Jun 20, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade (left), LeBron James (center) and Chris Bosh (right) celebrate after game seven in the 2013 NBA Finals at American Airlines Arena. Miami defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win the NBA Championship. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
“In this fall, this is very tough, in this fall I’m going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat.” (LeBron James). On July 8th, 2010, this one quote by All-Star forward LeBron James changed the basketball world. With LeBron James joining guard Dwyane Wade and forward Chris Bosh in Miami, a new super-team formed in Miami. Once these three players came together, they were instantly favored to win the NBA Championship year in and year out.
Unfortunately, the first season for the “Big Three” wasn’t considered a success, after they lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals; the team derived more criticism than any other team in recent memory. Everyone who had any media affiliation towards the NBA gave the Miami Heat a piece of their minds. How can a team with two of the best players in the world get embarrassed like that on a national stage? Should they blow up the team? Is LeBron a fraud? Those were just some of the questions that were asked during a brutal summer in Miami.
It didn’t take long for the Heat to shut up the media, after they went onto win the 2011-2012 NBA Championship, beating Kevin Durant and his Oklahoma City Thunder in five games. Despite winning their first championship together, the “Big Three”, for some reason, was still under fire. It seemed as if they couldn’t win. No matter what type of success they achieved there was always doubt. Last NBA season, we all learned something. There is nothing that anyone could say about the Miami Heat ever again. It’s hard to find something wrong with this team now. They went out and won 27 straight games, they battled to the brink against the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs in both the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals. This team has done everything they could to put a halt to the media’s criticism.
Despite all of that, I truly believe that the media will find more reasons to doubt the Heat coming into next season. I think it is a good idea to set the offseason talk aside and just rejoice in what has been a fantastic three seasons in the “Big Three” era. Below I am going to do a top ten of my favorite moments during the past three seasons.
Number 10: Bosh with the block, LeBron with the save, Wade with the finish
Number 9: Dwyane Wade gets by Landry Fields
Number 8: Dwyane Wade’s monster dunk over Kendrick Perkins
Number 7: LeBron James tests his vertical jump
Number 6: Defense igniting the offense
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeW8u7VlVbc
Number 5: Money Mike
Number 4: The Headband game
Number 3: The Miami Heat’ win their third NBA title in franchise history
Number 2: Ray Allen is the greatest three point shooter ever
Number 1: The Miami Heat’ win their second NBA title in franchise history
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDmCsqPoJRQ