Jun 16, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade (right) and small forward LeBron James addresses the media after game five in the 2013 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT
We may never see the hyped up Lebron James-Kobe Bryant Finals matchup that Nike and ESPN tried to promote just a few years ago. You guys remember the puppets, right?
What were are getting in the 2013 NBA Finals maybe the next best thing. An older team that has been written off over and over again because of their age. The team that was called boring because they played lower scoring games and executed their game plan to perfection.
On the other side, you have the “Three Kings” or Miami’s version of the Big 3. When these three play at the highest level, you get a combined 85 points in a blowout win. When they lose their concentration, you get this:
Game 6 will allow Lebron James and the Miami Heat to come full circle, to defeat the demons that the San Antonio Spurs represent.
Tim Duncan and the Spurs disposed of Lebron James in a quick four game sweep back in the 2007 NBA Finals, one season after Dwyane Wade led the Heat to their first title in franchise history.
James still remembers that series as a building block on what he needed to do better and what the team around him needed to look like. That series may have proven to James that his chances of winning in Cleveland were not great.
Wade will remember that Finals as the one that he felt he had a decent chance at making a repeat run at, if it were not for injuries. In 2007, Wade suffered through a dislocated shoulder and would come back as a shell of his 2006 NBA Finals form. Wade would end up getting swept out of the first round by the Chicago Bulls.
In 2011, the first year together for the Heat’s big 3, the team was within two games of pulling off a championship run. They took a 2-1 lead over the Dallas Mavericks, before dropping the next three, including game 6 at home.
The Heat don’t want a repeat of that 2011 Finals. They need to come out ready to fight for the game and leave everything on the court. Wade is healthier than he was in 2007 and Lebron is more experienced than he was in 2007, when he was just 22 years old.
The Heat will have a shot at redemption in Game 6 as everything they have worked for in their careers comes full circle. Wade gets another shot at a repeat and James gets another shot to silence his critics from 2007 and 2011 (we’re looking at you Skip Bayless).