June 26, 2023 • 48 mins
In Episode 8 of Four Years of Heat Israel Gutierrez talks to Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem about the Heat's sobering loss to the Spurs in the 2014 Finals. Dan Le Batard, Brian Windhorst and Rachel Nichols weigh in on the legacy of the Heat's incredible four year run and Mario Chalmers gives his view on the Big Three Heat's place among the best teams in NBA history.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
My relationship with him is incredible. D Wade, He's a
brother of mine. He supports everything that we do. You know,
we call him, you know, Wade County Day County like
because he really represents hometown and we.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Love that about him.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Lebron chains another brother that just him and his whole team,
Maverick and Rich Paul, It's the whole Lebron family. We've
always showed me love and I was blessed to do
like commercials with Lebron, and we've done a lot of
great things outside of basketball. Anytime I've seen Chris Bosh
out there, another brother that just with pure lover, always
(00:42):
showed me love and the legend man. We had a
squad that was unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The squad DJ Khaled was so proud of. They did
seem unstoppable. Even after a game Lebron James was forced
out of because of the ninety five degree temperature inside
San Antonio's arena, Miammi just went on to win Game
two and were right back in the same position as
they were the previous season. Welcome back to four years
of Heat. This is episode eight, the finale, as the
(01:15):
Heat and Spurs prepared for Game three in Miami. There
wasn't a lot that differentiated the twenty fourteen Finals from
the twenty thirteen version. The Spurs started the series with
home court advantage, which was different, but by the time
they'd reached Miami for Game three, they'd lost that, and
there's no way the insertion of Boris Diao into the
(01:35):
starting light up ahead of Thiago Splitter would make that
much of a difference for the Spurs. Even an older
team like Miami can get the necessary boost from their
now seasoned home fans to carry them through. Plus the
allrea of a three peat, an accomplishment that hadn't been
executed since Kobe and Shacks Lakers from two thousand to
two thousand and two, would provide just the necessary motivation
(01:59):
given how close Miami was to finishing the job.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Welcome to Miami, Game three of the NBA Finals, Let's
go Heat.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Well, those thoughts lasted for about the next twelve minutes
of basketball. Once the series returned to the Heat's house.
This is where the nice guy Spurs would hand out
one of the most sobering defeats of this Heat era,
a different kind of stunning than the MAVs in twenty
eleven The first quarter alone told the story of this series.
(02:31):
In it, the Spurs shot eighty seven percent. I'll say
that again. The Spurs shot eighty seven percent in the
first quarter of an NBA Finals game. They missed two
of their fifteen shots. They missed none of their three pointers.
The Spurs assisted on nine of their thirteen baskets in
the period, and for good measure on the defensive end,
(02:52):
blocked two heat shots and grabbed two steals.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Mills, He'll penetrate Moule's pass left corner.
Speaker 6 (02:57):
Letard, great ball bo but by the Spurs.
Speaker 7 (03:01):
The WHII.
Speaker 8 (03:02):
Leonard loads up and knocks down.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
A three thirty eight to twenty three Spurs pike fifteen.
Speaker 9 (03:08):
Ye great executioner, great execution.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
This is a Spurs team that is running the offense
to perfection.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
On the heat side, Lebron James nearly matched the Spurs
brilliance in that opening quarter. He missed one of his
six attempts, scoring fourteen points with an assist and no turnovers.
The rest of the heat weren't terrible either. Miami shot
fifty three percent for the period and somehow found themselves
trailing by sixteen after just twelve minutes of play. There
(03:40):
was barely a drop off in the second quarter for
San Antonio. The Spurs shot an NBA Finals record for
a half of nearly seventy six percent and led at
halftime seventy one to fifty. The Diau addition to the
starting lineup made San Antonio's ball movement as crisp as
it had been all season, and at just the perfect time,
(04:02):
they were exercising demons in the most enjoyable way possible.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Leonard finish a straw with the right half.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
The Heat closed to within seven points in the third
quarter and within ten in the fourth, but the Spurs
always responded with devastating shots and extended runs. In the end,
the Spurs won Game three by nineteen points, taking back
the home court edge and snatching back the mental advantage.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
It has just been one of the great offensive starts
in NBA playoff history. Spurs with a huge response here
in Game three and now lead the twenty fourteen NBA
Finals two games to one. Well the resounding road win
here in Miami.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Greg Popovich summed up his team's near perfect performance in
the postgame press conference.
Speaker 10 (04:51):
I don't think we'll ever shoot seventy six percent in
a half. Ever, again, it's the NBA Finals. Well, you
can't do be me and ocre out there if you
want to win a game. Everybody's going to play well.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
But even that performance wasn't enough to fully convince Boris
Diau that the Spurs had taken control of the series.
Speaker 7 (05:11):
We felt that we played great, but we know what
it is and we know the playoffs. It's not because
game three we shooting seventy five and everything goes well,
that Game four is going to be the same because
we saw the service before. Sometimes you win by twenty
in the next game you lose by twenty, so you
still got a you know, state focused.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
DL's teammate Matt Bonner would play sparingly in this series,
but he was just as engaged as any of his teammates,
who all still felt the pain of losing those last
two games in American Airlines Arena a year earlier.
Speaker 11 (05:41):
We got home court advantage back, and I don't want
to say we were satisfied with that, but you know,
if we went back to San Antonio two to two
with home court advantage, we would have been We're like,
all right, we did what we came here to do,
and I remember Coach Pop read that on us and
brought everybody in and was in our face like we
(06:01):
didn't come here to get one We came here to
get two wins, you know, So wipe the smiles off
your faces and let's be ready to play Game four.
And then we came out that Game four is really
the game where we ripped their hearts out.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
The Spurs had taken the hearts of the Heat and
not even the white hot home crowd could revive them.
San Antonio shot fifty seven percent in Game four, a
small drop off from the fifty nine in Game three,
and won even more comfortably by twenty one points.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Green Fine split up beautiful feet at Dawl.
Speaker 10 (06:35):
In the finish shot.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
San Antonio has a double figure lead here in game four.
They've had a double figure lead in each game. Was
a series. Oh what a beautiful look for Boris d
ol time out.
Speaker 10 (06:48):
The time out called by Eric Spolster.
Speaker 9 (06:51):
You guys are doing a great job of moving the
ball as usual.
Speaker 10 (06:55):
Now we got a lead again.
Speaker 9 (06:57):
It doesn't mean to be conservative. It means we don't
need to to make them guard.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
And it wasn't just the ball movement that made the
Spurs offense nearly unguardable this series. It wasn't just that
Danny Green and Patty Mills and manager Nobli were all
hitting their perimeter shots. There was one particular emerging force
that officially tipped the scales in the Spurs direction.
Speaker 6 (07:18):
Mills not that time.
Speaker 12 (07:20):
Leonard on the follow slam Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Wow, he came out of nowhere and have it at home.
Kawhi Leonard, in his third season, was becoming an offensive
force matching what was already a defensive Player of the
Year caliber defense. There's an easy to find clip from
the twenty thirteen finals of Lebron James turning to the
scorers table as Leonard was re entering Game five and
(07:43):
responding with a noticeable WinCE. According to Bonner, that was
pretty much every player's reaction to seeing Kawhi.
Speaker 11 (07:51):
I felt like Kawhi had everybody's number defensively, To be
honest with you, like, I remember my first time playing
against Kawhi when he was just to skinny rookie.
Speaker 9 (08:01):
It was the lockout year, so like everybody just came
in in December. There was no like off season team
workouts or training camp or anything really I was like,
all right, get you got a few days to get ready,
and then we're going to start playing all these games
back to back to backs, the whole nine.
Speaker 11 (08:18):
And I remember, like normally I see like a skinny
rookie come in, I'm gonna try to beast him. And
I remember I got the ball and I'd just like,
I'm just going to drive right through Kawhi and I
drove into his chest and it was like driving into
a brick wall.
Speaker 9 (08:35):
And I remember the first hit.
Speaker 11 (08:37):
I got knocked back and thinking like wait, what, how
is that physically possible? And then the second time, I'm like,
I'm gonna do it again. I go and he already
had the ball from me and was going in the
other direction. He just ripped me with his giant hands.
It was right, So like immediately I'm like, all right,
this guy, this is a different type of cat right here.
(08:58):
I would not want to have him guarding me. So
I'm sure Lebron or anybody else in the league would
have that same attitude inside.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Chummers third man to the rim Anderson w from.
Speaker 9 (09:08):
Behind by Leonard Kawhi.
Speaker 11 (09:11):
That series offensively grew up because he was able to
just go get buckets on offense you mentioned, Yeah, we
did rely on the beautiful game and ball movement, but
we had possessions where if that's all we had, would
have been dead possessions. But Kawhi could get the ball
(09:33):
in a position and just go make something happen and score,
go into the basket, or he got confidence in his
three point shot, especially from the corners or his little
pull up jumpers. It really clicked for him offensively. And yeah,
I mean playing team basketball on offense and point five
in the beautiful game and all that's great, but at
(09:56):
certain points in the playoffs, the game is slower, it's physical.
You need guys that can just go get you a bucket,
and Kawhi was that for us, became that for us
in that series letters drive finish.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
In games one and two, Leonard didn't even crack double figures,
scoring nine points in each of them, but in game
three he led the Spurs with twenty nine and somehow
was more dominant in Game four with twenty points, fourteen rebounds,
three assists, three steals and three block shots.
Speaker 9 (10:29):
You know you made some shots.
Speaker 13 (10:30):
You played your z.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
There couldn't be more FRAUDI of Game five in San
Antonio would feel very much like Lebron's first title, but
in reverse. The same way the Thunder effectively conceded to Miami.
By Game five and twenty twelve, the Heat had nothing
left for the Spurs in this one. Lebron summoned his
powers for a thirty one ten to five line, but
(10:54):
Bosh and Wade could only combine for twenty four points,
while no other Heat player hit double figure. The Spurs
would celebrate their fifth championship in franchise history, beating Miami
in five games behind Leonard as the finals MVP.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
The San Antonio Spurs are the world champions.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
The Spurs of capture their fifth and THEA championship.
Speaker 7 (11:21):
Oh oh my god, Oh my god.
Speaker 14 (11:23):
That's that's what it's about.
