technical foul called on Miami with a taunt.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Then two nights later in Cleveland, the Heat's deficit twenty
seven was actually longer than the streak at the time
twenty three, and that was in the third quarter in
the same building Lebron triumphantly returned home. In twenty ten.
Lebron and the Heat were about to end a historic
regular season run. At least it appeared as much to Battier.
Speaker 6 (36:14):
I think that some of the guys said, Okay, it
was a great run, good run, good run. Okay, we
didn't have it tonight like you had, like every team
goes through this. We were like, we don't have tonight.
Next one, and it was sort of the bench mob
that came through and we started gunning threes and started
hitting threes, and all of a sudden, the guys who
were like, oh, we can win this game.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
The Heat were down seventy one forty eight with four
to twenty eight remaining in the third quarter. That's when
Battier and Chalmers took the Heat on their personal thirteen
to two run to bring the deficit to a manageable
twelve with one forty seven left in the period. That
was the cue for James to join the party in
his old stomping grounds, and at the nine to forty
(36:59):
mark of the fourth period, Lebron hit his third three
pointer in a ninety six second stretch that gave Miami
an eighty to seventy nine league.
Speaker 12 (37:08):
Lebron pull up free. It's got and Miami that's tied
the game. That's seventy seven. Oh my, what're they? Thirty
seven to ten run? Yes, you have to have heart
for a comeback like this. Oh my, there's another one. Yes,
(37:28):
three triples on the fourth quarter for Lebron, and like
he'd have an eighty, there's seventy nine league. Amazing, They'll
eat on a forty to twelve run Allen straight away triple.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Alan followed with a three of his own, and Miami
never trailed again. They'd need a pair of clutch James
free throws in the final seconds to hold off Cleveland
and win their twenty fourth straight game. The comeback win
was exhilarating. The streak itself, however, had become something of
a burden. According to Haslam, the NBA record was thirty
(38:01):
three straight wins, held by the seventy one seventy two
Los Angeles Lakers. The Heat were approaching that and approaching
best team ever conversations.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Here's Haslam all they wanted to talk about was the street.
Speaker 21 (38:14):
It was no respect for our next opponent, Like there
was no respect for our next opponent, Like nobody cared
like it was just like they was just assumed we
were just going to walk in here and beat these people,
and people who don't understand you add gasoline to the
fire where we go in here and play these teams,
you know what I'm saying. So it stopped becoming about
the next opponent in the next game, and all it
came about was a streak.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Wins number twenty five and twenty six came in easy
fashion at home against the Pistons and Bobcats. When number
twenty seven came up the road in Orlando. It ended
in Chicago against the hated Bulls, with future Heat forwards
lou All Dang and Jimmy Butler combining for forty five
points in the streak Buster Lebron, Spolstra, Wade, and Bosh
(38:56):
reflected on the historic streak.
Speaker 17 (38:58):
So we had a moment, you know, you know, just
very fortunate and very humble and blessed to be a
part of this team and be a part of a
streak like that. You know, it's one of the it's
one of the best that you know, this league has
ever seen. So you know, we recognized that, you know,
and rightfully so.
Speaker 18 (39:16):
I had everybody come in put a hand on each other,
and for the first time I mentioned the streak in
front of the guys, and it was worthy of at
least stepping back for those few sharp moments that it
was a heck of experience for all of us to
have together.
Speaker 14 (39:35):
Unbelievable streak that we was on, you know, but in
here it didn't feel like we was on this amazing street,
just like we were just playing basketball and we was
finding ways to win games, and it just what happened
to result into twenty something wins.
Speaker 22 (39:48):
It's been a great run. It's been a great run.
We still have a lot of work to do. But
like we said before, that wasn't important to us. The
streak wasn't important to us. What's important to us is
to win a time.
Speaker 17 (39:58):
You know, this is a special team, man, and you
know how we are on and off the floor. It's
gonna be hard to remember everything, but you know, aw
to meately, like you said, we want to win the
NBA Championship and along those a longer season, along those rides,
you know, you have moments throughout those rides where you
can reflect on, and this is one of them.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Battier had done something similar before with the Houston Rockets,
even though it felt quite different. The Rockets win streak
in two thousand and eight ended after twenty two games.
Speaker 6 (40:28):
That was way more unexplainable. You know, we're doing it
with like young men getting hurt and Kevin tumblou Is
fifty years old coming and giving stuff, so like it
was an amazing run and we're just you know, we
didn't even talk about it because we didn't know how
it was happening. Now this was much different, Like, this
is much more explainable. We had Hall of famers off
and on the line, we're defending champs, and we just
got into a zone. And when you're playing like that
(40:50):
as a team, like you don't really like analyze it
and say like, well, what are we doing better? You
just are excited to get to the gym. Everyone's happy,
you're joking around, and it was it was a long
time between losses. I mean, I look at the calendar
now there was the All Star breaking between that, and
so a lot of stuff happens were you know, you
could lose your bojo. But it was just one of
(41:11):
those pure times when we were happy, we were together,
we were making shots, and I'm not gonna say it
was easy. It wasn't, but it just felt like, Okay, yeah,
we're we're gonna win every single night we stepped on
the floor.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
The Heat had gone more than seven weeks from February
first to March twenty seventh between losses. They were fifty
six and fifteen when it ended, and would finish the
season with a Heat franchise record sixty six wins, six
more than any other team in the league and five
more than any other team in Heat history. Lebron would
(41:47):
win his fourth MVP award after a regular season that
was arguably the greatest of his career. He'd averaged just
under twenty seven points, with eight rebounds and more than
seven assists per game, but he shot a ridicut. He's
fifty six and a half percent from the field for
the season. Michael Jordan's most efficient shooting season was in
nineteen ninety ninety one, when he shot just under fifty
(42:09):
four percent. James was toying with the game at times
this season, going one stretch of six games where he
scored thirty points or more on sixty percent.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
Shooting or better.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
That ridiculous shooting overshadowed what had been Wade's most efficient
season as well.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
Wade shot fifty two.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Percent from the field that season, a number he'd only
best once the very following year, when he'd shoot fifty
four and a half percent from the field. In his
fourth and final season next to Lebron in Miami, Bosch's
averages of just under seventeen points and seven rebounds were
his lowest since before he started making All Star Games
at age twenty one in Toronto, but his fifty three
(42:51):
percent shooting from the field would be his career best,
and his willingness to take a then career best seventy
four to three pointers would help open up the Heat offense.
The entire regular season was a magical run that saw
the Heat players make a hilariously memorable video to a
trendy song called Harlem Shake, where they all danced in
(43:11):
the locker room wearing varying random costumes, and the team
reached pass sports to send a powerful message. Following the
killing of Trayvon Martin, a seventeen year old black teenager
in Sanford, Florida. It was a season Allen was nervous
about beginning, but would have no regrets during.
Speaker 19 (43:30):
The Harlem Shake was probably the highlight of that whole
experience because in spite of trying to be held to
the standard always, we were able to still be goofy,
you know, we're able to still just have fun and
let you know, like we love what we do. We
(43:51):
enjoy being around each other, and we'll do something that
sometimes when we go on there and practice score to
where kind of dialed in like like that far, you know,
in case in point.
Speaker 16 (44:02):
I remember when I got down to Miami.
Speaker 19 (44:06):
I'm just messing around to guys and y'all got stuff
going on.
Speaker 6 (44:10):
And Ud looks at me.
Speaker 16 (44:12):
He goes, man, Ray, we did not know you were
like this. And I looked at me. I said, what
are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (44:16):
You?
Speaker 19 (44:17):
He's like, man, we just thought you just didn't say nothing.
