Sport
LeBron James and Miami Heat are champions
Miami Heat LeBron James (C) celebrates victory in the NBA Finals after the NBA Finals game between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder June 21, 2012 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. PHOTO/Don Emmert/AFP/GettyImages
LeBron James looked at the crowd, knowing he had just a few moments left on the court for the season.
He waved his arms to them. They roared back. Moments later, he was atop the stage at center court, wearing a champions’ hat and T-shirt, and waving a champions’ towel.
He smiled. He danced.
For the first time in nine years, he enjoyed the ultimate relief. Maligned for so long, by so many, it brought him to this moment. On Thursday night, with a triple-double, no less, 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds, LeBron James got his NBA title.
“You can’t win,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, speaking about James, “unless you win.”
That’s no longer an issue.
The man who was called heartless, callous, narcissistic, cowardly and selfish, and that was just in one scorned, angry letter from Dan Gilbert, the man who used to pay him to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers — will forever be called something else.