Speaker 15 (11:25):
Baby, right, yes worthy.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Multiple time champions Greg Popovich, Tony Parker, and Tim Duncan
discussed how meaningful this title was after the heartbreak of
losing to Miami the previous season.
Speaker 10 (11:40):
As every championship is different, and all the other ones
were special and the groups were great, but this had
to be the sweetest just because of what we endured
last year.
Speaker 16 (11:49):
That's the sweetest championship is my favorite one out of
my four. Because of what happened last year and has
been seven years. We celebrating like as first, our first win.
Speaker 17 (12:02):
This one was more special than any others, the journey
that we've been through in the last two years, everything
together because of the time between the championships. I appreciate
every game more. I appreciate every accomplishment knowing that it
might be the last time I do it. You put
all those things together, and it makes this one that
much more special for me.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Afterward, while the Spurs were rejoicing with their home fans,
the Heat players were coming to grips with what felt
like an ending. It certainly was a conclusion for Shane Battier, Well,
I retired.
Speaker 18 (12:30):
I knew I was retiring, you know. So that was
my last game, and I knew I knew probably going
into that into training camp that year. This was probably
my last game. I probably should have retired after his
sixth series in game seven years before. Looking back at it,
I probably sho k off just walked off, But I said,
I'm on one more year, you know, and like I
(12:53):
wasn't on the grind anymore. My kids are getting older.
I get to the gym, I say, I still like
being here today, you know, I still want to play
the game, and so like, when you're not willing to
make that grind anymore and make those sacrifices, you're cheating
the game. And you could cheat the game, you shouldn't
be playing. And that was sort of like, not only
my perspective, but I think all of all of us.
(13:14):
We cheated the championship path in protocol and we still
almost want it, which is funny. But we lose that
game five in San Antonio and there was no one
who was mad at that. We all just kind of
like collectively sighed and said, man, that was an amazing run,
and we all sort of felt that it was over.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Looking back, the entire four year run felt like a
constant test of the Heat culture that members of the
organization constantly speak about. The team that embraces conflict and
ignores outside opinions and plays harder and smarter defensively just
couldn't maintain that necessary edge for any longer. The never
ending pressure finally drained a team that was spectacularly defiant
(14:00):
for four seasons. Here's the dean of Heat culture, you,
Donnis Haslam.
Speaker 19 (14:05):
Yeah, No, it was a lot on us mentally physically
and emotionally for those you know, those years playing the
most basketball, playing the longest seasons. You know, I think
we just didn't know how to handle it, you know,
as a unit, you know what I'm saying. I think,
you know, people just think it's just coming together playing basketball,
winning games, And now that's part of what. We didn't
handle the mental part of it very well, you know
(14:25):
what I'm saying. The times that, you know, we should
have took a mental break and got our minds off
it and just you know, refreshed and refilled, you know
what I'm saying. And I think towards the end, we
just started all pouring from an empty cup, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 9 (14:38):
And you can't do that.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
As Haslam stated, the Heat at this point, after four
long seasons, didn't appear to have the necessary fight to
match the Spurs in the two thousand and four team finals.
So what did that mean for the future of this
team and this core? From the start, the Heats Big
three bonded to create a shield against the outside noise.
(15:12):
According to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, those three
emerged successful from so many heated battles it was difficult
to imagine summoning that same energy again.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Dwayne seemed tired, well, bronzeemed tired. I think they were
all just tired. There were no breaks. It was four years,
four finals, media tours, all the responsibilities, all the obligations,
all the stuff they got Theirs into, you know, commercially,
as far as endorsements and all that. But there was
never a break. And I think a lot of it
was just fatigue. I think the message had wrung. How okay,
(15:45):
we came together, we proved everybody wrong, we won it twice.
What's left to do? Like they ran out of villains,
Like it was originally the media and the noise, and
then it was losing the Dallas and then you know,
how are we going to get past this? How were
we going to get past that? Once they got past everything,
they ran out of things to hate.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
They were also starting to run out of their reliable
supporting cast. It wasn't just Battier, who played his last
game that night in San Antonio. Brian Windhorst of ESPN
noted just how much this team was relying on veterans
to that point, making the prospect of several more years
of deep playoff runs difficult to envision.
Speaker 8 (16:23):
When the series ended, two players essentially announced their retirement
in the locker room, and this has never happened before.
Shan Battier said I'm done, and Ray Allen said I'm
probably done. And then Rashard Lewis, who started games in
that finals, he ended up having to retire too. So
they were basically only playing six or seven guys in
that finals, and three of them were playing the last
(16:45):
games of their career.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
What we didn't know at that time was Game five
in San Antonio would also be the last playoff game
of Bosh's career. The following season, in February of twenty fifteen,
Bosh was diagnosed with the pulmonary embolism, which is when
a blood clot gets dislodged from another part of the
body and travels to the lungs. He wouldn't play again
(17:06):
that season, and in February of twenty sixteen, another blood
clot was found, this time in Bosh's calf. He was
eventually diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, a condition that would
force him to retire from the game. His last NBA
appearance ever was a regular season game on February ninth,
(17:26):
twenty sixteen, also against the Spurs on the same American
Airlines Arena floor, where he grabbed an all timer of
an offensive rebound and kicked it out to a back
pedaling Ray Allen to adjust the course of NBA history.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
James Catchers puts up at three, We'll go recount, flash
back out to Alan history toilet tie game with five
seconds reverting.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
It was a sudden end to a career that was
somehow still blossoming. Bosh was becoming the proto type NBA
big man, having just reached thirty years old in twenty fourteen.
Instead of seeing what he could truly become, we could
only look back to that four year run of finals
to truly assess his value. Here's Haslam.
Speaker 19 (18:15):
Chris Bosh was the key to that bro. A lot
of people don't understand that, you know what I'm saying.
As great as Dwayne was, it is the greatest lebron
is and none of it works without Chris. None of
it works without Chris.
Speaker 10 (18:29):
You know.
Speaker 19 (18:29):
He was probably the guy that sacrificed the most but
played the biggest role for us, if that makes sense.
So I was just thankful for the four years spent
the opportunities, the growth, the evolution, the success, the tears
of joy, the tears of pain. I was just thankful
for the entire experience.
Speaker 13 (18:46):
Man.
Speaker 19 (18:47):
Ain't no hard feelings, no no hate, no no, no,
none of that. I was happy, man. And to this
day we still maintain those relationships because nobody felt the way.
You know what I'm saying. Everybody understood that we had
a great four year run.
Speaker 20 (18:58):
Man.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Everybody benefited, Perhaps no single individual benefited more than Lebron James.
He'd hit more than a few career benchmarks. From twenty
ten to fourteen. He'd won his first two titles and
finals MVPs. He'd won two more regular season MVPs, matching
Wilt Chamberlain's total of four and only leaving Bill Russell,
(19:19):
Michael Jordan, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar having more. He'd have
his two most efficient seasons, sharpening his all around game
with a set of post skills he didn't have upon arrival.
Stan Van Gundy coached against Lebron in all three of
his stops, but said Miami brought out the best defensive
version of James. Lebron twice finished second in Defensive Player
(19:41):
of the Year voting once in two thousand and nine
with Cleveland, losing the award to Orlando's Dwight Howard, and
once with the Heat in twenty thirteen, losing to Memphis's
Mark Gasol. Here's stan Van Gundy on James's defensive development,
and the thing.
Speaker 20 (19:56):
I will say in Miami is Lebron was always he's
I thought a good defender, and certainly under Mike Brown
in Cleveland he was good. But then he got there
and like you said, he didn't have a huge, huge
offensive role, or he did, but not outsized where he
(20:16):
had to do everything. And you know, he got with
other good defenders in a good system, and he was
overwhelming defensively. I mean I thought there were if it
weren't for Dwight at that time. I mean he had
you know, he had years where he could have been
defensive Player of the Year. Material. That's the biggest thing
(20:39):
I saw from him in Miami was his defensive dominance.
And we'd already seen it in Cleveland a little bit,
but he carried a bigger offensive load there so was
probably not able to devote as much to it.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
James had all the tools by twenty fourteen, and a
decent amount of hardware too. It's why the loss to
the Spurs could have been a bit mystifying for him.
How could this Heat team lose in five games so
easily when he remains the most destructive player on the planet.
Did the Heat planned properly enough to maintain championship level
(21:15):
play as he and Bosh enter their thirties, or did
the Spurs just bring James to the realization that it
was time to reassess it all. Jackie McMullin believed the
Spurs forced James to look beyond Miami sooner than expected,
as the league got a glimpse of the future.
Speaker 13 (21:32):
There's no doubt in my mind that that series made
him realize, Yep, we can't beat Nope, we're done. I
believe that with all my heart, and I go back
and look on that series. The stan Antonio Spurs in
Game three played one of the most perfect games of
basketball I've ever seen in my life. It was the
preview for the rest of the league. The NBA is
(21:54):
a copycat league, always has been, and Bob Myers was
going to be the GM of the Warriors. All the
people watching that, everybody said, all right, this is what
we got to do.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
And maybe Lebron was thinking about winning and filling those
voids on his championship mantle at this point, or maybe
he was thinking about what it felt like the previous
time he'd lost in the finals in twenty eleven, when
he found comfort in home. There had been signs, if
you chose to see them as such, during Lebron's time
(22:23):
in Miami that he signaled he might leave sooner than expected.
Windhors saw them and knew a return to Cleveland would
be in Lebron's future. He just wasn't sure exactly when.
Speaker 8 (22:35):
I knew he was seriously considering it, But I was
just so careful is he not to say it? Because
I just I didn't have the greatest feel when he
opted out of his contract like ten days before he
had to, and then when he took meetings, he actually
was at the meetings, but when his agent took the meetings,
(22:57):
I knew that he was seriously considering it, and I
only thought he'd go to Cleveland. I mean, I had
I knew he was going to go back to Cleveland
in the winter of two thousand and twelve, his second
year in Miami. I didn't know when it would be.
And I really did think that he might try to
give the Heat one more year because boj and Wade
were still in their primes. There were still some p
(23:19):
things that the Heat could have done in free agency
to turn over the team, and they had kind of
done that. They had drafted, They'd moved up in the
draft to draft another guard, They'd signed a couple of
free agents. I thought he might give the Heat one
more year, but I did think he'd go back to Cleveland.
