"It's about d*mn time" is the statement that Lebron James gave as the superstar was interviewed after the Heat Game 5 victory for the Miami Heat franchise 2nd NBA Championship and Jame's very first championship. But the Heat becoming the NBA champions were not an easy road, as the Heat took on the Knicks in round one, struggled with the Pacers during round 2 with Bosh out with an abdominal strain, and facing a team use to championship pressure, the Boston Celtics, in the Eastern Conference Finals. Going through those three rounds in the east they came into the NBA Finals knowing they were facing their toughest competition yet in the young, athletic Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team led by 23 year old superstar Kevin Durant.
The Finals was a series that will go down in history as one of the greatest matchups with Durant and James facing each other, a matchup that basketball fans have been hoping for since the lockout was ended in December. Game 5 was no different, the teams with back and forth but once the Heat gained a major lead it was if they could feel the championship trophy in their hand and never let up on the gas leading at one point by 27 points.
In the first quarter the Heat pushed the lead to 7 points, making 7 straight shots with 3:37 left in the quarter. The Heat ended the quarter shooting 58% from the field and went into the 2nd quarter up 5 points (31-26). Durant continued to fight the Thunder back into the game during the second quarter, but the Heat returned with answers pushing the lead to 17 points off a 14-4 run with 5:50 left in the quarter and a 3 pointer by Miller and fastbreak by James and Chalmers. The Thunder went into halftime knowing that if they wanted to live to fight another day they were going to have a huge road ahead of them. Only down by 10 (59-49) at halftime, not a big lead, but it was obvious in all the eyes of the Heat players that they did not want to go back to Oklahoma City for a game 6.
Coming back out in the 3rd quarter, the Thunder cut the lead to single digits but the momentum quickly shifted back to the Heat when Perkins received his 5th foul for the Thunder with 6:12 left in the Thunder quarter. The Heat capitalized on the absence of the Thunder big man extending lead to 19 points with 3:54 left in the 3rd quarter on a 13-1 run and before you knew the lead had jumped to 26 points with a little over a minute left in the 3rd quarter. The Heat went into the 4th quarter up 95-71 and knowing they were only 12 minutes away from becoming NBA Champions. After the first three quarters it was obvious that the game was over, the young Thunder began to play like they had given up and Westbrook and Durant was pulled by Coach Brooks with a little over four minutes left in the game. Coach Spoelstra followed in Coach Brooks footsteps not taking him long to pull Lebron and Wade out of the game once Durant and Westbrook out of the game. The Heat went on to defeat the OKC Thunder 121-106 in game 5 led by a triple-double by Lebron James who had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. Mike Miller who had not made a 3 pointer in the first 4 games put a dagger in the Thunder heart making 7 3-pointers.
It was the interviews after the game when you could see how much the Miami Heat was different from the team that lost to the Dallas Mavericks in last year's NBA Finals. When Chalmers began to celebrate during the 3rd quarter, James pulled him aside and told him no do not celebrate just yet, a team who was criticized last year during the playoffs for celebrating after defeating the Boston Celtics, in which a lot of people felt that celebration was very immature and premature. When asked what motivated their team Wade answered, "So much hurt, pain, and embarrassment from last year. We were on a mission and the mission wasn't complete until tonight."
Lebron James was name the Finals Most Valuable Player averaging 28.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 7.4 assist in the Finals. Congratulations to Lebron James and the Miami Heat, your 2012 NBA Champions.
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