Because that was my persona on the court, you know,
but off the court, you know, I like to I
used to be a practical joker.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
When the Heat reached the playoffs in twenty thirteen, the
vibes were still strong. A drama free first round sweep
of the pre Yannis Milwaukee Bucks kicked things off. After
a week of rest and Lebron being awarded his MVP trophy,
the Heat faced those pesky Chicago Bulls, who were still
without the injured Derrick Rose, but had broken the Heats
(44:49):
twenty seven game win streak and had just come off
a seven game series win against the Brooklyn Nets. Joe
Kim Noah had developed into an All Star by now
and was the heart and soul of these Bulls.
Speaker 23 (45:02):
What I remember the most about that was in the
second time we played them in the playoffs, Derek was
hurt and Lebron got MVP and it was on the
jumbo tron.
Speaker 16 (45:13):
You just see all his highlights.
Speaker 23 (45:15):
He's dunking at the rim like all crazy and I'm
looking at Nate and Nate Nate Robinson is looking up.
Speaker 16 (45:21):
And I was like, I just go over there.
Speaker 23 (45:22):
And I was like, Nate, if I see you looking
up at that one more time, man, stop looking up.
Speaker 16 (45:27):
I was like, don't even look at that.
Speaker 23 (45:30):
So those are the memories that I'll remember, is just
going into there.
Speaker 16 (45:35):
Going in there and just with that fighting spirit.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
That spirit and maybe a week's worth of rust for
Miami was enough for Chicago to take game one of
the series behind a shocking ten to nothing run to
close the ninety three eighty six win. The Bulls were
once again injecting a bit of fear into Miami, but
it wouldn't last long, the fear or the series. The
(45:59):
Heat won the next game by thirty seven points and
the series in five games. The most memorable moment in
that series wasn't even a play on the floor. It
was when a fan named Philomena Tobias tossed the double
birds in the direction of Noah as he was leaving
the floor following an ejection.
Speaker 4 (46:16):
The image, if you look.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
It up, was Miami basketball fandom in a nutshell at
the time, Heat against the world, and in the next series,
the Pacers would temporarily rock that Heat world once again.
Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals would require a
Lebron James buzzer beating layup as a fouled out wide
watched from the bench.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
How do you get to it at Jerse James on the.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Len over time, But the Pacers would complete the deal
in Game two, winning ninety seven ninety three in Miami,
and suddenly the Heat were one Lebron lay up away
from having been down two. Head coach Frank Vogel and
(47:10):
his Pacers were playing to his team's strength, which was
size and strong defense, to make life difficult for Miami
once again. The size of Indiana's big man Roy Hibbert
was what separated the Pacers from the rest of Miami's opponents,
and in this series, Lebron and Wade in particular were
working on their short floaters near the basket to solve
(47:32):
the Hibbert dilemma. This wasn't going to be the cruise
to the finals the rest of the league expected to watch.
Speaker 4 (47:39):
Here's battier.
Speaker 6 (47:40):
Well, Vogel did a great job of making adjustments. They
didn't know how to handle our small wall the first year.
The second year they did a much better job and
sort of the downfall of our defense, and we were
such a high pressure, high intensity defense. It was predicated
on speed and like percision, and what Pacers did a
(48:03):
very good job at is was using our aggressiveness against
us and inviting the trap, getting off it and whipping
the ball around and just that was the weakness of
our defense, and so they did a much better job
of that. And then when you add in the physicality
and you know where Hibbert. That was his peak.
Speaker 8 (48:20):
Man.
Speaker 6 (48:20):
He was a big dude, and you know when he
would go off and just jump at the rim, there's
not much you could do if you pled Lebron and
d Wade, and so they just were presented a really
tricky matchup. They were more prepared against us this year,
and they were hungered. I mean, they were pissed off
from the year before, and they really felt that they
were better than us, and we thought we were better
than them. But like we knew they were a confident
(48:43):
bunch against this.
Speaker 3 (48:44):
The Heat and Pacers alternated wins and losses until Miami
dominated a Game seven at home ninety nine seventy six
and earned a third straight trip to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 18 (48:54):
Never take this for granted, going on this ride to
the next round and these next four, whatever it takes together.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
Three Game seven may have been devoid of drama, but
Dwayne Wade said overcoming the adversity up to that point
helped them thrive in the series clincher.
Speaker 14 (49:13):
I feel like we have individuals on our team they'll
respond very well when adversity hit. So, you know, I
kind of like it a little bit, you know, I
kind of like the way that our team is when
we get to those moments when our backs against the
wall as individuals, because we got winners, We got champions
in our locker room, and you know you don't become
a champion by luck.
Speaker 3 (49:33):
Awaiting them in that last series of the year was
a team the Heat beat both times they played in
the regular season, the San Antonio Spurs.
Speaker 4 (49:42):
The unassuming team.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
From south central Texas had twice as many championships as
the Heat to this point, with all four of them
coming while head coach Greg Popovich and Tim Duncan led
the way, and while the Heat went through a postseason
defeating familiar teams with similar physical styles, the Spurs would
provide an entire highly different look offensively and a defensive
strategy that had already flummoxed to young Lebron James in
(50:06):
the two thousand and seven finals while he was a Cavalier.
It's the final series of the third season of this
now champion Heat team led by James, Wade and Bosh,
and it's possible they were about to face their greatest challengers.
Speaker 4 (50:20):
Yet here's Ray Allen.
Speaker 19 (50:22):
The problem is going into San Antonio, they're not gonna
let you ground and pound them. They're gonna be moving,
they're gonna be setting screens, and you look this way,
you look that way, and all of a sudden, the
guy's not there anymore. The offense is so much motion
they throw the ball ahead that you just never know
(50:43):
who is gonna score. And we have more of a
traditional way playing through three players.
Speaker 16 (50:50):
Even though they played through three players.
Speaker 19 (50:53):
Patty Mills was a killer out there, Danny Green was
a killer were out there. You know, guys that came
off the bench were just as productive as their starters,
and it made it much more difficult for us in
trying to guard those.
Speaker 4 (51:10):
Guys on the next four years.
Speaker 6 (51:14):
If he.
Speaker 21 (51:17):
That's the doubt you get from San Antonio, because unlike
some teams, they're not gonna lose it.
Speaker 2 (51:22):
You're gonna have to win it.
Speaker 17 (51:23):
You know, with twenty plus seconds ago and us being
down five, you know, the human nature doubts starts to
creep into your mind.
Speaker 14 (51:30):
You see San Antonio fans popping in jerseys, you know,
jumping up and down. It's a dark moment.
Speaker 6 (51:36):
I was trying to will it in existence. That's the
way to say. We were all trying to will that
that feeling into existence. I don't know in our heart
of hearts if be truly truly confident, but we were
trying to fake it. That we've made it.
Speaker 13 (51:50):
It's like, holy smokes, like this is surreal, Like we're
about to win the NBA Championship in Game six. Did
not see this coming, and then no one saw what
coming what happened after that?
Speaker 19 (52:05):
You know, all the shots I've hit my career, like
this is the one that people will talk about the most,
and this will be the one that you know at
this stage, at this level, where it changed the tide.
Speaker 16 (52:16):
Of a lot of people's careers on both sides.
Speaker 13 (52:20):
And then to get to that point where the trophy's
twelve feet to your left, it's hard to put that
into words, what that emotion was.
Speaker 3 (52:34):
Four Years of Heat is a production of iHeartRadio and
the NBA
You know, speaking of that time, you know something that
was really a touch of my heart and with Miami,
you donasas them u D. He came to my video shoot,
one of my first videos called Born and Raised in
the County of Dad and to this day he walks
out to it all the.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Time he was in the video. So it's just love.
