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The Miami Heat Are NBA Champions, And LeBron James Is Free — For Now

An incredibly balanced and focused attack by the Miami Heat helped them blow out Game 5, 121-106, and win the NBA championship. Though the team as we know it now only came together last year, it seems like this was a long, long time coming. From the shock and awe of The Decision, to the arrogance of the “not five, not six, not seven” celebration, to the seeming failure of LeBron and company in last year’s Finals, and through the shortened-schedule rat race of this season, the drama of this team has captivated sports fans and media outlets, haters and frontrunners, and pop culture as a whole.

Well, two seasons after the biggest Big 3 of them all came together — and, more importantly, after nine seasons of shortcomings for LeBron “The King” James — this team and these players have their title.

Here’s the final buzzer, the end of the 2011-12 season, the start of a new era in the NBA and a well deserved celebration for this year’s best team — as well as heartbreak for a young Oklahoma City squad, led by the incredible and emotional Kevin Durant, that couldn’t hold its 1-0 series lead:

This is the first ring for many players, sure — Chris Bosh, Mike Miller, Shane Battier, et al. But it’s all about LeBron. The monkey on his back since he entered the league as a standout high schooler — the same monkey that chased him from Cleveland, made him a pariah and a villain, but kept him working and dreaming and playing outstanding, MVP-caliber basketball, has finally been… sent back to the zoo. Or however that analogy normally ends. It’s a well-deserved championship for a man who — love him, hate him — will become one of the greatest to ever play the game.

If the world ended today, at least LeBron would have one. That’s more than many NBA greats can say for themselves.

(Wait a second — do you hear that? What’s that noise? It sounds like someone’s trying to say something…

“So what, you got one? You promised at least eight. You’re nothing without Wade, LeBron. You’re nothing without Riley, LeBron. One down, LeBron… seven to go.”)

That’s either the ghost of Michael Jordan’s career, or everybody who doesn’t live in Miami. And so, the cycle begins anew…

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