During the NBA’s indefinite hiatus, I will be rewatching every game of LeBron’s NBA Finals career. Every Finals game from the last 20 years is available to NBA League Pass subscribers on the NBA app or through apps like YouTube TV. We will be going chronologically through LeBron’s Finals career. 

Previous Games

Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals game.

Game 2, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron bounces back but falls down 0-2.

Game 3, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron gets the last shot but it doesn’t go.

Game 4, 2007 NBA Finals: Staying home.

Game 1, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals victory.

Game 2, 2011 NBA Finals: Heat blow 15-point 4th quarter lead.

Game 3, 2011 NBA Finals: Bosh game-winner helps put Heat up 2-1.

Game 4, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron has 8 points in Finals loss.

Game 5, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron bounces back, but Mavs shoot the lights out.

Game 6, 2011 NBA Finals: Jason Terry and the Mavs burn down the Heat in Miami.

It has been a year since LeBron James and the Miami Heat were here at the NBA Finals, losing on the NBA’s biggest stage in an inferno of Dallas Mavericks 3-pointers as the Heat couldn’t muster enough offense, in significant part due to James having the lowest scoring Finals of his career. James averaged 17.8 points per game, third in scoring, while also averaging 7.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists and playing great defense. The result and his own play would lead to a two-week-long depressive episode. 

Not too long after the Finals though, the hate train would eventually slow down on LeBron, not because the Heat lost, but because the public would be without basketball for a lot longer than expected. On July 1, 2011, the NBA’s owners locked out the players in a struggle that would eventually see players give back a significant percentage of Basketball Related Income (BRI) to the owners. The players went from getting 57% of the BRI to 51%, while also making rules for shorter contracts and a harsher luxury tax. What ensued was a wild transaction period that seems normal in today’s climate but was shocking in real-time. 

Then Chris Paul was traded to the Lakers, until David Stern, NBA commissioner and acting owner of the New Orleans Pelicans, rejected the deal for “basketball reasons.” Then Paul went to the Clippers. I bought League Pass for the first time. Tyson Chandler left the Mavericks. Portland’s Brandon Roy entered a medical retirement. On December 9, the Miami Heat signed Shane Battier. Then Christmas Day 2011 came and the Miami Heat beat up on the Mavericks, with LeBron scoring 37 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists. 

Long after LeBron had moved through his depression and the season began, he looked re-energized, pushing the Heat to a 46-20 record in the 66-game season, good for No. 2 in the East, even as Dwayne Wade missed 15 games. But while LeBron’s game was once again at its peak, what awaited him on the other side of the bracket was the most well-liked superstar at the time and another narrative challenge: a quiet, twitter-darling sniper, Kevin Durant.

Way back in 2010, when LeBron left Cleveland to join Miami on ESPN, Durant announced an extension with small-market Oklahoma City, through his twitter. This was one of the many ways in which the moral dichotomy of the two superstars was presented by media both social and otherwise. And I’m not afraid to say that young me bought into such narratives in 2010. Now two years later, the big bad Miami Heat from sexy South Beach was in Oklahoma City against wholesome Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and the Thunder in the NBA Finals. 

Aside from the superstar narratives was that the Thunder were everyone’s favorite team, aside from their own favorite team. The Thunder had just reeled off four straight games after falling behind 0-2 against the great, but notoriously boring, San Antonio Spurs. They beat the Spurs after sweeping the defending champion Mavericks and demolishing Kobe Bryant’s Lakers in five games. They were the fun party-crashers and with the better record and homecourt advantage, as well as questions about LeBron in the clutch, they were actually the betting favorite, according to Vegas Insider. 

LeBron, however, is the unquestioned best player in the league this postseason. LeBron’s Game 6 dominance at Boston is still on the minds of everyone, but the first shot of the series comes from Battier, who is giving the Heat a completely different look than what they had in 2011. Spoelstra elects to start Battier and Udonis Haslem in place of Chris Bosh, who is still dealing with an abdominal injury and had been playing limited minutes in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Battier, one of the NBA’s first analytics darlings, proved to be a crucial fit with the Heat in their approach to get with the times after being buried by the 3 by Dallas. With Haslem’s midrange jumper and the 3-point range of Battier, LeBron had much more room to work with than when Miami went with two traditional big men. And if Bosh is in there with Battier, LeBron is going to another galaxy. The Heat aren’t quite there yet though. Battier hits again and the Heat are up 8-2 early on the road as the Thunder. But Durant shows that he’s game for the moment with an early 3-pointer.  

Miami pushed its lead to as high as 13 in the 2nd quarter. But Derek Fisher, ugh, is doing great things to get the Thunder back in the game. He has a transition bucket, followed by a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 9. But Miami is keeping the Thunder at arm’s length for much of the first half. A Durant dunk gives the Thunder crowd some life. 

Right out of halftime, Ibaka finds Durant in the corner off the roll and the Heat lead is down to 54-50. It appears that the energy boost at the end of the 1st half is carrying over into the 2nd. One of the things that I’m enjoying about this game so far is the difference in the role of the Heat from the last series. They are now playing a team that is at least their athletic equal. Now they must be the ones that rely on their brains, efficiency, and experience, while the Thunder are frantically getting back into the game with defensive energy and raw athleticism. 

Prime Thabo Sefolosha and young Westbrook are pressing the Heat and everyone on the Thunder is digging in. Kendrick Perkins, who still has some pep in his step at this time, is making plays on the defensive end for OKC too. Nick Collison is still a helpful energy guy too. Then Durant dumps it to Sefolosha to tie the game at 60. LeBron answers the bell with back-to-back buckets, but this game is starting to look like it’s being played on OKC’s terms. Westbrook is wreaking havoc and Durant’s silent efficiency is racking up points with little activity.

The Thunder are getting things going towards the basket because of their defense and the brilliance of the Heat stars is keeping them ahead, but only barely. If there’s any true positive from this game it’s the play of LeBron, who is answering the bell every time the Thunder make a run. By the end of the third quarter, James has 23 points, after a series high of 24 in the 2011 Finals. Westbrook finishes the 3rd quarter, with a 3-point play, as he scored 12 of the Thunder points in the 3rd came, to give them a 74-73 lead. 

Durant gets a tip-slam and the lead is 3, with the entire OKC crowd on its feet. Now it’s a 5-point lead after Sefolosha makes a lay-up. Then Durant makes a jumper to make it 80-74. No Heat field goals in almost 6 minutes. The wheels are very close to falling off in this here Game 1, despite LeBron being more assertive in looking for his shot. Durant flies through with the Dunk and not unlike LeBron’s Game 1 last year against Dallas, Durant is taking this game over and putting Miami on notice. LeBron gets a bucket through a foul but misses the free-throw, as his effort looks like it will come up short in this game. Westbrook and Durant have been better than Wade and LeBron in this game. Durant finished with 36 points, while Westbrook had a near-triple double while scoring 27 points and 11 assists.

11 of Durant’s points have come in the 4th quarter, which will no doubt be used in the coming days by Skip Bayless and co. The Heat got a big game from Shane Battier and a solid game from LeBron, but the finish to the game will leave many doubting again. In Game 2, LeBron and the Heat still have the opportunity to steal the homecourt advantage. But they will need to adjust to the athleticism of the Thunder, which seems to have thrown them off, making the Heat look a little old, in Game 1.

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