And you know, you just brought the championship. You know,
those days were like so maya mental. It was so
big for the city.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
We're still proud and nobody could take that away from
us because it's like it's it's in stone and history.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
That time Kaled was speaking of was actually four years
before Lebron and Boss joined Miami. When The Heat won
its first title in two thousand and six, it was
Miami establishing itself as one of the premier franchises, pairing
championship success with the natural draws of the Miami lifestyle.
It was that title that even allowed Miami to be
one of the finalists to land Lebron in free agency.
(01:07):
Welcome back to four years of Heat. I'm your host
Israel Gutierrez and this is episode five.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
The Crown.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
In twenty twelve, that winning experience was still fresh in
the memories of head coach Eric Spolstra and the two
players remaining from that six championship, Dwayne Wade and Eudonnas Haslam.
Combined that with the pain still felt by all the
players returning off the finals disappointment against Dallas, and the
Heat checked all the necessary boxes when it came to
experience and motivation. Their opponents in the twenty twelve finals,
(01:42):
The Oklahoma City Thunder couldn't say the same. They were
a young team led by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and
James Harden, all of whom were twenty three or younger
and had won just one playoff series in their young
careers prior to the twenty twelve playoffs. They were led
by a coach in Scott Brooks, who was just in
his fourth year at the position.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
It was all a.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Stark contrast to what the Heat faced in the veteran
Celtics in the conference finals and their head coach, Doc Rivers,
who'd already won a title as a coach in two
thousand and eight. Mario Chalmers was in his fourth year
in the league in twenty twelve and had started all
sixty four games he played that regular season. He learned
from his veteran teammates that series just how much experience
(02:23):
in these situations actually.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Helps a team.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
It's not just something analysts say when they're trying to
predict the outcome of a series. Experience actually matters. Here's Chalmers, like.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
You said, the said before that we played Boston older team,
the EXQ to a T. They got Doc Rivers, who
has some of the greatest ato players ever. So you
know with them, you got to focus on all of
the little things, and the little things is going to
you do the little things right, it's going to help you.
With us going into the OKC series, we knew that
there was a young team. We knew they had two
(02:57):
three stars James Harmer was a star at that time,
and we knew that they was young. And even though
I'm young, I'm hearing these old guys, the older guys,
the Shane Battier's and the d Ways and Lebrons talk
about like they don't have the experience that we had.
And I remember in that series Shane Baddi a kme
to and he was like he's like this, Seri's gonna
be big for both of us. I'm like, why he said,
cause were gonna have the two hardest matchups, Like, what
(03:19):
do you mean? He's like, You're gonna have Westbrook and
most of the time I have KD. He said, the
biggest thing that we have to do is get them
to not work with each other.
Speaker 6 (03:28):
And I was like, how do you do that?
Speaker 7 (03:30):
He was like, every time Westbrook get the ball, just
telling them to.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Go Westbrook season open.
Speaker 8 (03:33):
That gets to the rabbit LA.
Speaker 9 (03:35):
So then oh, want to Freddy play from Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
So I'm sitting there going Westbrook like, oh you got it,
go go go. And so Westbrook did good forty three
and one of those games and went crazy, but we
still won because that was.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
Our game plan after let both of them get off
in the same game.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
So it was that playground style. I know, that's your shot,
you got that, that's you and it worked.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
It worked.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
I mean it made me look bad some games because
Wes west did go on. He didn't miss any shots,
but it definitely worked to the game plan.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
What's wild about the idea of literally asking Russell Westbrook
to shoot in order to disrupt the thunders chemistry is
the public narrative around the pair was exactly that they
don't work well together and therefore couldn't win at the
highest level. Surely, reaching the finals together was an indication
that it was all a false narrative, and that Durant
(04:24):
and Westbrook in particular are too talented to fail. Regardless
of the awkward chemistry.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Westbrook split slap pad, he puts it out of file.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
The Heat strategy was a difficult concept to remain faithful
in once the Heat lost the finals opener in Oklahoma
City one oh five ninety four behind thirty six points
from Durant and twenty seven eleven and eight from Westbrook.
Only one other player, Serge Ibaka, even scored in double
figures for the Thunder in Game one, and yet it
was a comfortable win.
Speaker 10 (04:53):
Weg right, Durant splicing left pouts past Low, Collinson high
stepped away for fuss six slams the Thunder in a
Dota Royal, I'll come from thirteen back to defeat, say Heat,
He'll take the one game to the lead.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Still, there was something about the initial game experience that
had the Heat believing the title was theirs. The last
time they'd lost a game Game five against the Celtics
and the conference finals. It felt as if the world
was about to collapse on them. After this loss, the
championships somehow felt closer than ever before. Shane Battier chose
(05:29):
the Heat that offseason to put an NBA championship on
his resume to match his college and high school titles.
He had a strong feeling he'd finally get it, despite
being down in the series one game to none. He
called this group a team of destiny. But there were
more tangible reasons for his belief as well, and it
had to do with who's Scott Brooks decided to put
(05:51):
on the court each night to match up with the
Heats now smaller lineup.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Here's Battier.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
We played really well, game won, and so we left
that game, We're like, oh, we're winning Game two. And
we came out and just you know, laid the hammer
on him, you know, and I think the guy who
I think is Kendrick Perkins, that was Scott Brooks, like
would refuse to take Kendrick Perkins out and do the
(06:17):
sensible thing of playing KD at the four and matching
up with our small ball, But instead, like they said,
this is how we play we're going to play backham
Perkins together, and so I got a free pass on defense.
I didn't have to guard anybody because Perk got one
one post up per game and that was it. And
then he didn't chase me out in three point line.
And so I shot like fifty percent from the from
(06:37):
the three in the in the finals, and we were
able to get our guys downhill with space, and it
was it was the perfect It was the perfect storm.
And so I got to look at that series. I'm like,
I don't know why they wouldn't go small play Kad
on me and totally match up. And so once we
got that game too and we won, We're like, oh yeah,
we're we're winning this. We're winning this.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
The Heat did win Game two in Oklahoma City, despite
playing smaller than the thunder Bosh pulled in fifteen rebounds,
James scored thirty two, and Battier hit five of seven
threes on his way to seventeen points.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
The drive gets to the n kicks it up, Battier's open.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
That's a three.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Battier, by the way, short changed himself with those shooting numbers.
He actually shot fifty eight percent from three in those
twenty twelve Finals.
Speaker 11 (07:21):
So hello short Ron, James kicks it up top batty,
He left wide open downs another.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
By the time Game four arrived, with the Heat up
two games to one, with two more games to be
played in Miami, there wasn't much drama remaining about the
Only question marks left were first, just how much scoring
could the Heat with stand from Westbrook and still win?
And second would Lebron throw a wrench in the operation
by suffering from some untimely muscle cramps. James had experienced
(07:50):
severe cramping in games before, dating all the way back
to his high school days, when he even went through
a series of medical tests because of it. The answer
to the first question was apparently foury three points, which
is what Westbrook scored in Game four, and the Heat
won by just six points. The answer to the second
was yes, Lebron would make matters more complicated due to cramps.
(08:11):
He exited Game four with five minutes fifteen seconds remaining
with severe leg cramps, only to return one minute later.
He hit one three pointer and missed another before leaving
the game again for good with fifty five seconds left
and the Heat up just three.
Speaker 11 (08:25):
Lebron is cramping up me he is down on the deck.
Speaker 6 (08:31):
The timing could not be any worse.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
But on the very next possession the game four, Hero
Chalmers drove for a layup to put Miami up four
with forty four seconds left. Then he hit three or
four free throws in the final seconds to seal the
win on the driving side to.
