Posted by BY J E SOLOMON
When it comes to basketball, I’m not a fan of the Miami Heat. I don’t even dream of becoming one of their fans as long as the Los Angeles Lakers remain an NBA franchise. However, in all honesty, and letting the truth stand, I can’t help but acknowledge that this is a truly resilient team worthy of another championship title. They proved this all throughout the just-ended season. And they crowned it all with a spectacular championship victory over the San Antonio Spurs last night. You just have to give them the credit for their fighting spirit.
LeBron James has emphatically put his name on top of the rest of the best in the game. No argument about that. Even if you dislike his personal mannerisms and still resent the way he moved from Cleveland to Miami, one thing you can’t deny is the fact that the guy is who the bookmakers say he is, the greatest player in the game now.
San Antonio Spurs have no one but themselves to blame. With just 28 seconds remaining in game 6, they were ahead by 5 points. The looks on the faces on the Miami Heat players at that moment were one of hopelessness. Despondency was all written on the faces of the entire Heat players. Some of their fans had either left the arena or were leaving the arena, believing that the game was over for their team.
Surprisingly, the Spurs failed to do what any smart-thinking team would have done under the circumstance – try as much as possible to keep possession of the ball among themselves without thinking of scoring. They failed to do just that. In their needless attempt to add to their points build up, they turned the ball over to the Heats and in the process, LeBron put in a 3 pointer that brought the deficit to 2 points with 20 seconds remaining.
Still, the Spurs were trying to add to their points build up, aiming at the basket when all they needed was to do everything possible to keep the ball in their possession for the remaining 20 seconds without even considering putting the ball in the basket. And they paid dearly for their misguided efforts. The game went into overtime and finally, the Spurs lost game 6 painfully. Chris Bosh did a yeoman’s job in blocking crucial shot attempts that would have turned the scales against the Heat in game 6. Ray Allen, the one basketball player I can’t stop admiring, silenced the Spurs’ bench with a shocking 3 pointer in game 6 to send the game into overtime, in which the Heat won.
Game 7, played last night, was the final of the finals. The Spurs eventually lost the championship. No tears for them. I doff my hat off to every player on the Heat’s team, Lebron James especially and coach Erik Spoelstra, too.
Two years ago this time, I mocked the Heat with a headline that read, “Miami Heat, Cry-ami Heat, Whine-ami Heat. This time, I praise them for their resilience and their fight-ami and win-ami spirits. They truly deserve the victory. There’s no doubt about that. You’ve got to give praise where praise is due.