I just didn't want to be the guy who said
that he was going to go back and then he
didn't go back.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
The next year, the Heat had secured free agents Josh
McRoberts and former Pacers rival Danny Granger. They even drafted
Shabbaz Napier out of Yukon, someone Lebron had mentioned was
his favorite player in the draft. But James's desire to
chase championships didn't dwindle after two rings. It only grew stronger.
(23:57):
Here's battier again.
Speaker 18 (23:58):
Lebron has had more expectations around his career than anyone
in the history of maybe sports, and he's delivered and
then so okay, and so his his scorecard is different.
But the way he judged, the way judges himself.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
It's different.
Speaker 18 (24:13):
And I think in his heart he knew the only
way to get to Jordan the conversation with Jordan was
to go back to Cleveland and win one there, because
you know when winning one in Cleveland is worth two
in Chicago discause of their history, and it was, and
so I think Lebron was playing a bigger game. I
think he's always felt that he wanted to give one
(24:36):
to UH, to the Calves. So like I never thought
that he was going to go to like l A
from Miami or or somewhere else. I think I thought that,
like if he left, he would he would go back
to Cleveland. It's not something like he'd talk about. We
didn't talk about it in the locker room or anything
like that. It was just a feeling that like, yeah, okay,
that makes sense, and like I wasn't I didn't begrudge him,
(24:56):
and I totally understood.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Lebron became a free agent and in late June of
twenty fourteen, when he exercised an early termination option in
his contract. He held free agent meetings with teams in
Las Vegas in early July, including one with Heat team
president pat Riley. Some believe Lebron had his decision made
by the time he met with the Heat Brass, but
in the same way, James was believed to be hesitant
(25:20):
up until the moment he said I'm taking my talents
to South Beach. Tim Reynolds believes James wanted to be
certain he was making the correct choice.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
He went through all that in Vegas to say, am
I doing the right thing? I think he was just
being a savvy investor doing his homework at that point.
I don't think it was a charade. I don't think
he was wasting anybody's time. I don't think it was
mean spirited. I don't think it was hollow. I think
his mind was pretty much made up. But he wanted
(25:50):
to make sure that he was absolutely doing the right thing.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
So on July eleventh, twenty fourteen, Lebron made it official
with a story told to Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated.
He was heading back to his home base of Northeast
Ohio to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He'd take what
he learned in Miami and try to transfer those championship
habits to the Caves, and in doing so, he ended
(26:14):
one of the most entertaining and league shifting four year
stretches the NBA has ever seen. Here's Windhorst.
Speaker 8 (26:22):
What a wonderful time in the history of the NBA.
The Miami Heat. That run was such an influential and
pivotal and historical time. They had a lot of amazing
things happen, not only on the basketball court, but just culturally.
You know the Harlem Shake video. You know, the incredible
(26:44):
Game six Ray Allen shot. It's a historic NBA moment.
The amazing Game seven where you know, Duncan and Lebron
are going back and forth at each other. I mean,
what else can you ask for? You know, the back
and forth with the Celtics, the back and forth with
the Bulls. So many big games in Miami, those big
playoff nights with the entire arena dressed in white and
(27:08):
seven Nation Army, you know, rocking on the sound system.
I mean, these are you know, memories that will forever
last for people who were involved with it. I mean,
it was four years, it felt like more. It ended
abruptly and unfortunately, but I don't think anybody truly associated
with it, whether it was people within the Heat organization
(27:29):
or the fans or Lebron himself. I don't think they
would have changed anything. I think they're glad everything happened.
You know, the Heat had some bad breaks a little
bit after that that you know, had nothing to do
with Lebron, and then he obviously left them in a
tough state. They had to rebuild a little bit. But
I don't think they regretted that. I think everything that
they did to get that four year run was worth it.
(27:49):
And those banners are up there. Those banners are up there,
and those four finals runs are there, and so it
was a real piece of NBA history those four years.
It probably was the right length the time. You know,
it was just long enough for people didn't quite get
sick of it, and they were entertained by it, and
everybody was kind of able to still have other acts
in their careers after that.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
What Lebron James did in announcing his return to Cleveland
following four years and two titles in Miami was closed
the loop on what would end up a heartwarming tale.
His return meant more than any apology. It was the
giant hug those two sides really needed to experience after
the hurt caused by the decision. But for the Heat
(28:37):
and their fans, it was an entirely different feeling. There
was a sudden longing because they knew those four years
couldn't be recreated anytime soon, not without Lebron. And then
you were forced to make the immediate assessment, did the
Heat get everything out of their time with Lebron? And
what would have happened if he stayed for a bit longer.
Speaker 6 (28:58):
You know, we went to four straight. Five was in
four years, and you know, we're not discrediting what we
was able to accomplish in these four years. We lost
one we won too, and we lost another one, you know,
and take fifty percent, you know, in four years. You know,
in championships any day, obviously you want to win all
of them, but that's just the nature of the game.
(29:19):
You win some, you lose some. You know, you just
got to come back the next year and you know,
and be better as an individual, as a team, you know,
and go from there. But you know, I know, me
and d Wade and c B you know, not proud
of the way we played, you know, and all three
of us, you know, that's the last thing we're thinking about,
(29:42):
is what's going on this summer.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Rachel Nichols was there for the Heat finale in twenty
fourteen and did since there was a bit left on
the table for that team.
Speaker 21 (29:52):
It felt a little bit like a lost opportunity when
he left. I mean, they had done so much, they
had won two titles. S say, oh, gee, you know
they went on this big, grand adventure and didn't get
anything out of it. You would never say that, but
it did feel like there could be more. And as
someone who loves watching sports partly to get to watch
(30:14):
people reach their full potential, for that team, it felt
like there could have been more and it would have
been fun to see that, and that if the air
conditioning in the building during one of those final games
hadn't failed, that possibly that series could have gone differently.
(30:34):
It definitely felt like that at the time, and so
standing in the locker room after they lost that final game,
it is the quietest postgame locker room I have been in,
and I have been in all kinds of losing locker rooms,
but that was so pin drop quiet. I think in
part because everyone felt, oh, this could just not be
(30:57):
the end of this final series of this season. This
could be the end, and I think it was already
hanging in the air.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
But remember when you Donnis Haslam said everybody benefited from
James's tenure in Miami, Well, that includes the Heat organization.
Lebron didn't just learn how to win in Miami. He
showed everyone just how prepared the Heat organization was to
build winners. It was a symbiotic relationship that would be
confirmed six years later when Lebron and the Lakers faced
(31:29):
off with Eric Spolster in the Miami Heat in the
NBA Finals. Here's Rachel Nichols.
Speaker 21 (31:34):
It's interesting he would later go on to stay that
he felt like going to Miami was his four years
of college right, that he never got that experience, that
that's where he learned to be a grown up, That's
where he learned to be a professional in that way.
And I don't think that was necessarily a knock on
the Cleveland organization as it had been. I think it
was more about what the Miami Heat actually offered. I
think that Heat culture expression is not just something that
(31:56):
people in Miami state to make themselves feel better.
Speaker 13 (31:58):
It is real.
Speaker 21 (31:59):
It is a level of professionalism in that organization that
just doesn't exist in other places throughout sports. And I
think he felt like that so significantly changed him as
a player, as a person. It was his first time
significantly away from home that he then felt launched to
go back out into the world and do other things.
Speaker 13 (32:21):
Now.
Speaker 21 (32:21):
I don't know in the moment how people in Miami
felt about that comparison, because it does feel a little
bit like, oh, you came here for college. Great, thanks
a lot. We actually thought this is a long term marriage,
but the fact that he was I think maybe it
came out sounding a little flipped to some people in Florida.
But I do think the expression of what he was
trying to say had so much respect layered in it.
(32:44):
And I think that without that Miami experienced, Lebron James
would be a completely different player, a completely different human.
And I think to say that it is one of
the most important parts of a very long and interesting
and very story is not an understatement at all. The
Miami Heat are part of Lebron James, and Lebron James
(33:04):
is always going to be part of my Heat.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Of course, James will forever be linked with the Heat.
His image is in so many parts of the team's arena.
There's a banner marking his twenty twelve Olympic gold medal
in the rafters right along with the championship banners he
helped raise, and his number six will likely get retired
in Miami once he officially hangs it up. What he
(33:27):
accomplished in Miami remains the most successful four year stretch
of his career and the closest thing to a sports
dynasty South Florida has seen since the Miami Dolphins in
the early nineteen seventies, and yet it'll forever be thought
of with some question marks. Dan Lebtard of Metal Arc
Media believes those Heat teams did just enough to satiate
(33:50):
a rabid fan base, but also left just enough on
the table to wonder if there should have been more.
It puts even further perspective on how my unumenttal that
Bosh offensive rebound and Ray Allen three pointer in Game
six really were.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
Here's Levitard, that team would have been a historic underachiever
if not for that shot. One title would not have
been enough for everything that was, the coverage, the noise
around that basketball team as it was izzy. I feel
like two two championships is sort of a push. I
(34:28):
feel like it's a tie on people who hated the
Heat versus people who love the heat. Everyone walks away
with the unsatisfied feeling of that wasn't an overachievement, It
wasn't an underachievement. It was just sort of like, eh,
two out of four. That's pretty good, but probably could
have and should have been more. Probably if I had
(34:50):
asked Chris Bosh and Lebron James and Dwayne Wade when
they were dancing on that stage in Arena and a
party before it all started, hey, if you guys win two,
how's that going to feel? My guess is they would
have said not enough. My guess is that they would
have said, we got to win more than that. It's
not going to just be too is it? Later on,
Golden State and some other teams would come and do
(35:13):
things that were similar, but they started it. The play
of San Antonio in that series at the end was
such a vengeant storm of pent up hostility and anger
because they thought they should have won the last time
they played that. That's the best basketball team I've ever seen.