Speaker 8 (08:48):
The remp lay up and got it carry o Jummers
on the running lay up, Miami now by five and
the Miami he win the game four one oh four
ninety eight and lead three games, the one in the
NBA Finals.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Chalmers scored twenty five points, matching his playoff career high,
and his motivation for the career highlight of a game
was classic Chalmers. Kevin Durant was assigned to defend Chalmers
this game. Chalmers saw that as an insult.
Speaker 7 (09:21):
I had two bad games before it.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
Well, not two bad games, but I didn't have the
games I expected to have come into the finals. So
I was a little down on myself. So I remember
going to that shoot around. Coach Bo was on me.
Everybody was on me, like real, get your head up,
come on real, we need you. Tonight, gonna be all night, tonight,
gonna be all night, Like I heard that throughout the
whole shoot around, So I'm kind of like, all right,
are y'all gassing me up to tell me that y'all
want me?
Speaker 7 (09:41):
Like that's all I need. You tell me that you
need something from me. I'm ready to go.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
So now I remember after that, I took my nap
and d Wade had text me right before the game
or right before I head to the gym, and He's like, Yo,
be ready to night.
Speaker 7 (09:52):
I feel like it's gonna be a big one for you.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
I was like, okay, So already in my mind, I'm
thinking like, okay, something specially is gonna happen tonight. Then
when I seen that, it was like, why is KD
guard me? I'm not one of the stars on the team,
Like this is the finals, Like you're supposed to be
guarding Braun or d Wade, Like this is a matchup
for y'all. So by you guard me means that you're
trying to rest and save all your stuff for offense.
(10:18):
I'm not the type of player where I can't score.
I can't go get a bucket. I just don't because
I got three Hall of favors that do a little
bit better than me. So by that it's like, okay,
now that they see that your guarding me, they're running
a little bit more plays for me, for me to
be active and to get you active on defense so
you can't rest.
Speaker 7 (10:37):
And I'm actually hitting my shots. So now I'm in
the rhythm.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
Now I feel like I can go, and I keep going,
and my teammates keep feeding me, they keep finding me.
Speaker 7 (10:45):
I'm getting a little broken, played a little.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Easy way ups, open threes, and it was just like
everything was just going my way that game, and I
felt good. I felt great about it, and just one
of them games, like you said, I always have a
big game in the playoffs, like I always want to
leave my mark and whatever championship, whatever series on Man.
Speaker 7 (11:01):
Just so you could say we can rely on.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Mike in game five, it would be another reliable piece,
Mike Miller who helped shoot his good buddy Lebron into
a championship celebration. Miller hit seven of eight three pointers
on his way to twenty three points in twenty three
minutes off the bench.
Speaker 12 (11:17):
Miller for three bag Mike Miller from Downtown. Then the
Heat lead by fifteen.
Speaker 13 (11:26):
Manama shot block wait the Miller another three got another one.
Speaker 11 (11:31):
Oh my goodness, you are watching perfection, not to seventh.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Tray Miller was the player Eudonnis Haslam says connected the
dots with that Heat team, getting along with each individual,
so his performance in that championship clincher made for an
even more joyful experience. But all eyes were on Lebron
James as he was about to win his first championship
and his first Finals MVP Trophy. He and the remaining
(11:58):
starters were taken out of the game with three minutes
and one second left in the season and a twenty
two point lead.
Speaker 11 (12:04):
Ron James with a triple double. Most important game in
his career.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
Lebron James will come out of the game to.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
The roar of the crowd.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Wade, with a championship already in hand, made sure he
watched his good friend Lebron's reaction to winning his first.
Speaker 14 (12:26):
He talked about that moment so many times, when the
clock is winding down and you know you got the
game in hand and it's about to be a celebration,
And I turned around and looked at him, and I
just seen the smile on his face.
Speaker 6 (12:39):
He look like he look key at that moment.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press would keep his eyes
on James the rest of the way.
Speaker 15 (12:46):
There's that image of him, you know, jumping up and
down on the sideline and swinging his arms with The
very first thing he did when he knew supposed taking
him out of the game was he went over to
Chris Bosh and he just bowed his head into Chris's chest.
It was like relief, it was joy, it was thank you.
Like he doesn't always show a super ton of emotion,
(13:09):
but it was so telling to me that the first
person he went to go almost pay tribute to in
a way was Chris.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That was cool.
Speaker 15 (13:18):
And then the clock go zero and he doesn't storm
the floor. They're not holding each other back, they're not
doing any of that stuff that you would typically see
when the clock go zero for a championship.
Speaker 11 (13:28):
Let the coronation begin. Lebron James has helped Brown Miami
a champion of the basketball world. There'll be another barade
down beautiful Ben's game. Follah bah.
Speaker 15 (13:44):
He's got the towel up, and he goes down and
he embraces Kevin Durant and he wraps Kevin Durant up
and starts whispering in his ear about how your.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Time is coming.
Speaker 15 (13:55):
It was very cool in the moment that he recognized
there was more to the moment just you.
Speaker 7 (14:00):
But yes, the weight.
Speaker 15 (14:01):
Had been lifted and then he became lebron three point
oho or four point oh, whatever he became at that
point because on top of being the baddest man in
the world, now he's a champion on top of it.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
All right, that's why we trained each other twos ago.
Who's gonna be champions?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Man, It's been a long problem.
Speaker 16 (14:24):
We're today.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
James recovered from his lowest professional moment, failing against the
Mavericks on the biggest stage in basketball, to raise two
gold trophies one year later, on a day he called
the best of his life.
Speaker 6 (14:39):
We did Jews last year's experience.
Speaker 17 (14:41):
You know, you know, the heartbreak lost in the finals
and you know, me not playing to my abilities and
me not making enough players to help our team win
that series. You know, it was the at the time,
it was the worst thing ever happened to me. But uh,
you know, at that point in time, like I said,
I was not thinking outside the box at that point
in time, and you know I started, you know, after
(15:02):
I moped and laid around for a couple of weeks. Uh,
you know, I looked in the mirror and uh, you know,
figured out ways I can help this team win, you know,
figure out ways I can be better on and off
the floor. And now you know, today being the NBA champion,
you know, you know, that loss, you know, and that
heartbreak was the best thing that ever happened to me
because it basically refocused me, It rehumbled me, and uh,
(15:25):
you know, basically put me back in a position where
I just started back with the basics, and uh, you
know I was able to you know, regain who I am,
you know, both on and off the floor.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Miami was at the time one of the ten franchises
to win multiple titles, joining the Celtics, Lakers, Warriors, Bulls, Spurs,
seventy six Ers, Pistons, Knicks, and Rockets. Lebron James was
most believed on his way to fulfilling that infamous promise
of not one, not two, not three. To get to
(16:05):
this point, though, the parts around him had.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
To evolve as well.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
It wasn't just about upgrading the roster from one year
to the next. It wasn't just about Wade handing the
lead role to Lebron full time. It also included Chris
Bosh adjusting to a pair of teammates that dominate the
same area of the floor he did, and adjusting to
an NBA that was almost requiring big men to shoot
(16:30):
from three point range. And then there was Eric Spolstra,
the coach who'd been questioned since day one. The first
season with James Wade and Bosh featured too much predictable offense,
and Spolster would have his own regrets about the system
he was using all season. This first championship season would
provide the breakthrough both Bosh and spolsterra needed.
Speaker 9 (16:52):
Our team went through a lot together and all those
adversities in tough times, and then you're finally able to
get over the hump and climb that mountain and do
it collectively. It's an incredibly gratifying experience for Spolstra.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
His biggest philosophical shift happened after that disappointing twenty eleven finals.
He was so determined not to end another season feeling
like he could have done more, so he traveled across
the country to Eugene, Oregon, to meet with Ducks football
coach Chip Kelly. He'd reach out to so many more
coaches that offseason, including Mike Krzyzewski, John Klipowi, and Urban Meyer.
