History Says Spo, Jimmy Butler, And Udonis Haslem Spat Galvanizes Miami Heat
Miami Heat: The ‘Big 3’, As A Trio, May Have Wanted Spoelstra Out Of There Early
The Big 3 Era had more than their fair share of ups and downs. Along the way to two title wins and two defeats in the NBA Finals, four straight NBA Finals appearances nonetheless, there would be more to chew on other than just the aforementioned incident between Mario Chalmers and LeBron James.
Do you all remember that time early in the Big 3 Era where LeBron bumped into Spo? On top of that, it was expressed the very next day that James wanted Pat Riley on the sidelines instead.
Here is what Riley said occurred the next day, as he called the Big 3 into his office.
"“They just said, ‘We’re not feeling it,’ or something like that,” Riley told Thomsen. “We talked about the typical things that we have to do, have patience and all of that stuff."
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"“And I remember LeBron looking at me, and he said, ‘Don’t you ever get the itch?’ I said, ‘The itch for what?’ He said, ‘The itch to coach again?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t have the itch.’ He didn’t ask any more questions, and I didn’t offer any more answers. But I know what it meant, and I always go back and wonder about what he was thinking at that time. He walked out scratching his leg like it was itching.”"
This was clearly LeBron James trying to send a message to the Godfather, especially having already expressed an interest in that being the case prior to joining the Miami Heat, according to this same exchange with ESPN.
Though, again, they would lose that NBA Finals too and to the other team from Texas with the legendary power forward, Dirk Nowitzki in this case, you have to see that season as a success too.
Yes, the ultimate goal is always a title and when you have that collection of talent, you should win it all. However, they were defeated by a legend, while that defeat had little to do with the friction that had occurred early in the season.
After that incident, they were forced to work things out, which they did. So much so, it would be the beginning of one of the most dominant four-year runs in NBA history.