(35:35):
That's the best basketball play I've ever seen. The team
that engulfed them at the end, the Heat team that
was tired, and I don't really understand this part is
he I don't understand why the winning of championships is
so hard that teams like Golden State at the end
break apart, because it's just too emotionally, mentally, physically draining
(35:56):
to play in that pressure cooker for that long.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
One of the notes James seemed to take with him
was the need for superstar level teammates in a league
that was now trying to recreate the heat model. Lebron
created another buzzworthy trio once he got to Cleveland, with
former number one pick Kyrie Irving already on board and
all star Kevin Love getting traded from Minnesota. Here's Jackie McMullen.
Speaker 13 (36:21):
I really believe that that win by the Spurs changed
the course of NBA history because Lebron was moving on,
and what better place to go than the place he
spurned in the first place. Let's make it all right,
Let's keep that white hat on, nice and tight and
go back to Cleveland and save the day with a
young Kyrie Irving, who at that point we thought his
(36:42):
future was limitless, and Kevin Love, who was in the
prime of his career and was the prototypical stretch for
I mean that was the way the league was going.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
While Miami would be left reeling as a sports town,
pat Riley would attempt to make the recovery from Lebron's
exit not nearly as painful. He'd sign Luell Ding and
All Star with the Bulls to replace James, and he'd
keep Wade and Bosh on board, which was no easy
feat given the sudden question marks around the team, and
(37:14):
for a city that embraced Lebron while the rest of
the country was throwing jabs and a lot more in
his direction. There must have been a hint of pride
escaping Miami as the rest of the country also realized, Hey,
this Lebron James wasn't a bad guy after all, here's
Rachel Nichols.
Speaker 21 (37:33):
It was disappointing for the city of Miami and for
the heat and for the potential that what might have been.
On the other hand, I was there in Cleveland when
he was introduced back in Cleveland and did a big
event for his charity, which as we know, turned into
his school. It's an incredible, incredible organization and the feeling
and love of him back full circle in Cleveland, and
(37:57):
I remember people they handed out little lights to people
and springing their little lights, and it felt very much like, Okay,
I understand why he felt like part of his story
had to come back here and why there was unfinished business.
So for me in that moment, as someone who was
covering him extremely closely and covering the Miami heat extremely closely,
(38:19):
it felt like one of those both things can be
true moments. It felt like, Gosh, I love the alternate
sliding doors universe where he stayed in Miami and would
have seen what would have happened. I also got this
universe where he went back to Cleveland and we would
later see win a title. There was a pretty great
basketball story also.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
That story arc peaked with a Cleveland championship in twenty
sixteen and Lebron telling the people of that city it
was for them.
Speaker 22 (38:47):
I don't know why the man above give me it
the artist role, but there's nothing a man above don't
put your situations that you can't handle. And I just
kept that same positive attitude, like instead of saying why
melet's say and this is what he wanted me to do,
and uh, Cleveland, this is for.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
You and for Miami. All that remained was time to
look back at that Heat team's legacy, which way did
after the twenty fourteen finals.
Speaker 23 (39:19):
Well, it's uh, man, we didn't know what to expect,
you know when we decided to become teammates years ago.
You know, we just knew that we felt as individuals
that we can do it, that we can put our
egos to the side and and not care about the
individual part of the game and become a great team
(39:40):
and become two leaders of that team. It's been a
hell of a ride in these four years, you know.
And you know we when we team, when we decided
to play together, we didn't say, okay, let's try for
four years. You know, we said, let's just play together
and let's see what happens. And we've been successful in
the sense of what we what we try to accomplish,
and as going to the finals and.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
We did it.
Speaker 23 (40:02):
We would love it be four for four. It's just
not It wasn't in the cars for us to be there.
But you know, we have no other reason not to
be proud of each other for what we've accomplished on
and off the court for these four years together.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Tim Reynolds says, despite all the attention on Dwayne Wade,
Lebron James, and Chris Bosh that the concept of team
around those Miami Heat squads was always the primary focus.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
What you saw was four years of a lot of selflessness.
And it's so funny that Lebron gets accused of being
selfish all the time. Like Lebron could have had fifty
thousand points by now. Lebron could have a scoring record
long ago if he wanted it. He's an incredibly selfless player,
and he got other people to sign on. Dwayne turned
over his franchise to someone that would never happen today.
(40:51):
Chris went from a one to a three in an
instant and did so happily to be part of something bigger.
They were part of something bigger than themselves for four
years and that's why that and overcoming all the hate,
all the noise, all the challenge, how twenty nine other
teams were lined up to beat you every single night.
(41:12):
They embraced it, and I don't think you'll see something
like that again.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
There's been other Superstar course since that have failed to
win titles, in part because of ego clashes, but just
the fact that teams were able to follow the path
of this Heat team an attempt to recreate the run
for themselves speaks to the legacy left by Miami Here's
Rachel Nichols.
Speaker 21 (41:33):
People certainly point to that moment as the moment that
players took control of their own destiny. Now you can
go back and Nippick and argue, well, hey, Kareem of
Bill Jabbar wanted to leave Milwaukee. He asked out of
Milwaukee behind the scenes. But he did it behind the scenes.
Nobody knew that at the time. This was a very
public case of players controlling their own destiny, doing it
through free agency, not just waiting for someone else to
(41:55):
trade them. And I think it completely changed the mindset
in both the public side and most importantly in their
fellow players' eyes, of hey, this is what we can do.
And I think that even for the teams later on
that weren't put together that way, I think it made
players feel like they had more power in the game.
And there are some ways that has turned in to
(42:17):
be a problem for the NBA, and there's some ways
that's turned into be incredible for the NBA. And I
think that is the legacy of that team for sure.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
While some would argue player empowerment and star player movement
is a bad thing for the NBA and its fans.
You could also argue what Lebron did was merely a
continuation of what the late former commissioner David Stern did
for the league by highlighting the individuals over the teams.
Lebron effectively said to basketball fans, you can be a
(42:47):
fan of me, even if you don't love the jersey
I'm wearing. Shane Battier didn't love the thought of Lebron
joining the Heat initially, but his thoughts changed with the times,
especially after three years playing beside James.
Speaker 18 (43:01):
And like, this is not this is not your father's
you know sports leagues, and I grew up the same
way in Detroit and cheering for the Tigers and Lions
and Pistons, And you know, he saw these guys drafted
and they stayed their retire career. And it's just a
different era and no better, no worse than what we
grew up with. But you know it was it is
(43:22):
amazing to see the joy Lebron is brought to the
world and game of basketball. And like he was an
unbelievable teammate and one of my favorite teamates of all time,
and he could have been really messed up with all
the attention that he got and expectations. He's actually a
really good human being and a great teammate and a champion,
(43:42):
a winner, and so to be part of that journey
for three years, that's, you know, it's something I'll never
forget and something I'm super proud of and still proud
to be friends with all those guys and consider them
some of my favorite teammates of all time.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
But were they one of the greatest teams of all time?
They never ended up setting the record for wins in
a season. They came up seven games short of winning
the most consecutively. They even stopped their championship count after
not two But just having James, Wade and Bosh on
one roster is enough to lump that team into the conversation.
(44:21):
Mario Chalmers is surprisingly objective on this subject.
Speaker 14 (44:25):
My biggest thing about these questions it depends the era.
If I say, if you take it back to eighties
nineties areas, I don't think we're one of the top
teams just because we don't have that physical presence like
the Kams and David Robinson's the Shacks and all that.
But if you come to our air the two thousands
and all that where we shoot in the most threes
(44:45):
was movement.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Everybody's playing a high picked roll. Everybody shoot, and I
think we'll be in the top three.
Speaker 14 (44:51):
I think out there with the Bulls and the Lakers
and teams like that.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
The epilogue of this four year Heat run is actually
still being written. Lebron James hasn't retired as of June
twenty twenty three, ten years after his second title in
Miami and with single titles with the Cavaliers and Lakers.
We still don't know if he'll finish with more Heat
championships than with any other franchise, and the lasting effect
(45:16):
for the Heat seems to be continuing, as Miami has
taken two more trips to the finals since then, most
recently getting there as an eight seed in twenty twenty
three before losing in five games to the Denver Nuggets.
And they did it around a player in Jimmy Butler
that Wade helped convince to come to Miami. You could
even say the Miami Heat have established themselves as the
(45:39):
premier organization in the NBA over the last twenty years,
since the year Lebron was drafted first, Bosh fourth, and
Wade fifth with.
Speaker 15 (45:48):
The first pick in the two thousand and three NBA Draft.
The Cleveland Cavaliers select Lebron James with the fourth pick
in the two thousand and three NBA Draft. The Toronto
Raptors select Chris Bosh from Georgia Tech University with the
(46:12):
fifth pick in the two thousand and three NBA Draft,
the Miami Heat select Dwayne Wade from Marquette University.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
The Heat have made nine conference finals since then, been
to seven NBA Finals, won three championships, have the reputation
of being a winning franchise, are among the most attractive
free agent destinations, and have a coach that's widely considered
the best in the league.
Speaker 12 (46:41):
So as a Game seven, they stand eye to eye
with history and they did not blink. The Heat are
going to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 22 (46:53):
That's a proud moment for our franchise.
Speaker 19 (46:55):
It gives me great pleasure to present the twenty twenty
three Eastern Conference Championship JOPHI to your Miami Heat.
Speaker 3 (47:02):
I remember covering the Heat's first championship for the Miami
Herald in two thousand and six and thinking how big
of a deal it was that the franchise that frustrated
me and my friends so badly growing up because they
couldn't get past the Knicks or couldn't matter as much
as the Bulls had finally broken through, And then twenty
ten came. Those next four years made the Heat into
(47:25):
a national brand and made winning titles in Miami realistic
expectations for the next decade. It's by far the longest
stretch of real success for a South Florida professional team
in fifty years, and it started with one very important decision.
The Miami Heat from twenty ten to twenty fourteen changed
(47:48):
the organization, changed the NBA, and changed the city of
Miami forever, even though it lasted only four years. Even
though that ended up not being the most decorated team
of that decade, still Miami wouldn't trade those four years
for anything. Just to ask DJ Khalig.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
I wasn't upset at all.
Speaker 9 (48:12):
All we do is win.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
You gotta remember we won.
Speaker 9 (48:16):
We're winners.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
We have banners like there's nothing no one can ever
say to us ever in light. Listen, just know we're
the biggest in the game. I told you from Miami.