(17:30):
His pace and space concept, most influenced by Chip Kelly's
football philosophy, had the Heat playing fast and their stars
playing aggressively, utilizing their athletic advantages while leaving much of
the outside shooting to the support players. This way, teams
like Dallas couldn't take those advantages away by comfortably settling
into their defense.
Speaker 18 (17:51):
This brotherhood, they can't ever take it away from us.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Twenty five years.
Speaker 18 (17:55):
From now, we're going to be coming back together in
this semi circle and talking about this journey.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Even within that twenty eleven twelve season, however, Spolster was
proving he'd learned from his first season with this group.
He'd adjust however necessary. It was never more obvious than
in between playoff series against the Pacers and Celtics. Against
the Pacers, the Heat had to match up with a
bigger team and did it with their best big Bosh
(18:26):
missing due to injury. In the very next series against
the smaller Celtics team, Spolster changed everything about the offense.
Battier was one of the versatile players who allowed Spolster
to make the postseason switch with confidence.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
Yeah, we literally went to a like a five out offense.
You know, most of our sets when CP was healthy,
we're getting with these kind of like long, like ten
second plays and we'd get like a you know, a
cutter running across the floor, cause misdirection and try to
hit you know, one of our all stars where they
could go to work. So it's much more like traditional
(19:03):
like they don't play this win in the NBA anymore,
but like much more traditional sets. And we went to
an entirely like red based offense. We called it five out,
where the center actually was at the top of the
three point line and he was the key decision maker.
And it was a series of back cuts and curl
cuts and still getting our guys in position to do stuff.
(19:23):
But like and then the spacing was entirely different. And
so for the first time really since those guys have
been there. Because I was a group three point shooter
and would draw the defense out, these guys had a
room to operate and get downhill, and it was sort
of like, wow, this is different. You know, we actually
have space to operate now. And obviously you know, every
team went to playing small ball, but that's that's the
(19:46):
advantage of playing small where you create more space for
the best players to operate, and the lanes they can
get downhill get to the basket much larger, and it
just puts pressure on the defense an entirely different way,
and like like, defenses weren't used to that, so they
had a really really hard time adjusting to sort of
this news. You know, we call a pace in space
(20:07):
game that was brand new.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Spolster was also the unofficial founder of positionless basketball. Sure
he had Lebron James by his side, but no one
else had unlocked this version of Lebron. And after Spolster
withstood the firestorm that was this Heat team and came
out with a championship, he was as confident as his
players were. Stan Van Gundy was an assistant coach under
(20:33):
Riley with the Knicks and Heat. He was the head
coach of the Heat from two thousand and three to
two thousand and five. He coached the Orlando Magic to
a Finals appearance, coached and was president of basketball operations
for the Detroit Pistons, and coached the New Orleans Pelicans,
and is now a color analyst for TNT. Spolster was
an assistant under Van Gundy when he coached the Heat,
(20:54):
and he coached against Van Gundy for more than a decade.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I think one of the things that made them scary
as a competitors. I knew damn well that Eric would
do a great job with that. And I think one
of the reasons that Eric, say, as good as he
is in general, but was great with that group is
Eric's ego never gets involved in the thing. Eric is
(21:20):
just a guy who's always searching for the best way
to do things and the best way to maximize his
players and his team. And he's never going to get
caught up in an ego battle, you know. I don't
think it ever bothered him that during that time he
still didn't get as much credit as he deserved. All
(21:42):
the credit went to Pat, And I think a lot
of people saw like Pat was behind the scenes, like
pulling the strings and you know, had an ear piece
in and was just Eric was doing which was not
close to the truth. And I think a lot of people,
a lot of coaches would have gotten upset or been
unnerved by that. Eric's able to block out all those things,
(22:06):
all those distractions, all those ego things just never mattered
to him. I mean, he just stayed focused on doing
the best job for that team. And I think, look,
you don't have to be around that for very long
as a player before you have great respect. And then
on top of it, it wouldn't take you very long
(22:27):
to figure out that he knows what he's talking about
basketball wise. I mean he can teach, he can coach,
he can game plan, he can xin like, this guy's
really really good. So you put those two things together,
his tactical ability and his lack of ego, there's a
(22:49):
third thing there is He's firm. I mean, you know,
like Eric's not gonna just back down. If guys like
I don't feel like and walk through today, well we're
gonna do walk through today, you know, regardless if they
think it's too long. It's he's just not like he's
going to decide what's right. I'm not saying he won't
(23:10):
listen to his players, but he's going to decide what's
right and he's going to stick to it. And you
know he's not afraid. I mean, he's he's got a
lot going for him. He was the perfect coach for
that group.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Sposture was at the very least an ideal coach for
Bosh during this journey. From the start of his time
with Miami, Bosh was regularly ridiculed. Even if insults were
aimed at Lebron, Bosh would often get hit with shrapnel.
Even Van Gundy had jokes he called Bosh Dwayne Wade's
lapdog after he chose Miami.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I mean, I don't really and I do regret the comment,
mainly because I've got unbelievable respect for Chris Boss. We
had played him his Toronto team in the playoffs and
you know, had a tough series with them because of
Chris Bosh so certainly knew how good he was, respected
(24:05):
his approach to the game and everything else. I think
at the time it was just a little bit of discuss,
I guess for these guys, you know, just he and
Lebron really like having to sort of hop on the
bandwagon because they couldn't get it done on their own,
you know. Is the way I looked at it in
(24:27):
retrospect looking back. You know, look all of us coaches, players, everybody.
You look for the best situation you can find. Now
we all do it in our jobs. I mean, if
tomorrow you could find a situation that was a lot
better for you and your job, you'd certainly want to
do that. We all do, and so to begrudge those
(24:49):
guys that really wasn't fair of me. But that's the
way I was looking at it time, Like I looked
at it as a weakness. I'll admit that's the way
I'm sitting in Orlando. I'm saying, well, Lebron couldn't read
us 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
(25:12):
guys can be good.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Supposed to heard what was being said about Bosh. More importantly,
he knew what kinds of sacrifices Bosh had to make
to join this championship team, so supposed to reminded listeners
every chance he got that Bosh was the most important
piece on that team. It's hard to completely agree when
you know his teammate is the league MVP, but Spoke
(25:35):
often made his point. Battier certainly recognized Bosh's sacrifice despite
joining in Bosh's second year with the Heat.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
You know, ceb probably had him to sacrifice the most,
the most touches, the most opportunity. Look in Toronto, he
was used to getting the ball, you know, twenty twenty
four times in the mid post, the low posts and
the high posts, and he could just sort of right
and wheel and deal. And they tried that, you know,
the first year the Big Three, and it just didn't
(26:04):
work just because the spacing was was poor and Lebron
and d weren't great three point shooters, so Cbe just
didn't have room to operate. And so he really had
to change his his his game come much more of
a pick and roller. But again, like he was a
power forward who didn't shoot threes that entire regular season.
You know, we started Joel, Anthony and CB at the
(26:27):
four or five, and so most people think about Chris
Bosh as this like stretchy, you know, first early adopter
as a small ball center, but he was still like
a traditional power forward. Throw the ball to him on
the blocks that let him go to work. You know,
he evolved into like the ultimate weapon in terms of
just being an unbelievable pick and roll defender. They probably
(26:48):
the best pick and roll defender in the league that
second and third year, and he was like the skeleton
key that unlocked really everything defensively for us, and you know,
offensively expanded his game. But he he sacrifice a lot.
