The Time I Was at the Bar as Miami Won the Championship and No One Cheered

The End.

Just kidding. I was trying to decide what angle to take writing about the Miami Heat winning- no, winning’s not the right word- demanding the NBA championship. That wasn’t just a win that was, as LeBron put it, an “ABOUT DAMN TIME.”

I believe part of loving the game and being a good sports fan is knowing when to concede your opinion for the purposes of giving respect, which is what I’m going to do. As much as I didn’t want to see LeBron get that ‘elusive ring’ (who is he, Frodo?), I can’t deny that he, and the Miami Heat deserved it after that performance. I mean, that was ridiculous. LeBron averaged 30 points in the playoffs. He single handedly gave the Miami Heat their legs against Boston by scoring 45. I don’t necessarily agree he deserved league MVP, but he absolutely deserved Finals/Postseason MVP.

However, he is still far from ‘shutting all his haters up.’ Just because he won one championship doesn’t make him the greatest to ever play the game. His legacy has yet to be determined. I believe his most crucial year now is next season. How he responds to his first championship will be what makes or breaks his position as one of the greatest athletes to ever play the game.

I hate the comparison of him to Jordan. Oh well LeBron won his first championship at a younger age. Yes, but LeBron went straight into the NBA instead of going to college, therefore was in the league longer than Jordan before he won his first. Jordan won all of his championships with the team that drafted him, he didn’t need to change teams. Yes, but Jordan had a support system of Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman most years, LeBron needed to leave in order to get that same support system in D Wade and the Dinosaur. For every conditional for Jordan, there’s another for LeBron. There are so many reasons Jordan was special. A fair comparison can never be made. Period. Unless of course Jordan comes out of retirement… *crosses fingers*?

As for the Thunder, as I said in my post when they first made the Finals, there is no way there isn’t a dynasty budding there. They are led by three guys ages 23, 23 and 22. They will be a force to be reckoned with again next year and I quite frankly am not looking forward to my Bulls meeting them in the Finals… ya see what I did there?

Congratulations to the Miami Heat, you won it fair and square.

Thunder Rolls Right into NBA Finals

Let’s pause for a second to recall the fact that the Western Conference playoffs started out as a contest to see who could eventually ‘beat the Heat’ come Finals time… my, my how things change.

The Miami Heat are facing yet another elimination tomorrow night by the ever-present Boston Celtics while the Oklahoma City Thunder have rolled over the San Antonio Spurs to claim the Western Conference spot. OKC came back from being down 2-0 to the Spurs and most analysts counting them out to win four straight games and advance. So you can take those ‘inexperience’ and ‘too young’ excuses and shove them up your… well you know.

At this rate, even if the Thunder don’t win it all, which I suspect they will, there’s no way there isn’t a dynasty budding. They are so young, so cohesive and so marketable thanks to the ferret on James Harden’s face (see @HardenBeard on Twitter) they have all the tools to be considered with the likes of the Lakers in the Western Conference. Easily.

Led by a man like Kevin Durant who I believe deserved league MVP over Lebron any day, they have some real staying power, provided management is willing to spend. Congrats to the Western Conference Champs.

courtesy of Getty Images