On June 20th in 2013, LeBron James and the Heat won back-to-back NBA Championships with a 95-88 Game 7 win against the San Antonio Spurs.
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On June 20th in 2013, LeBron James and the Miami Heat won back-to-back NBA Championships with a 95-88 Game 7 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. En route to their third title in franchise history, the Heat became the sixth franchise (at that time) in NBA history to win back-to-back titles. They became the fourth team in NBA history to win the final two games of an NBA Finals at home since the format changed to 2-3-2 in 1985, joining the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers (1988, 2010) and the Houston Rockets (1994).
Miami Heat became the first and only team in NBA history to defeat the Spurs in a championship series. The Heat became one of only eight teams in NBA history to have won at least three championships.
.@DwyaneWade and @KingJames are reuniting.
Relive their 2013 NBA Championship with the @MiamiHEAT. pic.twitter.com/eekFa5BL1b
— NBA TV (@NBATV) September 27, 2017
LeBron James was awarded the Finals MVP trophy by NBA Commissioner David Stern and NBA legend Bill Russell after the game, his second consecutive Finals MVP. For the second year in a row, he has won both Finals MVP and NBA MVP. Only Michael Jordan and Russell have done that.
“Listen, I can’t worry about what everybody says about me,” James said, after the game. “I’m LeBron James, from Akron, Ohio, from the inner city. I’m not even supposed to be here. That’s enough. Every night I walk into the locker room, I see a No. 6 with James on the back, I’m blessed. So what everybody says about me off the court, don’t matter. I ain’t got no worries.”
The 2012-2013 @MiamiHEAT had their own version of “Lob City” in South Beach…#MegaTeams pic.twitter.com/pGT6Q25z9I
— NBA TV (@NBATV) August 21, 2017
James led from the front once again. Playing 45 minutes, he finished with a game-high tally of 37 points and a team-high tally of 12 rebounds on 12-of-23 shooting from the field.
This Game was tightly-contested, with seven lead changes and 11 ties, until the Heat iced it with a 5-0 run in the final minute of the game. Dwyane Wade was the Heat’s other big contributor with his double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds on 11-of-21 shooting from the field.
Both teams held leads in the first half, none by more than 7 points. James and Wade were locked in early, combining for 29 first-half points on 12-of-23 shooting.
The back-and-forth then continued in the second half. The third quarter featured three lead changes and five ties, with James scoring 14 points and Kawhi Leonard scoring 9. James then hit a clutch jumper with 27.9 seconds to play to put the Heat up by four. Spurs’ last-ditch efforts at the end went in vain as Miami completed the victory and the third title in the history of the franchise.
.@KingJames couldn’t be stopped as he delivered back-to-back titles to Miami ?
Spurs vs. Heat, 2013 NBA Finals Game 7 – 3pm ET on NBA TV! pic.twitter.com/7TTBJNJPLu
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 30, 2020
“It took everything we had as a team,” Wade said. “Credit to the San Antonio Spurs, they’re an unbelievable team, an unbelievable franchise. This is the hardest series we ever had to play. But we’re a resilient team and we did whatever it took.”
This game 7 was just a couple of days after the Spurs were nearly crowned champions in game 6. However, Ray Allen’s clutch corner three helped the Heat force overtime and then, LeBron James heroics in the fourth quarter and overtime helped the Heat win Game 6 and force a Game 7.
For the Spurs, Tim Duncan (24 points, 12 rebounds) and Kawhi Leonard (19 points, 16 rebounds) were the best players in this game. But the Spurs probably didn’t recover from the gut-punch in Game 6.
Rebound Bosh
Back out to Allen
His three-pointer
BAAAANNNG!!!8 years ago today, Ray Allen’s historic three that saved the Miami Heat in GM6 of the 2013 NBA Finals!pic.twitter.com/UXzBSSOmqH
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) June 18, 2021
San Antonio had a chance to tie in the final minute. Tim Duncan missed a right-handed layup that would have tied the score at 90.
Lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy capped off the Heat’s greatest season in franchise history. They won a franchise-best 66 games in the 2012-13 regular season. Including a 27-game winning streak – the second-longest in NBA history.