So CB deserves a lot of credit for his humility
and his competitiveness to Winder in that.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Stretch after a championship, Bosch and company not only knew
what they had was good enough to win it all,
they also knew Bosch's continued evolution would help the Heat
adjust to a league that was becoming more reliant on
three point shooting. Ray Allen was a part of Celtic's
teams that lost to James Wade and Bosch in the
previous two postseasons. Before that, he was pivotal to the
(27:29):
Celtics winning the two thousand and eight championship in his
first season with that team. The idea of him joining
the Heat after having such an intense rivalry seemed unfathomable,
at least to those who cheered him on or played
with him in Boston. But Allen had already been involved
in trade discussions that season, and the team was leaning
toward building with the younger with John Rondo. Allen's other
(27:53):
options that offseason included the Clippers, Grizzlies, Timberwolves, and Heat
and the heated encounters against Myami didn't exactly have them
on top of his list.
Speaker 16 (28:03):
Initially, I wasn't comfortable at all.
Speaker 19 (28:05):
It was it was such a difficult position that I
was in, and we were in a position where, you know,
we were on decline in Boston and there's a point
in our negotiations where they seemed like they just fell apart.
(28:26):
I had visited Miami and I was on the way,
and that was even odd by the way coming down
to Miami and kind of walking into Sposed office and
kind of talking to them about this whole process, and
there was that simbolus of you know, there's a wolf
in the henhouse, you know when I walk in. And
I legitimately was doing my due diligence because from there,
(28:49):
from Miami, I was about to fly to LA because
the Clippers are also on the table as well, and
I really was, you know, interested in playing in LA
for the Clippers. I couldn't see myself as a Heat,
you know, playing for the Heat.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
The Clippers, who Allan was quite interested in, signed another
shooting guard, Jamal Crawford, that offseason. The Grizzlies, Wolves, and
Heat were Alan's final options.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
Memphis needed guard.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Help on a defensive minded team, and Minnesota was a
young team built around Kevin Love that was far away
from winning at the level Alan craved. In the end,
it was Alan's respect for Lebron James that tilted the
scales toward Miami. When he chose the Heat, it was
something of a shock to the rest of the NBA.
The Heat's championship crew just added another sure fire Hall
(29:39):
of Famer, and he provides the team with even more
deadly shooting around those three dangerous attackers. It was an
embarrassment of riches for a Heat team ready to make
a repeat run. And the chemistry was evident right from
the beginning, getting off to a twenty and six start,
including wins against the Celtics and the opener, a Christmas
(30:00):
Day Finals rematch against the Thunder and the Spurs, a
team Allen in the Heat didn't know would come to
be their biggest rival. The way Allen explains it, that
chemistry was no accident.
Speaker 19 (30:14):
Well, chemistry is an interesting word because people think chemistry
like you walk into a situation and it's either there
or it's not. You know, people say, oh, just have
great chemistry with this person, Like chemistry is a choice.
It's not like you know these potions that we mix
into a beaker and then all of a sudden you
get this magical formula and allows everything to be great chemistry.
Speaker 16 (30:38):
When you're on a basketball team.
Speaker 19 (30:41):
You learn how to play under the rules, the circumstances,
the guidelines of that team, and you learn how to
respect the guys that are there, and you make yourself
a part of and you kind of motify yourself into
this existence of being what this team coach is And
then the people on the exterior did say, wow, they
(31:04):
got such a great chemistry. No, you worked for that,
Like I know, you know, going back to my Seattle days,
to Boston and in Miami, I know that I'm not
getting the nineteen to twenty shots I got in Seattle.
It diminished to Boston and in Miami. So if I
bring that mentality into Miami, like I'm supposed to play more,
I'm supposed to start, I'm supposed to do all these things,
(31:27):
then I'm setting myself up for failure.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
By February of that season, the Heat had added another
key role player in Chris Birdman Anderson, a six '
eleventh center who'd provide much needed rebounding and rin protection.
To start February, the Heat lost the game in Indiana
to that Giant Pacers team that was becoming quite comfortable
facing Miami. It was one of the points in the
season when a team with championship hopes checks in on itself.
(31:54):
Former NBA player and coach Sam Mitchell thought the loss
was a warning sign for Miami and set much on
NBA TV.
Speaker 20 (32:01):
But Miami, his guys still got those questions lingered out there.
Everybody keeps saying they can turn it all when they
want to, But I just don't agree with that. Great
teams don't do that.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
They meet the challenge.
Speaker 20 (32:12):
They send messages to teams and they let them know
that we're stand the dumb the team.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
The heat response to that loss in Indiana started with
a bounce back win in Toronto two days later. Then
Miami swept a six game homestand including a win over
the Lakers, who had tried to make a super team
of their own, with Steve Nash and Dwight Howard joining
Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles to match Miami's It was
no match.
Speaker 6 (32:47):
I think Chalmers got a piece of it.
Speaker 11 (32:48):
The reflection Jags to dabasket who rows it down and
Elitea's nine largest stuffy afternoons.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Then Miami won four more on a road trip, starting
with another defeat of vclall home and City and included
a win in Chicago where they held the Bulls to
sixty seven points and forced twenty six turnovers. It was
Miami's ninth win in a row, and Wade and Lebron
talked about a defense that was reaching playoff level intensity.
Speaker 14 (33:15):
Through in the season, we wasn't playing the defense we
wanted to play, and I think we turned it up.
You know, understand it was as stake with this team,
and tonight, you know, this team picked us apart last
time we played over in the sense that they got
everything they wanted. Even though it was tougher them the
score and a half court, they still was able to
get the ball to the spots they wanted it would
enable them to get offensive rebounds. So tonight we wanted
to make sure that we pushed them out a little
bit more. We took a few more seconds off the
(33:37):
clock and just made a little harder.
Speaker 17 (33:38):
We want to try to create turnovers a low let's
he gets some easy buckets and fast breakpoints. So there's
just another win on the long NBA season. But the
best thing about the win we got better.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Miami had survived a double overtime game against Sacramento for
the twelfth win and needed a game winning layup from
Lebron with three seconds left to get win number sixteen
against the Magic Look with Cheff.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Part to play kick club Jones with they what's shoven?
Speaker 4 (34:03):
What fides?
Speaker 16 (34:04):
I'm a drive?
Speaker 10 (34:05):
Lesten let the heat league three seconds to play a
poll that her court keep ho miny ms many wins
have a winning Shixlin time to a sweet sixteen.
Speaker 17 (34:22):
Uh seen avatory. The middle was a little bit open.
I went to my right to left cross sole was
able to get into the painting finish.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
You guys were up twenty early in.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
The third quarter, before less than a quarter that they
took the league.
Speaker 6 (34:34):
What changed.
Speaker 17 (34:35):
We didn't get stops in the third quarter.
Speaker 7 (34:37):
We allowed him to gain confidence and they.
Speaker 17 (34:39):
Started making shots.
Speaker 16 (34:40):
We didn't get stops and it allowed him to.
Speaker 17 (34:42):
Get back into the game.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
At this game, the Cleveland game, the Kings game. What
is it about these non playoff teams?
Speaker 16 (34:48):
At home.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
That's been a challenge for you guys.
Speaker 17 (34:50):
You know, it doesn't matter who we're going against, no
matter the record, we just want to win. Uh. You know,
we took a step back was in the third quarter,
but we picked it up in the fourth. Poll was
able to get one more st and also get another bucket.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
When the Heat started a five game trip on March thirteenth,
the streak had reached nineteen straight. On that road trip,
the Heat won in Boston by overcoming a thirteen point
fourth quarter deficit to win by two, and it included
one of James's signature highlight plays. After forcing a Boston turnover,
Norris Cole lobbed a pass for Lebron, who crushed it
(35:24):
over a frantically defending Jason Terry, who was also called
for a foul. James hovered over Terry for just long
enough to receive a technical, but it was probably worth
it for that tiny bit of revenge from the twenty
eleven finals.
