BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…June 20, 2013:
The San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat take the NBA Finals to the limit, and the Heat capture their second straight championship with a thrilling 95-88 win in Game 7. Miami”s “big three” of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were able to rally from a three games-to-two deficit against their San Antonio counterparts, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginoboli. James was Finals MVP for the second straight year, averaging 25.3 points and 10.9 rebounds per game in the series to put an exclamation point on his 10th NBA season.
Game 7 was tense, and it was close until the final minute. The Spurs had never lost in the NBA Finals. But James scored 37 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead Miami to the title. It was a memorable Game 6 that set the table. San Antonio could taste its fifth NBA crown, leading by 13 points with less than four minutes to play and by five wit 28 seconds left. But James then changed the narrative with a three-pointer, part of a 32-10-11 triple-double, and the Heat went on to a 103-100 victory. "It's by far the best game I've ever been a part of," James said afterward.
In 12 months, LeBron had two NBA championships and an Olympic gold medal under his belt. At the time, there was talk of a dynasty in Miami, one James had envisioned when he went to South Beach. When he famously joined the Heat in the summer of 2010, he held the mic at his welcome party and declared to fans, “Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven,” counting the number of championships the team might win.
James would earn just those two titles with Miami, though. He later captured a crown back with the Cavaliers when they became the first team to rally from a three games-to-one Finals deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors in 2016. His only other title came during the COVID season in 2020 with his current team, the L.A. Lakers, when they defeated the Heat.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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