LeBron James and the Miami Heat won the 2012 NBA Championship on Thursday. The defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in 5 games, probably the least competitive NBA Finals since the Spurs vs Cavaliers Finals. In true ESPN fashion, the only thing that could be talked about before, during, and after the series was how the Miami Heat played. After they lost Game 1, the only talk was about what did Miami did wrong, rather than what OKC did right. After Game 5, all the talk was about LeBron's dominant triple-double title-clinching performance, rather than Russell Westbrook's incredibly choke-tastic 4-20 shooting night.
After the broadcast on ABC ended, Nike aired a commercial congratulating LeBron James on finally winning his first championship 9 years after signing an exclusive partnership with him the day he was drafted. Sportscenter has since deified LeBron in all descriptions of him, including an unbelievably biased mini-documentary about LeBron's basketball career starting in high school. Ridiculous phrases included claiming that "LeBron changed his personality" after losing in the NBA Finals last year and it was "unbelievable" how he showed little emotion while playing en route to the Finals this year. Several ESPN writers and personalities have talked about how LeBron's critics have to shut up now and of course declare him the best ever.
More after the break, including ripping ESPN for not crediting LeBron's teammates.
LeBron James won ONE championship. ONE. One championship does NOT a legend make. He's 1/3 in the NBA Finals. You know who else is 1/3 in the Finals? Jason Kidd. Is Jason Kidd the greatest point guard of all-time? Absolutely not. Yes, he does have the impressive assist numbers and will retire #2 all-time, but he's not even close to Magic Johnson's level. People have claimed before LeBron won his first championship that championships don't matter, but are now immediately celebrating his single championship ring as if it's the second coming of Jesus.
The Miami Heat absolutely deserved to win the 2012 NBA Championship, being the most dominant team in the NBA this year, despite the lockout shortened season. As much as the Heat don't like it, they will have to have an asterisk next to their victory, just like the 1999 Spurs have just to inform future generations that the season was shortened due to the lockout. Even if the season was not shortened, I'm 100% confident the Heat would have won the championship based on how they played throughout the entire season. Chris Bosh finally played up to expectations as the third member of Miami's Big 3, Mike Miller finally became the clutch 3-point shooter he was intended to be, and Dwyane Wade played like he was in the 2006 Finals all over again.
ESPN could have congratulated the Heat as a well-constructed team, but instead has decided to focus solely on LeBron and whether he is clutch or not. Make no mistake, just because he has a championship now, does not mean he is now clutch. LeBron still is incapable of making game-winning shots and crumbles in close-late game situations. Because of that, he needed better support from his teammates, which he finally got this year and to a lesser degree last year. ESPN immediately threw around talk of whether or not the Heat can repeat as champions, as any champion is immediately asked. The general consensus is that the team as currently constructed will almost certainly reach the NBA Finals again next year based on how absolutely terrible the Eastern Conference is, something that was shocking to hear ESPN admit.
Elsewhere, on Fox Sports, NBC Sports, Yahoo! Sports, Deadspin, Bleacher Report, Sports by Brooks, etc., LeBron is being congratulated for winning his first championship, but none of those organizations will let LeBron and his fans forget that he promised the Miami Heat fans EIGHT championships. The New York Post ran a headline the day after the NBA Finals that simply read, "1 Down, 7 to Go." Winning a championship doesn't change the fact the LeBron is an arrogant asshole who tattooed "Chosen 1" on his back before he even turned 20 and whose first public reaction to being a champion was "it's about damn time," as if it were a guarantee this would be the first of many championships. Jerry West, the man whom the NBA logo is based on, had to wait 12 years before he won his first and only championship, retiring 2 years later. I seriously doubt LeBron James will retire before he even turns 30, but many legendary players never won a single championship or managed to win only one. It's for that reason that LeBron's attitude is disliked by students of the game.
So about the Oklahoma City Thunder...
Jesus Christ, how horrifying. The Thunder are a clear example of how not to play basketball. Non-stop trash-talking simply doesn't work. A point guard who scored 46 points doesn't work. Relying on Derek Fisher as your backup point guard doesn't work either. Serge Ibaka is a great defender, but a terrible scorer. Really, the only 2 consistent players on that entire team are Kevin Durant, the consensus 2nd best player in the NBA today, and James Harden. The Oklahoma City Thunder will never win a championship with Russell Westbrook as their point guard.
So what does this mean for Kobe Bryant?
Nothing. He has his 5 championships still. Only 1 one of those is controversial, and even then no one is denying the Lakers didn't absolutely demolish the Nets in the Finals. There is the question of whether or not Kobe will match Michael Jordan's 6 championships, and given his age, it's still likely he will win a 6th championship before he retires. He's the greatest basketball player since Michael Jordan, although he is in the tail end of his career while LeBron has just entered his prime, something that happened with Michael and Kobe. The only thing that could change this fact would be LeBron magically becoming clutch or finally not acting like a little kid anymore.
tl;dr
LeBron is still an asshole, ESPN refuses to credit the Heat as a whole, Russell Westbrook sucks, and Kobe is still the best since Jordan.
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