Speaker 8 (35:38):
Jason Terry, good defense way from behind, takes it away.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
Thomas Holland.
Speaker 18 (35:46):
Whoa and a technical foul called on Miami with a taunt.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Then two nights later in Cleveland, the Heat's deficit twenty
seven was actually longer than the streak at the time
twenty three, and that was in the third quarter in
the same building Lebron triumphantly returned home. In twenty ten.
Lebron and the Heat were about to end a historic
regular season run. At least it appeared as much to Battier.
Speaker 6 (36:14):
I think that some of the guys said, Okay, it
was a great run, good run, good run. Okay, we
didn't have it tonight like you had, like every team
goes through this. We were like, we don't have tonight.
Next one, and it was sort of the bench mob
that came through and we started gunning threes and started
hitting threes, and all of a sudden, the guys who
were like, oh, we can win this game.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
The Heat were down seventy one forty eight with four
to twenty eight remaining in the third quarter. That's when
Battier and Chalmers took the Heat on their personal thirteen
to two run to bring the deficit to a manageable
twelve with one forty seven left in the period. That
was the cue for James to join the party in
his old stomping grounds, and at the nine to forty
(36:59):
mark of the fourth period, Lebron hit his third three
pointer in a ninety six second stretch that gave Miami
an eighty to seventy nine league.
Speaker 12 (37:08):
Lebron pull up free. It's got and Miami that's tied
the game. That's seventy seven. Oh my, what're they? Thirty
seven to ten run? Yes, you have to have heart
for a comeback like this. Oh my, there's another one. Yes,
(37:28):
three triples on the fourth quarter for Lebron, and like
he'd have an eighty, there's seventy nine league. Amazing, They'll
eat on a forty to twelve run Allen straight away triple.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Alan followed with a three of his own, and Miami
never trailed again. They'd need a pair of clutch James
free throws in the final seconds to hold off Cleveland
and win their twenty fourth straight game. The comeback win
was exhilarating. The streak itself, however, had become something of
a burden. According to Haslam, the NBA record was thirty
(38:01):
three straight wins, held by the seventy one seventy two
Los Angeles Lakers. The Heat were approaching that and approaching
best team ever conversations.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Here's Haslam all they wanted to talk about was the street.
Speaker 21 (38:14):
It was no respect for our next opponent, Like there
was no respect for our next opponent, Like nobody cared
like it was just like they was just assumed we
were just going to walk in here and beat these people,
and people who don't understand you add gasoline to the
fire where we go in here and play these teams,
you know what I'm saying. So it stopped becoming about
the next opponent in the next game, and all it
came about was a streak.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Wins number twenty five and twenty six came in easy
fashion at home against the Pistons and Bobcats. When number
twenty seven came up the road in Orlando. It ended
in Chicago against the hated Bulls, with future Heat forwards
lou All Dang and Jimmy Butler combining for forty five
points in the streak Buster Lebron, Spolstra, Wade, and Bosh
(38:56):
reflected on the historic streak.
Speaker 17 (38:58):
So we had a moment, you know, you know, just
very fortunate and very humble and blessed to be a
part of this team and be a part of a
streak like that. You know, it's one of the it's
one of the best that you know, this league has
ever seen. So you know, we recognized that, you know,
and rightfully so.
Speaker 18 (39:16):
I had everybody come in put a hand on each other,
and for the first time I mentioned the streak in
front of the guys, and it was worthy of at
least stepping back for those few sharp moments that it
was a heck of experience for all of us to
have together.
Speaker 14 (39:35):
Unbelievable streak that we was on, you know, but in
here it didn't feel like we was on this amazing street,
just like we were just playing basketball and we was
finding ways to win games, and it just what happened
to result into twenty something wins.
Speaker 22 (39:48):
It's been a great run. It's been a great run.
We still have a lot of work to do. But
like we said before, that wasn't important to us. The
streak wasn't important to us. What's important to us is
to win a time.
Speaker 17 (39:58):
You know, this is a special team, man, and you
know how we are on and off the floor. It's
gonna be hard to remember everything, but you know, aw
to meately, like you said, we want to win the
NBA Championship and along those a longer season, along those rides,
you know, you have moments throughout those rides where you
can reflect on, and this is one of them.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Battier had done something similar before with the Houston Rockets,
even though it felt quite different. The Rockets win streak
in two thousand and eight ended after twenty two games.
Speaker 6 (40:28):
That was way more unexplainable. You know, we're doing it
with like young men getting hurt and Kevin tumblou Is
fifty years old coming and giving stuff, so like it
was an amazing run and we're just you know, we
didn't even talk about it because we didn't know how
it was happening. Now this was much different, Like, this
is much more explainable. We had Hall of famers off
and on the line, we're defending champs, and we just
got into a zone. And when you're playing like that
(40:50):
as a team, like you don't really like analyze it
and say like, well, what are we doing better? You
just are excited to get to the gym. Everyone's happy,
you're joking around, and it was it was a long
time between losses. I mean, I look at the calendar
now there was the All Star breaking between that, and
so a lot of stuff happens were you know, you
could lose your bojo. But it was just one of
(41:11):
those pure times when we were happy, we were together,
we were making shots, and I'm not gonna say it
was easy. It wasn't, but it just felt like, Okay, yeah,
we're we're gonna win every single night we stepped on
the floor.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
The Heat had gone more than seven weeks from February
first to March twenty seventh between losses. They were fifty
six and fifteen when it ended, and would finish the
season with a Heat franchise record sixty six wins, six
more than any other team in the league and five
more than any other team in Heat history. Lebron would
(41:47):
win his fourth MVP award after a regular season that
was arguably the greatest of his career. He'd averaged just
under twenty seven points, with eight rebounds and more than
seven assists per game, but he shot a ridicut. He's
fifty six and a half percent from the field for
the season. Michael Jordan's most efficient shooting season was in
nineteen ninety ninety one, when he shot just under fifty
(42:09):
four percent. James was toying with the game at times
this season, going one stretch of six games where he
scored thirty points or more on sixty percent.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
Shooting or better.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
That ridiculous shooting overshadowed what had been Wade's most efficient
season as well.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
Wade shot fifty two.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Percent from the field that season, a number he'd only
best once the very following year, when he'd shoot fifty
four and a half percent from the field. In his
fourth and final season next to Lebron in Miami, Bosch's
averages of just under seventeen points and seven rebounds were
his lowest since before he started making All Star Games
at age twenty one in Toronto, but his fifty three
(42:51):
percent shooting from the field would be his career best,
and his willingness to take a then career best seventy
four to three pointers would help open up the Heat offense.
The entire regular season was a magical run that saw
the Heat players make a hilariously memorable video to a
trendy song called Harlem Shake, where they all danced in
(43:11):
the locker room wearing varying random costumes, and the team
reached pass sports to send a powerful message. Following the
killing of Trayvon Martin, a seventeen year old black teenager
in Sanford, Florida. It was a season Allen was nervous
about beginning, but would have no regrets during.
Speaker 19 (43:30):
The Harlem Shake was probably the highlight of that whole
experience because in spite of trying to be held to
the standard always, we were able to still be goofy,
you know, we're able to still just have fun and
let you know, like we love what we do. We
(43:51):
enjoy being around each other, and we'll do something that
sometimes when we go on there and practice score to
where kind of dialed in like like that far, you know,
in case in point.
Speaker 16 (44:02):
I remember when I got down to Miami.
Speaker 19 (44:06):
I'm just messing around to guys and y'all got stuff
going on.
Speaker 6 (44:10):
And Ud looks at me.