Speaker 9 (48:27):
We different. We don't see nobody.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Like we don't.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
It's nothing you could say, it's.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Nothing you could do. Were the biggest four years of heat.
It's a production of iHeartRadio and the NBA
My relationship with him is incredible. D Wade, He's a
brother of mine. He supports everything that we do. You know,
we call him, you know, Wade County Day County like
because he really represents hometown and we.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Love that about him.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Lebron chains another brother that just him and his whole team,
Maverick and Rich Paul, It's the whole Lebron family. We've
always showed me love and I was blessed to do
like commercials with Lebron, and we've done a lot of
great things outside of basketball. Anytime I've seen Chris Bosh
out there, another brother that just with pure lover, always
(00:42):
showed me love and the legend man. We had a
squad that was unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The squad DJ Khaled was so proud of. They did
seem unstoppable. Even after a game Lebron James was forced
out of because of the ninety five degree temperature inside
San Antonio's arena, Miammi just went on to win Game
two and were right back in the same position as
they were the previous season. Welcome back to four years
of Heat. This is episode eight, the finale, as the
(01:15):
Heat and Spurs prepared for Game three in Miami. There
wasn't a lot that differentiated the twenty fourteen Finals from
the twenty thirteen version. The Spurs started the series with
home court advantage, which was different, but by the time
they'd reached Miami for Game three, they'd lost that, and
there's no way the insertion of Boris Diao into the
(01:35):
starting light up ahead of Thiago Splitter would make that
much of a difference for the Spurs. Even an older
team like Miami can get the necessary boost from their
now seasoned home fans to carry them through. Plus the
allrea of a three peat, an accomplishment that hadn't been
executed since Kobe and Shacks Lakers from two thousand to
two thousand and two, would provide just the necessary motivation
(01:59):
given how close Miami was to finishing the job.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Welcome to Miami, Game three of the NBA Finals, Let's
go Heat.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Well, those thoughts lasted for about the next twelve minutes
of basketball. Once the series returned to the Heat's house.
This is where the nice guy Spurs would hand out
one of the most sobering defeats of this Heat era,
a different kind of stunning than the MAVs in twenty
eleven The first quarter alone told the story of this series.
(02:31):
In it, the Spurs shot eighty seven percent. I'll say
that again. The Spurs shot eighty seven percent in the
first quarter of an NBA Finals game. They missed two
of their fifteen shots. They missed none of their three pointers.
The Spurs assisted on nine of their thirteen baskets in
the period, and for good measure on the defensive end,
(02:52):
blocked two heat shots and grabbed two steals.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Mills, He'll penetrate Moule's pass left corner.
Speaker 6 (02:57):
Letard, great ball bo but by the Spurs.
Speaker 7 (03:01):
The WHII.
Speaker 8 (03:02):
Leonard loads up and knocks down.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
A three thirty eight to twenty three Spurs pike fifteen.
Speaker 9 (03:08):
Ye great executioner, great execution.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
This is a Spurs team that is running the offense
to perfection.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
On the heat side, Lebron James nearly matched the Spurs
brilliance in that opening quarter. He missed one of his
six attempts, scoring fourteen points with an assist and no turnovers.
The rest of the heat weren't terrible either. Miami shot
fifty three percent for the period and somehow found themselves
trailing by sixteen after just twelve minutes of play. There
(03:40):
was barely a drop off in the second quarter for
San Antonio. The Spurs shot an NBA Finals record for
a half of nearly seventy six percent and led at
halftime seventy one to fifty. The Diau addition to the
starting lineup made San Antonio's ball movement as crisp as
it had been all season, and at just the perfect time,
(04:02):
they were exercising demons in the most enjoyable way possible.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Leonard finish a straw with the right half.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
The Heat closed to within seven points in the third
quarter and within ten in the fourth, but the Spurs
always responded with devastating shots and extended runs. In the end,
the Spurs won Game three by nineteen points, taking back
the home court edge and snatching back the mental advantage.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
It has just been one of the great offensive starts
in NBA playoff history. Spurs with a huge response here
in Game three and now lead the twenty fourteen NBA
Finals two games to one. Well the resounding road win
here in Miami.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Greg Popovich summed up his team's near perfect performance in
the postgame press conference.
Speaker 10 (04:51):
I don't think we'll ever shoot seventy six percent in
a half. Ever, again, it's the NBA Finals. Well, you
can't do be me and ocre out there if you
want to win a game. Everybody's going to play well.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
But even that performance wasn't enough to fully convince Boris
Diau that the Spurs had taken control of the series.
Speaker 7 (05:11):
We felt that we played great, but we know what
it is and we know the playoffs. It's not because
game three we shooting seventy five and everything goes well,
that Game four is going to be the same because
we saw the service before. Sometimes you win by twenty
in the next game you lose by twenty, so you
still got a you know, state focused.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
DL's teammate Matt Bonner would play sparingly in this series,
but he was just as engaged as any of his teammates,
who all still felt the pain of losing those last
two games in American Airlines Arena a year earlier.
Speaker 11 (05:41):
We got home court advantage back, and I don't want
to say we were satisfied with that, but you know,
if we went back to San Antonio two to two
with home court advantage, we would have been We're like,
all right, we did what we came here to do,
and I remember Coach Pop read that on us and
brought everybody in and was in our face like we
(06:01):
didn't come here to get one We came here to
get two wins, you know, So wipe the smiles off
your faces and let's be ready to play Game four.
And then we came out that Game four is really
the game where we ripped their hearts out.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
The Spurs had taken the hearts of the Heat and
not even the white hot home crowd could revive them.
San Antonio shot fifty seven percent in Game four, a
small drop off from the fifty nine in Game three,
and won even more comfortably by twenty one points.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Green Fine split up beautiful feet at Dawl.
Speaker 10 (06:35):
In the finish shot.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
San Antonio has a double figure lead here in game four.
They've had a double figure lead in each game. Was
a series. Oh what a beautiful look for Boris d
ol time out.
Speaker 10 (06:48):
The time out called by Eric Spolster.
Speaker 9 (06:51):
You guys are doing a great job of moving the
ball as usual.
Speaker 10 (06:55):
Now we got a lead again.
Speaker 9 (06:57):
It doesn't mean to be conservative. It means we don't
need to to make them guard.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
And it wasn't just the ball movement that made the
Spurs offense nearly unguardable this series. It wasn't just that
Danny Green and Patty Mills and manager Nobli were all
hitting their perimeter shots. There was one particular emerging force
that officially tipped the scales in the Spurs direction.
Speaker 6 (07:18):
Mills not that time.
Speaker 12 (07:20):
Leonard on the follow slam Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Wow, he came out of nowhere and have it at home.
Kawhi Leonard, in his third season, was becoming an offensive
force matching what was already a defensive Player of the
Year caliber defense. There's an easy to find clip from
the twenty thirteen finals of Lebron James turning to the
scorers table as Leonard was re entering Game five and
(07:43):
responding with a noticeable WinCE. According to Bonner, that was
pretty much every player's reaction to seeing Kawhi.
Speaker 11 (07:51):
I felt like Kawhi had everybody's number defensively, To be
honest with you, like, I remember my first time playing
against Kawhi when he was just to skinny rookie.
Speaker 9 (08:01):
It was the lockout year, so like everybody just came
in in December. There was no like off season team
workouts or training camp or anything really I was like,
all right, get you got a few days to get ready,
and then we're going to start playing all these games
back to back to backs, the whole nine.
Speaker 11 (08:18):
And I remember, like normally I see like a skinny
rookie come in, I'm gonna try to beast him. And
I remember I got the ball and I'd just like,
I'm just going to drive right through Kawhi and I
drove into his chest and it was like driving into
a brick wall.
Speaker 9 (08:35):
And I remember the first hit.
Speaker 11 (08:37):
I got knocked back and thinking like wait, what, how
is that physically possible? And then the second time, I'm like,
I'm gonna do it again. I go and he already
had the ball from me and was going in the
other direction. He just ripped me with his giant hands.
It was right, So like immediately I'm like, all right,
this guy, this is a different type of cat right here.
(08:58):
I would not want to have him guarding me. So
I'm sure Lebron or anybody else in the league would
have that same attitude inside.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Chummers third man to the rim Anderson w from.
Speaker 9 (09:08):
Behind by Leonard Kawhi.
Speaker 11 (09:11):
That series offensively grew up because he was able to
just go get buckets on offense you mentioned, Yeah, we
did rely on the beautiful game and ball movement, but
we had possessions where if that's all we had, would
have been dead possessions. But Kawhi could get the ball
(09:33):
in a position and just go make something happen and score,
go into the basket, or he got confidence in his
three point shot, especially from the corners or his little
pull up jumpers. It really clicked for him offensively. And yeah,
I mean playing team basketball on offense and point five
in the beautiful game and all that's great, but at
(09:56):
certain points in the playoffs, the game is slower, it's physical.
You need guys that can just go get you a bucket,
and Kawhi was that for us, became that for us
in that series letters drive finish.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
In games one and two, Leonard didn't even crack double figures,
scoring nine points in each of them, but in game
three he led the Spurs with twenty nine and somehow
was more dominant in Game four with twenty points, fourteen rebounds,
three assists, three steals and three block shots.
Speaker 9 (10:29):
You know you made some shots.
Speaker 13 (10:30):
You played your z.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
There couldn't be more FRAUDI of Game five in San
Antonio would feel very much like Lebron's first title, but
in reverse. The same way the Thunder effectively conceded to Miami.
By Game five and twenty twelve, the Heat had nothing
left for the Spurs in this one. Lebron summoned his
powers for a thirty one ten to five line, but
(10:54):
Bosh and Wade could only combine for twenty four points,
while no other Heat player hit double figure. The Spurs
would celebrate their fifth championship in franchise history, beating Miami
in five games behind Leonard as the finals MVP.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
The San Antonio Spurs are the world champions.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
The Spurs of capture their fifth and THEA championship.
Speaker 7 (11:21):
Oh oh my god, Oh my god.
Speaker 14 (11:23):
That's that's what it's about.
Speaker 15 (11:25):
Baby, right, yes worthy.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Multiple time champions Greg Popovich, Tony Parker, and Tim Duncan
discussed how meaningful this title was after the heartbreak of
losing to Miami the previous season.
