The Miami Heat avoided what would have been a historic upset at the hands of the Indiana Pacers by defeating the young upstart team in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals 99-76. The classic series had a rather anticlimactic end to it, but it was one of the more entertaining series game in and game out seen in recent memory.
Despite losing, the world got a first-hand look at two future stars in Paul George and Roy Hibbert of Indiana, as both shined in this series. But in the end, LeBron James and the Heat prevailed, holding off what was sure to be a long and disappointing summer had they lost. Now the Heat move on to face the San Antonio Spurs. For the Heat, it is their third Finals appearance in a row, all of which have been led by the big 3 that was formed three years ago. They are looking to win their second title in a row and their third title in three seasons. For the San Antonio Spurs, it will be their fifth Finals appearance since Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich have been with the organization. Duncan and Pop are undefeated in their previous four appearances and they are looking for their fifth title together.
This NBA Finals will be a tale of two polar opposite teams. One team, the Spurs, avoids media attention and has probably the most humble and low-key star of all time in Tim Duncan. The other team, the Heat, is constantly on ESPN and has the biggest star in the world in LeBron James. Both teams are rather polarizing across the country, as they have their share of haters for very different reasons.
People hate the Heat because they are a team made up of superstars that came together in their prime via free agency versus the old school way of putting teams together through developing talent through the draft and executing smart trades. People dislike the Spurs because of their dominance during an eight year stretch in which they won four titles, and because they were a rather “boring” team in doing, even though winning has rarely been equated with boring. It should be an interesting series to see who America roots for: the Hollywood team from South Beach or the team made up of average Joe’s from Texas.