Speaker 16 (44:12):
He goes, man, Ray, we did not know you were
like this. And I looked at me. I said, what
are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (44:16):
You?
Speaker 19 (44:17):
He's like, man, we just thought you just didn't say nothing.
Because that was my persona on the court, you know,
but off the court, you know, I like to I
used to be a practical joker.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
When the Heat reached the playoffs in twenty thirteen, the
vibes were still strong. A drama free first round sweep
of the pre Yannis Milwaukee Bucks kicked things off. After
a week of rest and Lebron being awarded his MVP trophy,
the Heat faced those pesky Chicago Bulls, who were still
without the injured Derrick Rose, but had broken the Heats
(44:49):
twenty seven game win streak and had just come off
a seven game series win against the Brooklyn Nets. Joe
Kim Noah had developed into an All Star by now
and was the heart and soul of these Bulls.
Speaker 23 (45:02):
What I remember the most about that was in the
second time we played them in the playoffs, Derek was
hurt and Lebron got MVP and it was on the
jumbo tron.
Speaker 16 (45:13):
You just see all his highlights.
Speaker 23 (45:15):
He's dunking at the rim like all crazy and I'm
looking at Nate and Nate Nate Robinson is looking up.
Speaker 16 (45:21):
And I was like, I just go over there.
Speaker 23 (45:22):
And I was like, Nate, if I see you looking
up at that one more time, man, stop looking up.
Speaker 16 (45:27):
I was like, don't even look at that.
Speaker 23 (45:30):
So those are the memories that I'll remember, is just
going into there.
Speaker 16 (45:35):
Going in there and just with that fighting spirit.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
That spirit and maybe a week's worth of rust for
Miami was enough for Chicago to take game one of
the series behind a shocking ten to nothing run to
close the ninety three eighty six win. The Bulls were
once again injecting a bit of fear into Miami, but
it wouldn't last long, the fear or the series. The
(45:59):
Heat won the next game by thirty seven points and
the series in five games. The most memorable moment in
that series wasn't even a play on the floor. It
was when a fan named Philomena Tobias tossed the double
birds in the direction of Noah as he was leaving
the floor following an ejection.
Speaker 4 (46:16):
The image, if you look.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
It up, was Miami basketball fandom in a nutshell at
the time, Heat against the world, and in the next series,
the Pacers would temporarily rock that Heat world once again.
Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals would require a
Lebron James buzzer beating layup as a fouled out wide
watched from the bench.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
How do you get to it at Jerse James on the.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Len over time, But the Pacers would complete the deal
in Game two, winning ninety seven ninety three in Miami,
and suddenly the Heat were one Lebron lay up away
from having been down two. Head coach Frank Vogel and
(47:10):
his Pacers were playing to his team's strength, which was
size and strong defense, to make life difficult for Miami
once again. The size of Indiana's big man Roy Hibbert
was what separated the Pacers from the rest of Miami's opponents,
and in this series, Lebron and Wade in particular were
working on their short floaters near the basket to solve
(47:32):
the Hibbert dilemma. This wasn't going to be the cruise
to the finals the rest of the league expected to watch.
Speaker 4 (47:39):
Here's battier.
Speaker 6 (47:40):
Well, Vogel did a great job of making adjustments. They
didn't know how to handle our small wall the first year.
The second year they did a much better job and
sort of the downfall of our defense, and we were
such a high pressure, high intensity defense. It was predicated
on speed and like percision, and what Pacers did a
(48:03):
very good job at is was using our aggressiveness against
us and inviting the trap, getting off it and whipping
the ball around and just that was the weakness of
our defense, and so they did a much better job
of that. And then when you add in the physicality
and you know where Hibbert. That was his peak.
Speaker 8 (48:20):
Man.
Speaker 6 (48:20):
He was a big dude, and you know when he
would go off and just jump at the rim, there's
not much you could do if you pled Lebron and
d Wade, and so they just were presented a really
tricky matchup. They were more prepared against us this year,
and they were hungered. I mean, they were pissed off
from the year before, and they really felt that they
were better than us, and we thought we were better
than them. But like we knew they were a confident
(48:43):
bunch against this.
Speaker 3 (48:44):
The Heat and Pacers alternated wins and losses until Miami
dominated a Game seven at home ninety nine seventy six
and earned a third straight trip to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 18 (48:54):
Never take this for granted, going on this ride to
the next round and these next four, whatever it takes together.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
Three Game seven may have been devoid of drama, but
Dwayne Wade said overcoming the adversity up to that point
helped them thrive in the series clincher.
Speaker 14 (49:13):
I feel like we have individuals on our team they'll
respond very well when adversity hit. So, you know, I
kind of like it a little bit, you know, I
kind of like the way that our team is when
we get to those moments when our backs against the
wall as individuals, because we got winners, We got champions
in our locker room, and you know you don't become
a champion by luck.
Speaker 3 (49:33):
Awaiting them in that last series of the year was
a team the Heat beat both times they played in
the regular season, the San Antonio Spurs.
Speaker 4 (49:42):
The unassuming team.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
From south central Texas had twice as many championships as
the Heat to this point, with all four of them
coming while head coach Greg Popovich and Tim Duncan led
the way, and while the Heat went through a postseason
defeating familiar teams with similar physical styles, the Spurs would
provide an entire highly different look offensively and a defensive
strategy that had already flummoxed to young Lebron James in
(50:06):
the two thousand and seven finals while he was a Cavalier.
It's the final series of the third season of this
now champion Heat team led by James, Wade and Bosh,
and it's possible they were about to face their greatest challengers.
Speaker 4 (50:20):
Yet here's Ray Allen.
Speaker 19 (50:22):
The problem is going into San Antonio, they're not gonna
let you ground and pound them. They're gonna be moving,
they're gonna be setting screens, and you look this way,
you look that way, and all of a sudden, the
guy's not there anymore. The offense is so much motion
they throw the ball ahead that you just never know
(50:43):
who is gonna score. And we have more of a
traditional way playing through three players.
Speaker 16 (50:50):
Even though they played through three players.
Speaker 19 (50:53):
Patty Mills was a killer out there, Danny Green was
a killer were out there. You know, guys that came
off the bench were just as productive as their starters,
and it made it much more difficult for us in
trying to guard those.
Speaker 4 (51:10):
Guys on the next four years.
Speaker 6 (51:14):
If he.
Speaker 21 (51:17):
That's the doubt you get from San Antonio, because unlike
some teams, they're not gonna lose it.
Speaker 2 (51:22):
You're gonna have to win it.
Speaker 17 (51:23):
You know, with twenty plus seconds ago and us being
down five, you know, the human nature doubts starts to
creep into your mind.
Speaker 14 (51:30):
You see San Antonio fans popping in jerseys, you know,
jumping up and down. It's a dark moment.
Speaker 6 (51:36):
I was trying to will it in existence. That's the
way to say. We were all trying to will that
that feeling into existence. I don't know in our heart
of hearts if be truly truly confident, but we were
trying to fake it. That we've made it.
Speaker 13 (51:50):
It's like, holy smokes, like this is surreal, Like we're
about to win the NBA Championship in Game six. Did
not see this coming, and then no one saw what
coming what happened after that?
Speaker 19 (52:05):
You know, all the shots I've hit my career, like
this is the one that people will talk about the most,
and this will be the one that you know at
this stage, at this level, where it changed the tide.
Speaker 16 (52:16):
Of a lot of people's careers on both sides.
Speaker 13 (52:20):
And then to get to that point where the trophy's
twelve feet to your left, it's hard to put that
into words, what that emotion was.
Speaker 3 (52:34):
Four Years of Heat is a production of iHeartRadio and
the NBA
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Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com