Speaker 10 (11:40):
As every championship is different, and all the other ones
were special and the groups were great, but this had
to be the sweetest just because of what we endured
last year.
Speaker 16 (11:49):
That's the sweetest championship is my favorite one out of
my four. Because of what happened last year and has
been seven years. We celebrating like as first, our first win.
Speaker 17 (12:02):
This one was more special than any others, the journey
that we've been through in the last two years, everything
together because of the time between the championships. I appreciate
every game more. I appreciate every accomplishment knowing that it
might be the last time I do it. You put
all those things together, and it makes this one that
much more special for me.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Afterward, while the Spurs were rejoicing with their home fans,
the Heat players were coming to grips with what felt
like an ending. It certainly was a conclusion for Shane Battier, Well,
I retired.
Speaker 18 (12:30):
I knew I was retiring, you know. So that was
my last game, and I knew I knew probably going
into that into training camp that year. This was probably
my last game. I probably should have retired after his
sixth series in game seven years before. Looking back at it,
I probably sho k off just walked off, But I said,
I'm on one more year, you know, and like I
(12:53):
wasn't on the grind anymore. My kids are getting older.
I get to the gym, I say, I still like
being here today, you know, I still want to play
the game, and so like, when you're not willing to
make that grind anymore and make those sacrifices, you're cheating
the game. And you could cheat the game, you shouldn't
be playing. And that was sort of like, not only
my perspective, but I think all of all of us.
(13:14):
We cheated the championship path in protocol and we still
almost want it, which is funny. But we lose that
game five in San Antonio and there was no one
who was mad at that. We all just kind of
like collectively sighed and said, man, that was an amazing run,
and we all sort of felt that it was over.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Looking back, the entire four year run felt like a
constant test of the Heat culture that members of the
organization constantly speak about. The team that embraces conflict and
ignores outside opinions and plays harder and smarter defensively just
couldn't maintain that necessary edge for any longer. The never
ending pressure finally drained a team that was spectacularly defiant
(14:00):
for four seasons. Here's the dean of Heat culture, you,
Donnis Haslam.
Speaker 19 (14:05):
Yeah, No, it was a lot on us mentally physically
and emotionally for those you know, those years playing the
most basketball, playing the longest seasons. You know, I think
we just didn't know how to handle it, you know,
as a unit, you know what I'm saying. I think,
you know, people just think it's just coming together playing basketball,
winning games, And now that's part of what. We didn't
handle the mental part of it very well, you know
(14:25):
what I'm saying. The times that, you know, we should
have took a mental break and got our minds off
it and just you know, refreshed and refilled, you know
what I'm saying. And I think towards the end, we
just started all pouring from an empty cup, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 9 (14:38):
And you can't do that.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
As Haslam stated, the Heat at this point, after four
long seasons, didn't appear to have the necessary fight to
match the Spurs in the two thousand and four team finals.
So what did that mean for the future of this
team and this core? From the start, the Heats Big
three bonded to create a shield against the outside noise.
(15:12):
According to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, those three
emerged successful from so many heated battles it was difficult
to imagine summoning that same energy again.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Dwayne seemed tired, well, bronzeemed tired. I think they were
all just tired. There were no breaks. It was four years,
four finals, media tours, all the responsibilities, all the obligations,
all the stuff they got Theirs into, you know, commercially,
as far as endorsements and all that. But there was
never a break. And I think a lot of it
was just fatigue. I think the message had wrung. How okay,
(15:45):
we came together, we proved everybody wrong, we won it twice.
What's left to do? Like they ran out of villains,
Like it was originally the media and the noise, and
then it was losing the Dallas and then you know,
how are we going to get past this? How were
we going to get past that? Once they got past everything,
they ran out of things to hate.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
They were also starting to run out of their reliable
supporting cast. It wasn't just Battier, who played his last
game that night in San Antonio. Brian Windhorst of ESPN
noted just how much this team was relying on veterans
to that point, making the prospect of several more years
of deep playoff runs difficult to envision.
Speaker 8 (16:23):
When the series ended, two players essentially announced their retirement
in the locker room, and this has never happened before.
Shan Battier said I'm done, and Ray Allen said I'm
probably done. And then Rashard Lewis, who started games in
that finals, he ended up having to retire too. So
they were basically only playing six or seven guys in
that finals, and three of them were playing the last
(16:45):
games of their career.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
What we didn't know at that time was Game five
in San Antonio would also be the last playoff game
of Bosh's career. The following season, in February of twenty fifteen,
Bosh was diagnosed with the pulmonary embolism, which is when
a blood clot gets dislodged from another part of the
body and travels to the lungs. He wouldn't play again
(17:06):
that season, and in February of twenty sixteen, another blood
clot was found, this time in Bosh's calf. He was
eventually diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, a condition that would
force him to retire from the game. His last NBA
appearance ever was a regular season game on February ninth,
(17:26):
twenty sixteen, also against the Spurs on the same American
Airlines Arena floor, where he grabbed an all timer of
an offensive rebound and kicked it out to a back
pedaling Ray Allen to adjust the course of NBA history.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
James Catchers puts up at three, We'll go recount, flash
back out to Alan history toilet tie game with five
seconds reverting.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
It was a sudden end to a career that was
somehow still blossoming. Bosh was becoming the proto type NBA
big man, having just reached thirty years old in twenty fourteen.
Instead of seeing what he could truly become, we could
only look back to that four year run of finals
to truly assess his value. Here's Haslam.
Speaker 19 (18:15):
Chris Bosh was the key to that bro. A lot
of people don't understand that, you know what I'm saying.
As great as Dwayne was, it is the greatest lebron
is and none of it works without Chris. None of
it works without Chris.
Speaker 10 (18:29):
You know.
Speaker 19 (18:29):
He was probably the guy that sacrificed the most but
played the biggest role for us, if that makes sense.
So I was just thankful for the four years spent
the opportunities, the growth, the evolution, the success, the tears
of joy, the tears of pain. I was just thankful
for the entire experience.
Speaker 13 (18:46):
Man.
Speaker 19 (18:47):
Ain't no hard feelings, no no hate, no no, no,
none of that. I was happy, man. And to this
day we still maintain those relationships because nobody felt the way.
You know what I'm saying. Everybody understood that we had
a great four year run.
Speaker 20 (18:58):
Man.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Everybody benefited, Perhaps no single individual benefited more than Lebron James.
He'd hit more than a few career benchmarks. From twenty
ten to fourteen. He'd won his first two titles and
finals MVPs. He'd won two more regular season MVPs, matching
Wilt Chamberlain's total of four and only leaving Bill Russell,
(19:19):
Michael Jordan, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar having more. He'd have
his two most efficient seasons, sharpening his all around game
with a set of post skills he didn't have upon arrival.
Stan Van Gundy coached against Lebron in all three of
his stops, but said Miami brought out the best defensive
version of James. Lebron twice finished second in Defensive Player
(19:41):
of the Year voting once in two thousand and nine
with Cleveland, losing the award to Orlando's Dwight Howard, and
once with the Heat in twenty thirteen, losing to Memphis's
Mark Gasol. Here's stan Van Gundy on James's defensive development,
and the thing.
Speaker 20 (19:56):
I will say in Miami is Lebron was always he's
I thought a good defender, and certainly under Mike Brown
in Cleveland he was good. But then he got there
and like you said, he didn't have a huge, huge
offensive role, or he did, but not outsized where he
(20:16):
had to do everything. And you know, he got with
other good defenders in a good system, and he was
overwhelming defensively. I mean I thought there were if it
weren't for Dwight at that time. I mean he had
you know, he had years where he could have been
defensive Player of the Year. Material. That's the biggest thing
(20:39):
I saw from him in Miami was his defensive dominance.
And we'd already seen it in Cleveland a little bit,
but he carried a bigger offensive load there so was
probably not able to devote as much to it.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
James had all the tools by twenty fourteen, and a
decent amount of hardware too. It's why the loss to
the Spurs could have been a bit mystifying for him.
How could this Heat team lose in five games so
easily when he remains the most destructive player on the planet.
Did the Heat planned properly enough to maintain championship level
(21:15):
play as he and Bosh enter their thirties, or did
the Spurs just bring James to the realization that it
was time to reassess it all. Jackie McMullin believed the
Spurs forced James to look beyond Miami sooner than expected,
as the league got a glimpse of the future.
Speaker 13 (21:32):
There's no doubt in my mind that that series made
him realize, Yep, we can't beat Nope, we're done. I
believe that with all my heart, and I go back
and look on that series. The stan Antonio Spurs in
Game three played one of the most perfect games of
basketball I've ever seen in my life. It was the
preview for the rest of the league. The NBA is
(21:54):
a copycat league, always has been, and Bob Myers was
going to be the GM of the Warriors. All the
people watching that, everybody said, all right, this is what
we got to do.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
And maybe Lebron was thinking about winning and filling those
voids on his championship mantle at this point, or maybe
he was thinking about what it felt like the previous
time he'd lost in the finals in twenty eleven, when
he found comfort in home. There had been signs, if
you chose to see them as such, during Lebron's time
(22:23):
in Miami that he signaled he might leave sooner than expected.
Windhors saw them and knew a return to Cleveland would
be in Lebron's future. He just wasn't sure exactly when.
Speaker 8 (22:35):
I knew he was seriously considering it, But I was
just so careful is he not to say it? Because
I just I didn't have the greatest feel when he
opted out of his contract like ten days before he
had to, and then when he took meetings, he actually
was at the meetings, but when his agent took the meetings,
(22:57):
I knew that he was seriously considering it, and I
only thought he'd go to Cleveland. I mean, I had
I knew he was going to go back to Cleveland
in the winter of two thousand and twelve, his second
year in Miami. I didn't know when it would be.
And I really did think that he might try to
give the Heat one more year because boj and Wade
were still in their primes. There were still some p
(23:19):
things that the Heat could have done in free agency
to turn over the team, and they had kind of
done that. They had drafted, They'd moved up in the
draft to draft another guard, They'd signed a couple of
free agents. I thought he might give the Heat one
more year, but I did think he'd go back to Cleveland.
