I'll be honest, I didn't watch much of the beginning of the game. My brother controlled the remote and wanted to watch, "Crazy, Stupid, Love." instead of the series-clinching Game 5 of the NBA Finals. He only flicked it on the game for short periodic instances during the first half. During these short flashes, all I could notice was that the Heat were keeping a somewhat comfortable lead.
Fast forward to midway through the third quarter, my brother gave me the remote after insisting on watching the end of, "The Town" which everyone in the room had seen before. I switched it to the game and then witnessed the most one-sided second half of a quarter that I've ever seen. Mike Miller was draining three's, Russell Westbrook kept missing, Mario Chalmers hit a three, James Harden missed one, Chris Bosh makes a three, Thabo Sefolosha gets blocked shooting a three. I don't even know if all of this happened in the third quarter, but that's when the Heat pulled away. Miami went up by 25 in the third and never looked back.
The fourth quarter was fun. Everyone knew the Heat were gonna win, so it didn't matter that OKC outscored them by 9 in the quarter. LeBron was jumping up and down on the bench anyway because he was finally gonna win an NBA title and his haters were gonna be silenced.
Both teams pulled out their benchwarmers at the end of the game, which I liked. For the Thunder, Royal Ivey made two 3-pointers in the final 3 minutes of the game. I liked that Ivey got a chance to show his stuff. I like Ivey and think that he's an underrated player. For the Heat, Terrel Harris got to play in the final 3 minutes of the game. Harris is that mysterious player that the Heat waived Eddie House at the beginning of the season in order to keep. Harris only played in 22 games during the regular season and 4 games during the playoffs including last night. He actually scored and made 3 out of 4 free throws. The Heat held on to their lead and won 121-106.
There are so many players that I find worthy of 'Player of the Game' honors that I can't narrow it down to one. Sure, LeBron had a triple-double, but Mike Miller had a surprise 23-point performance off-the-bench that included him making 7-out-of-8 three-pointers. For the Thunder, Kevin Durant had a great game even though his team lost. He scored 32 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, made all 3 of his free throws, and shot over 50 percent from the field.
LeBron James, to no one's surprise, was named the Finals MVP. I would have loved to see someone else on the Heat win it, especially Dwyane Wade, but I'm okay with it. And congrats to LeBron.
Here are some things I loved about this series that I haven't mentioned already:
-Eddy Curry gets a ring. He went from being overpaid, bench-warming, and losing to being on a minimum-level contract, bench-warming, and winning an NBA title. He will officially be up there with Adam Morrison and Brian Scalabrine, other bench warmers that have become well-known for winning an NBA championship.
-Kevin Durant played well in the series and you can't blame the loss on him. James Harden and Russell Westbook did not play as well statistically and in my opinion. Considering that I love KD and dislike Harden and Westbrook, I'm happy.
-Derek Fisher didn't deserve another ring and didn't get it.
-Juwan Howard, who outlasted former Michigan teammates Jalen Rose and Chris Webber in the NBA, can finally retire.
-Since he was waived before the regular season started, Eddie House doesn't get another ring. I don't like him because he dissed Rafer Alston, one of my favorite players, and already won a title with the Celtics in 2008.
-Udonis Haslem and Dwyane Wade now have 2 rings, while everyone else on the Heat only has one each. Haslem and Wade have each been with Miami since 2003 and have played their entire careers there. Plus, they both took less money to stay with the Heat back in 2010.
-We can all stop hating on LeBron now. I'll admit it, I've done my fair share of hating on LeBron, but he is now validated as a true superstar and Jordan-competitor now that he has a title.
(Photo Courtesy: The Associated Press)
Have any thoughts on the Miami Heat winning the championship? Should Ronny Turiaf have been Finals MVP instead of LeBron? Leave a comment below and tell me what you think.
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