Miami Mayhem: The Heat are NBA Champions

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2011-2012 NBA champions: the Miami Heat.

They did it, they finally won a championship.

Finally?

It’s hard to believe that this team’s journey began a mere two years ago. From The Decision and Lebron being tagged as a villain; to the Big Three’s introduction and pre-championship championship celebration; to Dallas, and James being tagged as a choker; through unprecedented levels of attention and criticism, the Heat emerged on the other side holding a championship.

The spotlight will mostly fall on Lebron, his first title moving him up another few notches in the Greatest Players Ever discussion. But there’s also Dwyane Wade battling through injury and personal issues to his second ring. Chris Bosh had to miss some games because of injury before many realised how important he was to the team. He returned, quickly shaking the rust off to help his team to the title.

There was Shane Battier, peaking at exactly the right time, hitting threes with surprising accuracy and playing excellent positional defence. Mike Miller’s body is held together with Sellotape, but he still managed to hit seven threes in the deciding game. Mario Chalmers moulded his eccentric style of play into the Heat’s system. Eric Spoelstra had been preparing for this since he was cutting video together in Miami, back when people still used videotape. Pat Riley added another championship to his already incredible CV.

After last season’s finals defeat to Dallas, the media piled up reasons why Miami couldn’t win a championship: Lebron and Dwyane couldn’t co-exist, Bosh vanishes too often, the rest of the team live and die by the three, Spoelstra is slowing the team down. All these problems, on a team that was two wins from a title in their first season together. Fast-forward a year and the Heat stand victorious, having defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder four games to one.

OKC could be the dominant Western Conference team for the foreseeable future. If they win a few titles, this year’s loss might be remembered as little more than a lesson, in which a young team was outplayed by a more experienced one. But this series was closer than its five game duration suggests. The refs missed James fouling Kevin Durant on a potential game-tying shot in game two (then also fouling Russell Westbrook on the rebound). Westbrook’s foolish foul in the last seconds of game four will haunt him and Thunder fans all summer.

Throughout the series every Miami lead was a fragile one, due to the potential of a five-point turnaround. If Miami launched a three and it went in, all is well, they add some more points and jog back to defend. If they missed, however, there was always a good chance that the Thunder would turn that rebound into a fastbreak score. Against OKC, a rebound can become a Durant or Westbrook dunk within seconds.

 A missed three-pointer often leads to a long rebound, where a player can catch and look up the floor, instead of being crowded in the scrum under the hoop. The player defending the shooter is already out at the three-point line, often having a head start in getting to the other end. With the Thunder’s athleticism and a few Heat players (notably Wade and James Jones) being slow to run back to defend, the Heat’s propensity for shooting threes played right into the Thunder’s hands.

Unless, of course, the shots go in. As they did in game five.

Miami shot 54% from distance in the deciding game. The Thunder rarely got a chance to break out. And that was that, series over.

The Thunder will return with aspirations of another finals appearance next year. But that’s next year. What matters just now is the Heat won, that the Big Three succeeded, that Lebron stepped up when he needed to.

Did we witness something historical, a season that will take up a few pages in the annals of NBA basketball? If Lebron wins a fistful of championships, we can say we were there for his first. If he doesn’t, and his career is seen as a disappointment; we were present for the one season when it all went right. Wade also has a legitimate claim to excellence, and this second title strengthens that argument.

Miami has shown that you can succeed in this era with three stars and a bunch of role players. Maybe the age of the successful one-star team is coming to an end. Maybe we’ll see even less parity in the league, as a bunch of superstar-laden teams control the top while the rest can only watch on from the foot of the mountain.

But that’s for next season too. This one is over. And where does that leave us, the British NBA fans? With a chance to rest, that’s where. After weeks of late nights or 3.30am wake ups to watch games before going to work, a small part of me is glad the season’s over. But only a small part. The rest of me realises there’s a long wait between now and the start of next season. Thankfully we have two weeks of Olympic ball to look forward to. And the rest of the off-season? I’ll fill it with rampant trade speculation.

So where’s Dwight going then?