I just didn't want to be the guy who said
that he was going to go back and then he
didn't go back.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
The next year, the Heat had secured free agents Josh
McRoberts and former Pacers rival Danny Granger. They even drafted
Shabbaz Napier out of Yukon, someone Lebron had mentioned was
his favorite player in the draft. But James's desire to
chase championships didn't dwindle after two rings. It only grew stronger.
(23:57):
Here's battier again.
Speaker 18 (23:58):
Lebron has had more expectations around his career than anyone
in the history of maybe sports, and he's delivered and
then so okay, and so his his scorecard is different.
But the way he judged, the way judges himself.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
It's different.
Speaker 18 (24:13):
And I think in his heart he knew the only
way to get to Jordan the conversation with Jordan was
to go back to Cleveland and win one there, because
you know when winning one in Cleveland is worth two
in Chicago discause of their history, and it was, and
so I think Lebron was playing a bigger game. I
think he's always felt that he wanted to give one
(24:36):
to UH, to the Calves. So like I never thought
that he was going to go to like l A
from Miami or or somewhere else. I think I thought that,
like if he left, he would he would go back
to Cleveland. It's not something like he'd talk about. We
didn't talk about it in the locker room or anything
like that. It was just a feeling that like, yeah, okay,
that makes sense, and like I wasn't I didn't begrudge him,
(24:56):
and I totally understood.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Lebron became a free agent and in late June of
twenty fourteen, when he exercised an early termination option in
his contract. He held free agent meetings with teams in
Las Vegas in early July, including one with Heat team
president pat Riley. Some believe Lebron had his decision made
by the time he met with the Heat Brass, but
in the same way, James was believed to be hesitant
(25:20):
up until the moment he said I'm taking my talents
to South Beach. Tim Reynolds believes James wanted to be
certain he was making the correct choice.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
He went through all that in Vegas to say, am
I doing the right thing? I think he was just
being a savvy investor doing his homework at that point.
I don't think it was a charade. I don't think
he was wasting anybody's time. I don't think it was
mean spirited. I don't think it was hollow. I think
his mind was pretty much made up. But he wanted
(25:50):
to make sure that he was absolutely doing the right thing.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
So on July eleventh, twenty fourteen, Lebron made it official
with a story told to Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated.
He was heading back to his home base of Northeast
Ohio to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He'd take what
he learned in Miami and try to transfer those championship
habits to the Caves, and in doing so, he ended
(26:14):
one of the most entertaining and league shifting four year
stretches the NBA has ever seen. Here's Windhorst.
Speaker 8 (26:22):
What a wonderful time in the history of the NBA.
The Miami Heat. That run was such an influential and
pivotal and historical time. They had a lot of amazing
things happen, not only on the basketball court, but just culturally.
You know the Harlem Shake video. You know, the incredible
(26:44):
Game six Ray Allen shot. It's a historic NBA moment.
The amazing Game seven where you know, Duncan and Lebron
are going back and forth at each other. I mean,
what else can you ask for? You know, the back
and forth with the Celtics, the back and forth with
the Bulls. So many big games in Miami, those big
playoff nights with the entire arena dressed in white and
(27:08):
seven Nation Army, you know, rocking on the sound system.
I mean, these are you know, memories that will forever
last for people who were involved with it. I mean,
it was four years, it felt like more. It ended
abruptly and unfortunately, but I don't think anybody truly associated
with it, whether it was people within the Heat organization
(27:29):
or the fans or Lebron himself. I don't think they
would have changed anything. I think they're glad everything happened.
You know, the Heat had some bad breaks a little
bit after that that you know, had nothing to do
with Lebron, and then he obviously left them in a
tough state. They had to rebuild a little bit. But
I don't think they regretted that. I think everything that
they did to get that four year run was worth it.
(27:49):
And those banners are up there. Those banners are up there,
and those four finals runs are there, and so it
was a real piece of NBA history those four years.
It probably was the right length the time. You know,
it was just long enough for people didn't quite get
sick of it, and they were entertained by it, and
everybody was kind of able to still have other acts
in their careers after that.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
What Lebron James did in announcing his return to Cleveland
following four years and two titles in Miami was closed
the loop on what would end up a heartwarming tale.
His return meant more than any apology. It was the
giant hug those two sides really needed to experience after
the hurt caused by the decision. But for the Heat
(28:37):
and their fans, it was an entirely different feeling. There
was a sudden longing because they knew those four years
couldn't be recreated anytime soon, not without Lebron. And then
you were forced to make the immediate assessment, did the
Heat get everything out of their time with Lebron? And
what would have happened if he stayed for a bit longer.
Speaker 6 (28:58):
You know, we went to four straight. Five was in
four years, and you know, we're not discrediting what we
was able to accomplish in these four years. We lost
one we won too, and we lost another one, you know,
and take fifty percent, you know, in four years. You know,
in championships any day, obviously you want to win all
of them, but that's just the nature of the game.
(29:19):
You win some, you lose some. You know, you just
got to come back the next year and you know,
and be better as an individual, as a team, you know,
and go from there. But you know, I know, me
and d Wade and c B you know, not proud
of the way we played, you know, and all three
of us, you know, that's the last thing we're thinking about,
(29:42):
is what's going on this summer.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Rachel Nichols was there for the Heat finale in twenty
fourteen and did since there was a bit left on
the table for that team.
Speaker 21 (29:52):
It felt a little bit like a lost opportunity when
he left. I mean, they had done so much, they
had won two titles. S say, oh, gee, you know
they went on this big, grand adventure and didn't get
anything out of it. You would never say that, but
it did feel like there could be more. And as
someone who loves watching sports partly to get to watch
(30:14):
people reach their full potential, for that team, it felt
like there could have been more and it would have
been fun to see that, and that if the air
conditioning in the building during one of those final games
hadn't failed, that possibly that series could have gone differently.
(30:34):
It definitely felt like that at the time, and so
standing in the locker room after they lost that final game,
it is the quietest postgame locker room I have been in,
and I have been in all kinds of losing locker rooms,
but that was so pin drop quiet. I think in
part because everyone felt, oh, this could just not be
(30:57):
the end of this final series of this season. This
could be the end, and I think it was already
hanging in the air.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
But remember when you Donnis Haslam said everybody benefited from
James's tenure in Miami, Well, that includes the Heat organization.
Lebron didn't just learn how to win in Miami. He
showed everyone just how prepared the Heat organization was to
build winners. It was a symbiotic relationship that would be
confirmed six years later when Lebron and the Lakers faced
(31:29):
off with Eric Spolster in the Miami Heat in the
NBA Finals. Here's Rachel Nichols.
Speaker 21 (31:34):
It's interesting he would later go on to stay that
he felt like going to Miami was his four years
of college right, that he never got that experience, that
that's where he learned to be a grown up, That's
where he learned to be a professional in that way.
And I don't think that was necessarily a knock on
the Cleveland organization as it had been. I think it
was more about what the Miami Heat actually offered. I
think that Heat culture expression is not just something that
(31:56):
people in Miami state to make themselves feel better.
Speaker 13 (31:58):
It is real.
Speaker 21 (31:59):
It is a level of professionalism in that organization that
just doesn't exist in other places throughout sports. And I
think he felt like that so significantly changed him as
a player, as a person. It was his first time
significantly away from home that he then felt launched to
go back out into the world and do other things.
Speaker 13 (32:21):
Now.
Speaker 21 (32:21):
I don't know in the moment how people in Miami
felt about that comparison, because it does feel a little
bit like, oh, you came here for college. Great, thanks
a lot. We actually thought this is a long term marriage,
but the fact that he was I think maybe it
came out sounding a little flipped to some people in Florida.
But I do think the expression of what he was
trying to say had so much respect layered in it.
(32:44):
And I think that without that Miami experienced, Lebron James
would be a completely different player, a completely different human.
And I think to say that it is one of
the most important parts of a very long and interesting
and very story is not an understatement at all. The
Miami Heat are part of Lebron James, and Lebron James
(33:04):
is always going to be part of my Heat.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Of course, James will forever be linked with the Heat.
His image is in so many parts of the team's arena.
There's a banner marking his twenty twelve Olympic gold medal
in the rafters right along with the championship banners he
helped raise, and his number six will likely get retired
in Miami once he officially hangs it up. What he
(33:27):
accomplished in Miami remains the most successful four year stretch
of his career and the closest thing to a sports
dynasty South Florida has seen since the Miami Dolphins in
the early nineteen seventies, and yet it'll forever be thought
of with some question marks. Dan Lebtard of Metal Arc
Media believes those Heat teams did just enough to satiate
(33:50):
a rabid fan base, but also left just enough on
the table to wonder if there should have been more.
It puts even further perspective on how my unumenttal that
Bosh offensive rebound and Ray Allen three pointer in Game
six really were.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
Here's Levitard, that team would have been a historic underachiever
if not for that shot. One title would not have
been enough for everything that was, the coverage, the noise
around that basketball team as it was izzy. I feel
like two two championships is sort of a push. I
(34:28):
feel like it's a tie on people who hated the
Heat versus people who love the heat. Everyone walks away
with the unsatisfied feeling of that wasn't an overachievement, It
wasn't an underachievement. It was just sort of like, eh,
two out of four. That's pretty good, but probably could
have and should have been more. Probably if I had
(34:50):
asked Chris Bosh and Lebron James and Dwayne Wade when
they were dancing on that stage in Arena and a
party before it all started, hey, if you guys win two,
how's that going to feel? My guess is they would
have said not enough. My guess is that they would
have said, we got to win more than that. It's
not going to just be too is it? Later on,
Golden State and some other teams would come and do
(35:13):
things that were similar, but they started it. The play
of San Antonio in that series at the end was
such a vengeant storm of pent up hostility and anger
because they thought they should have won the last time
they played that. That's the best basketball team I've ever seen.
(35:35):
That's the best basketball play I've ever seen. The team
that engulfed them at the end, the Heat team that
was tired, and I don't really understand this part is
he I don't understand why the winning of championships is
so hard that teams like Golden State at the end
break apart, because it's just too emotionally, mentally, physically draining
(35:56):
to play in that pressure cooker for that long.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
One of the notes James seemed to take with him
was the need for superstar level teammates in a league
that was now trying to recreate the heat model. Lebron
created another buzzworthy trio once he got to Cleveland, with
former number one pick Kyrie Irving already on board and
all star Kevin Love getting traded from Minnesota. Here's Jackie McMullen.
