Sport
Miami Heat beats San Antonio to take championship – LeBron James named MVP
“Tonight I wanted to take a minute, take a moment and just soak it in. This is a special moment for me.” James struggled to find his form early in the series but his overall performance was brilliant and even Jordan-like, especially the way he had to step outside his comfort zone on offense and take whatever the Spurs’ defenders would give him.
“I watched film, and my mind started to work and I said, ‘OK, this is how they’re going to play me for the whole series.’
“I looked at all my regular-season stats, all my playoff stats, and I was one of the best mid-range shooters in the game. I shot a career high from the 3-point line.
“I just told myself, ‘Don’t abandon what you’ve done all year. Don’t abandon now because they’re going under. Don’t force the paint. If it’s there, take it. If not, take the jumper.’ “I did a good job in game four. I didn’t make as many shots as I would like to from the outside in game five, but I kept on getting into the rhythm of it, just telling myself that everything you’ve worked on, the repetition, the practices, the off-season training, no matter how big the stakes are, no matter what’s on the line, just go with it. And I was able to do that.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said in game seven it came down to James’ mid- and long-range jump shot. “As the series went on, he realized that was the shot that was going to be open and in the biggest game, the biggest moment, those are the shots that he hit,” Spoelstra said. “And those were the difference tonight.”
The Heat needed a miraculous comeback to win game six in overtime against the Spurs to earn the title, which takes its place alongside Miami’s 2012 and 2006 championships over Oklahoma City and Dallas respectively.
“We are just getting started,” Heat guard Mario Chalmers said. James said winning feels great but doesn’t get any easier. “Last year when I was sitting up here, with my first championship, I said it was the toughest thing I had ever done,” James said.
“This year I’ll tell last year I was absolutely wrong. This was the toughest championship right here, between the two.
“I mean, everything that we’ve been through this post-season, especially in these finals. We were down every odd game.
“We were scratching for our lives in game six, down five with 28 seconds to go. To be able to win that game and force a game seven is a true testament of our perseverance and us being able to handle adversity throughout everything.”
Copyright 2013 AFP
