MIAMI—For the Miami Heat, No. 1 is in the books. What’s got to be scary for the rest of the NBA is that, on Thursday night, the Heat showed just what they’re capable of accomplishing from here.
In Game 5, the Heat played a nearly flawless game on both ends of the floor, dismantling the pesky Oklahoma City Thunder with a 121-106 drubbing for their fourth straight win in this Finals series, and the Larry O’Brien trophy that comes along with it.
The numbers are jaw-dropping: Miami shot 51.9 percent from the floor, had 25 assists on 40 field goals, made 53.8 percent of their 3-pointers, held Oklahoma City to 41.4 percent shooting and led by as many as 27 points. That’s a far cry from the slog of the first four games, when, despite their series lead, the Heat outscored the Thunder by five total points.
In Game 5, we saw the Heat in full—blitzing the Thunder on the defensive end and picking them apart offensively. That started with series MVP LeBron James, who was as impressive mentally as he was physically, racking up a triple double of 26 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists.
For the second game in a row, James was brilliant in reading the Thunder defense, and when opportunities to drive to the basket arose, James took advantage, scoring all of his points in the paint or at the free-throw line. When Oklahoma City overcommitted to stopping James, he ably swung the ball to his teammates, piling up assists.
Chris Bosh (24 points, seven rebounds) and Dwyane Wade (20 points, eight rebounds) filled their roles as James’ top support men. And James clearly did the one thing a star player is supposed to do—make those around him better. All the defensive attention paid to James allowed so many open looks for the Heat’s perimeter shooters, and Mike Miller wound up with 23 points on seven 3-pointers, with Mario Chalmers and Shane Battier adding multiple 3s, too.
They’re not going to develop into a 121-point-per-night team. But when the Heat were constructed, this was exactly the kind of performance that they seemed capable of producing regularly, even against the second-best team in the NBA.
“We never thought of it as the Big Three,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That was the theme outside. But we knew other guys would have to contribute. This was a perfect example tonight. Everybody stepped up, Shane (Battier), Norris Cole, Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller, the list goes on, Udonis Haslem. Everybody had to sacrifice something, but the guys who had an opportunity to choose to come here, they sacrificed something, either pay, minutes, shots, opportunities that they would get with some other team. That just doesn’t happen in today’s game very often. And that's why this is a special group.”
We didn’t see this in the conference semifinals against Indiana, at least not until the Heat adjusted to playing without Bosh after he injured his abdominal muscle in the opening game of the series. We didn’t see it against Boston, a series that went seven games and required back-against-the-wall wins in the final two games. In that series, not only did the Celtics have the veteran capability of mucking up the Heat’s works, but Miami had the added challenge of Bosh returning in Game 5, and figuring out how he could contribute off the bench. Even in the opening game of this series, the one game the Heat lost, Bosh was not in the starting lineup.
That leaves this reality, a stark one for other teams in the league: In games in which James, Wade and Bosh started in these playoffs, the Heat were 9-1.
It only figures to get easier for Miami, with the pressure of not having won a title being lifted, with the often irrational questioning of James’ ability to finish games falling by the wayside, with speculation about the job security of the youthful Spoelstra evaporating. When Michael Jordan’s Bulls first broke through with a championship in 1991, he went on to lead the team to six in a row (excluding his two retirement years).
As Lakers great Magic Johnson said before Game 5, “I think everything changes (after getting a first title). We saw that with Michael. ... We’re judged by championships, and I think LeBron will be bigger around the world with a championship. I think all the naysayers go away, and I think it's only going to make him better. Michael got better after his first championship, and I think the same thing happens for LeBron.”
There does not appear to be a team in the Eastern Conference that has a realistic chance to keep Miami from the Finals. The Thunder likely will be back in the championship round in the future, and they figure to see the Heat often. The knee injury suffered by the Bulls' Derrick Rose will keep him out for much of next season, and it could take him some time to get back to pre-injury form. The Celtics have been a worthy foe for the Heat over the last two years, but Boston will retool this summer. Indiana is a solid young team, but the Pacers are still at least a player away from being championship-caliber. Perhaps a new powerhouse can sprout up (a pairing of Deron Williams and Dwight Howard in Brooklyn, for example), but as the East stands now, Miami is clearly on its own tier.
That’s what the architect of this group, team president Pat Riley, had in mind as he was receiving the championship trophy. “We believe that we built a team that will be around for a while,” Riley said. "Our goal is to hopefully come back every year. It’s always started out as an upstart, you become a team, you become a winner, you become a contender, then one day you might be something special, and that’s what we’re shooting for.”
They were shooting for a championship, and they got one. There could well be more to follow.