The Miami Heat captured their second consecutive NBA championship and third overall as they defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals at American Airlines Arena on Thursday night. The Heat became only the third team not to lead the championship series once until after Game 7. The 1969 Boston Celtics and 1978 Washington Bullets also did it.
LeBron James won the Bill Russell Trophy as the most valuable player of the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year. He joins Russell and Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to win back-to-back regular season MVP awards and consecutive NBA titles. Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem picked up their third NBA championship with the Heat.
James scored 37 points which tied Tommy Heinsohn for the most points by a winning player in Game 7 of an NBA Finals. He added 12 rebounds for a double-double in 45 minutes of play. Wade also had a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds in 39 minutes while Shane Battier dropped down 18 points in 29 minutes as he came off the bench. Mario Chalmers contributed 14 points in 40 minutes and Chris Bosh was held scoreless.
Tim Duncan piled up a double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds in 43 minutes while Kawhi Leonard nailed a double-double of 19 points and 16 rebounds in 45 minutes. Manu Ginobili drained 18 points in 35 minutes and Tony Parker added 10 points in 37 minutes.
San Antonio jumped out to an 11-4 score five minutes into the game. Miami responded with a 14-4 spurt and had an 18-16 advantage after one quarter. Battier had six points for the Heat on a pair of three-point shots and Leonard had five points for the Spurs in the first quarter.
Neither team led by more than six points in the second quarter as the Heat were up 46-44 at halftime. James had 11 points in the second quarter and 15 points at halftime while Wade compiled 14 points and six rebounds by the midway point. James and Wade combined to score 21 of the last 23 points for Miami before the half. Tim Duncan got 13 points, five rebounds and four steals for the Spurs by halftime.
Miami was ahead 62-57 with 3:32 left in the third until San Antonio went on an 8-2 edge to get up 65-64 just 52 seconds later. Chalmers made a three-point bank shot from 30 feet away at the buzzer as the Heat held a 72-71 lead after three quarters. James had 13 points in the third and 28 overall heading into the final quarter.
The Heat held a 88-82 lead with 3:18 to go as Battier poured in a three-point shot from the left corner. James knocked in a 19-foot shot from the right side to make it 92-88 with 29.2 seconds remaining. He would then steal the ball in the lane on a lob pass by Ginobili with 23.5 seconds to go and made two free throws to extend the Heat lead to six points. Wade wrapped it up as he made one foul shot with 16 seconds left for a 95-88 victory.
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