Speaker 13 (36:21):
I really believe that that win by the Spurs changed
the course of NBA history because Lebron was moving on,
and what better place to go than the place he
spurned in the first place. Let's make it all right,
Let's keep that white hat on, nice and tight and
go back to Cleveland and save the day with a
young Kyrie Irving, who at that point we thought his
(36:42):
future was limitless, and Kevin Love, who was in the
prime of his career and was the prototypical stretch for
I mean that was the way the league was going.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
While Miami would be left reeling as a sports town,
pat Riley would attempt to make the recovery from Lebron's
exit not nearly as painful. He'd sign Luell Ding and
All Star with the Bulls to replace James, and he'd
keep Wade and Bosh on board, which was no easy
feat given the sudden question marks around the team, and
(37:14):
for a city that embraced Lebron while the rest of
the country was throwing jabs and a lot more in
his direction. There must have been a hint of pride
escaping Miami as the rest of the country also realized, Hey,
this Lebron James wasn't a bad guy after all, here's
Rachel Nichols.
Speaker 21 (37:33):
It was disappointing for the city of Miami and for
the heat and for the potential that what might have been.
On the other hand, I was there in Cleveland when
he was introduced back in Cleveland and did a big
event for his charity, which as we know, turned into
his school. It's an incredible, incredible organization and the feeling
and love of him back full circle in Cleveland, and
(37:57):
I remember people they handed out little lights to people
and springing their little lights, and it felt very much like, Okay,
I understand why he felt like part of his story
had to come back here and why there was unfinished business.
So for me in that moment, as someone who was
covering him extremely closely and covering the Miami heat extremely closely,
(38:19):
it felt like one of those both things can be
true moments. It felt like, Gosh, I love the alternate
sliding doors universe where he stayed in Miami and would
have seen what would have happened. I also got this
universe where he went back to Cleveland and we would
later see win a title. There was a pretty great
basketball story also.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
That story arc peaked with a Cleveland championship in twenty
sixteen and Lebron telling the people of that city it
was for them.
Speaker 22 (38:47):
I don't know why the man above give me it
the artist role, but there's nothing a man above don't
put your situations that you can't handle. And I just
kept that same positive attitude, like instead of saying why
melet's say and this is what he wanted me to do,
and uh, Cleveland, this is for.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
You and for Miami. All that remained was time to
look back at that Heat team's legacy, which way did
after the twenty fourteen finals.
Speaker 23 (39:19):
Well, it's uh, man, we didn't know what to expect,
you know when we decided to become teammates years ago.
You know, we just knew that we felt as individuals
that we can do it, that we can put our
egos to the side and and not care about the
individual part of the game and become a great team
(39:40):
and become two leaders of that team. It's been a
hell of a ride in these four years, you know.
And you know we when we team, when we decided
to play together, we didn't say, okay, let's try for
four years. You know, we said, let's just play together
and let's see what happens. And we've been successful in
the sense of what we what we try to accomplish,
and as going to the finals and.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
We did it.
Speaker 23 (40:02):
We would love it be four for four. It's just
not It wasn't in the cars for us to be there.
But you know, we have no other reason not to
be proud of each other for what we've accomplished on
and off the court for these four years together.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Tim Reynolds says, despite all the attention on Dwayne Wade,
Lebron James, and Chris Bosh that the concept of team
around those Miami Heat squads was always the primary focus.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
What you saw was four years of a lot of selflessness.
And it's so funny that Lebron gets accused of being
selfish all the time. Like Lebron could have had fifty
thousand points by now. Lebron could have a scoring record
long ago if he wanted it. He's an incredibly selfless player,
and he got other people to sign on. Dwayne turned
over his franchise to someone that would never happen today.
(40:51):
Chris went from a one to a three in an
instant and did so happily to be part of something bigger.
They were part of something bigger than themselves for four
years and that's why that and overcoming all the hate,
all the noise, all the challenge, how twenty nine other
teams were lined up to beat you every single night.
(41:12):
They embraced it, and I don't think you'll see something
like that again.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
There's been other Superstar course since that have failed to
win titles, in part because of ego clashes, but just
the fact that teams were able to follow the path
of this Heat team an attempt to recreate the run
for themselves speaks to the legacy left by Miami Here's
Rachel Nichols.
Speaker 21 (41:33):
People certainly point to that moment as the moment that
players took control of their own destiny. Now you can
go back and Nippick and argue, well, hey, Kareem of
Bill Jabbar wanted to leave Milwaukee. He asked out of
Milwaukee behind the scenes. But he did it behind the scenes.
Nobody knew that at the time. This was a very
public case of players controlling their own destiny, doing it
through free agency, not just waiting for someone else to
(41:55):
trade them. And I think it completely changed the mindset
in both the public side and most importantly in their
fellow players' eyes, of hey, this is what we can do.
And I think that even for the teams later on
that weren't put together that way, I think it made
players feel like they had more power in the game.
And there are some ways that has turned in to
(42:17):
be a problem for the NBA, and there's some ways
that's turned into be incredible for the NBA. And I
think that is the legacy of that team for sure.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
While some would argue player empowerment and star player movement
is a bad thing for the NBA and its fans.
You could also argue what Lebron did was merely a
continuation of what the late former commissioner David Stern did
for the league by highlighting the individuals over the teams.
Lebron effectively said to basketball fans, you can be a
(42:47):
fan of me, even if you don't love the jersey
I'm wearing. Shane Battier didn't love the thought of Lebron
joining the Heat initially, but his thoughts changed with the times,
especially after three years playing beside James.
Speaker 18 (43:01):
And like, this is not this is not your father's
you know sports leagues, and I grew up the same
way in Detroit and cheering for the Tigers and Lions
and Pistons, And you know, he saw these guys drafted
and they stayed their retire career. And it's just a
different era and no better, no worse than what we
grew up with. But you know it was it is
(43:22):
amazing to see the joy Lebron is brought to the
world and game of basketball. And like he was an
unbelievable teammate and one of my favorite teamates of all time,
and he could have been really messed up with all
the attention that he got and expectations. He's actually a
really good human being and a great teammate and a champion,
(43:42):
a winner, and so to be part of that journey
for three years, that's, you know, it's something I'll never
forget and something I'm super proud of and still proud
to be friends with all those guys and consider them
some of my favorite teammates of all time.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
But were they one of the greatest teams of all time?
They never ended up setting the record for wins in
a season. They came up seven games short of winning
the most consecutively. They even stopped their championship count after
not two But just having James, Wade and Bosh on
one roster is enough to lump that team into the conversation.
(44:21):
Mario Chalmers is surprisingly objective on this subject.
Speaker 14 (44:25):
My biggest thing about these questions it depends the era.
If I say, if you take it back to eighties
nineties areas, I don't think we're one of the top
teams just because we don't have that physical presence like
the Kams and David Robinson's the Shacks and all that.
But if you come to our air the two thousands
and all that where we shoot in the most threes
(44:45):
was movement.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Everybody's playing a high picked roll. Everybody shoot, and I
think we'll be in the top three.
Speaker 14 (44:51):
I think out there with the Bulls and the Lakers
and teams like that.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
The epilogue of this four year Heat run is actually
still being written. Lebron James hasn't retired as of June
twenty twenty three, ten years after his second title in
Miami and with single titles with the Cavaliers and Lakers.
We still don't know if he'll finish with more Heat
championships than with any other franchise, and the lasting effect
(45:16):
for the Heat seems to be continuing, as Miami has
taken two more trips to the finals since then, most
recently getting there as an eight seed in twenty twenty
three before losing in five games to the Denver Nuggets.
And they did it around a player in Jimmy Butler
that Wade helped convince to come to Miami. You could
even say the Miami Heat have established themselves as the
(45:39):
premier organization in the NBA over the last twenty years,
since the year Lebron was drafted first, Bosh fourth, and
Wade fifth with.
Speaker 15 (45:48):
The first pick in the two thousand and three NBA Draft.
The Cleveland Cavaliers select Lebron James with the fourth pick
in the two thousand and three NBA Draft. The Toronto
Raptors select Chris Bosh from Georgia Tech University with the
(46:12):
fifth pick in the two thousand and three NBA Draft,
the Miami Heat select Dwayne Wade from Marquette University.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
The Heat have made nine conference finals since then, been
to seven NBA Finals, won three championships, have the reputation
of being a winning franchise, are among the most attractive
free agent destinations, and have a coach that's widely considered
the best in the league.
Speaker 12 (46:41):
So as a Game seven, they stand eye to eye
with history and they did not blink. The Heat are
going to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 22 (46:53):
That's a proud moment for our franchise.
Speaker 19 (46:55):
It gives me great pleasure to present the twenty twenty
three Eastern Conference Championship JOPHI to your Miami Heat.
Speaker 3 (47:02):
I remember covering the Heat's first championship for the Miami
Herald in two thousand and six and thinking how big
of a deal it was that the franchise that frustrated
me and my friends so badly growing up because they
couldn't get past the Knicks or couldn't matter as much
as the Bulls had finally broken through, And then twenty
ten came. Those next four years made the Heat into
(47:25):
a national brand and made winning titles in Miami realistic
expectations for the next decade. It's by far the longest
stretch of real success for a South Florida professional team
in fifty years, and it started with one very important decision.
The Miami Heat from twenty ten to twenty fourteen changed
(47:48):
the organization, changed the NBA, and changed the city of
Miami forever, even though it lasted only four years. Even
though that ended up not being the most decorated team
of that decade, still Miami wouldn't trade those four years
for anything. Just to ask DJ Khalig.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
I wasn't upset at all.
Speaker 9 (48:12):
All we do is win.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
You gotta remember we won.
Speaker 9 (48:16):
We're winners.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
We have banners like there's nothing no one can ever
say to us ever in light. Listen, just know we're
the biggest in the game. I told you from Miami.
Speaker 9 (48:27):
We different. We don't see nobody.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Like we don't.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
It's nothing you could say, it's.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Nothing you could do. Were the biggest four years of heat.
It's a production of iHeartRadio and the NBA
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