The truncated NBA season is finally over. LeBron James and the Miami Heat became champions on Thursday night, and you can find plenty of articles and clips of their celebration below, along with other news.
Ken Berger’s story on LeBron James and his journey to his first championship: “Last year, I tried to prove something to everybody,” James said, “and I played with a lot of hate. And that’s not the way I play the game of basketball. I play with a lot of love, a lot of passion, and that’s what I got back to this year.”
- No one has covered James more than Brian Windhorst in recent years, and here is his take: “For years, James’ career had been all about potential and the mostly stress-free rewards of acclaim, fame and cash. Then something changed — potential gave way to expectation, and it was a blow to James’ ego and a reputation he was both unprepared for and slow to accept. That burden and the relief from it was what made lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy on Thursday night so liberating.”
- Kevin Durant and company learned that success is not instant, from J.A. Adande: “Because the Thunder had proved to be such quick learners in these playoffs, I thought they might be able to instantly convert the agony of dropping three consecutive winnable games in time to climb back into the series. Nope, it doesn’t work that way. You need to spend weeks in a darkened room that doesn’t get cellphone reception. You need to be forced to come to terms with your shortcomings.”
To see LeBron James’ performance point for point, click here. If you missed the final seconds of Game 5, relive the emotional moment here. Here is Erik Spoelstra drenched in gatorade thanks to Udonis Haslem. And finally, James and the crew celebrates with LMFAO.
- The weatherman in Cleveland wasn’t too thrilled about the Heat’s victory over the Thunder.
- Drew Magary of Deadspin still hates LeBron’s guts and called him a very inappropriate name. Here is an excerpt of his thoughts: “There’s never been any question that LeBron James is a great basketball player. And even when he was coming up short in the playoffs, haters like myself just used those failures as an easy excuse to pile on him further, because he’s a dipshit and he deserved it. The fact that he’s won a championship doesn’t fundamentally alter his character in any way.”
- The Mike Tyson singing marathon of NBA players continued on Thursday night. This time, the victim was James Harden.
- Will Scott Brooks return as the head coach of the Thunder? Details here, by Marc Stein: “Sources told ESPN.com this week that the Thunder have offered Brooks an annual salary “north of $4 million.” But those same sources maintain that the length of the deal is the primary holdup. Brooks is said to be seeking a guaranteed four-year deal; sources say OKC prefers a two- or three-year deal.”
Marc Berman explains how Carmelo Anthony could learn from his friend LeBron James: “Anthony must learn from his friend. They’ll be Team USA teammates starting July 5th in Las Vegas and across the pond this summer at the London Games. It’s not about just points. James does everything on the court and made his teammates better during this 4-1 crushing of a very solid OKC team. Anthony has a lot of the skills, just not the mindset.”
- Check out the headlines of New York Post this morning about LeBron James. It’s not too friendly.
- Tony Parker is suing, and he is suing for a lot: “San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker is suing a New York City club and its operators for $20 million over a scratched retina he says he suffered during a fight involving singer Chris Brown and members of hip-hop star Drake’s entourage.”
- Stephen Curry explained to Jared Zwerling about the surprise of Jeremy Lin: ”Nobody could expect him to play at that high of a level for (how) long he did, and probably even longer next year. I knew he’d last in the NBA. He’s a great talent, he works hard, he gets better every day you see him. But nobody could expect once he got an opportunity to start and play significant minutes that he would over-exceed everybody. I’m happy for him. Nobody saw how much work he put in his rookie year and even over the summer before we had to release him.”
Speaking of Curry, the Warriors may have interest in Brandon Roy: “Warriors general manager Bob Myers said on Friday morning that the team has interest in former Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy, who has made it clear that he will try to play in 2012-13.”
- The Warriors are also interested in Chicago forward Luol Deng: “Per the NBA rumor mill, the Chicago Bulls are entertaining giving up Luol Deng to get into the NBA draft lottery. According to sources, Golden State hasn’t talked with Chicago about Deng yet. But Deng is on the Warriors’ short list of veteran small forwards they’d be interested in.”
- Jeremy Lin, among other players, have won the case for early Bird rights, but the ruling will be appealed: “The NBA announced this afternoon it will appeal an arbitrator’s ruling that granted full “Bird rights” to players claimed off waivers, including Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak of the New York Knicks.”
For Mark Cuban schooling Skip Bayless, click here.
For Dan Gilbert’s failure to keep promise, click here.
For all blog items, click here.
