NBA Finals 2013: Miami Heat repeat as champions, and the celebration begins

The parade will begin at 11 a.m. ET at the corner of Southwest Eighth Street and Second Avenue. The parade will travel east on Eighth before going north on Brickell Avenue and then north on Biscayne Boulevard to the arena. The victory march is expected to run until about 12:30 p.m. before heading into the stadium. Here’s a map of the route courtesy of the Miami Herald:

There will be increased transportation options in Miami for the parade, with Metrorail trains running every five minutes to all stations near the arena and additional cars for Metromover riders. Free parking will be available at Park and Ride lots. The Miami Herald has more information on transportation.

Either way, the internet took notice, and many formulated headlines hinting — or flat-out saying — Green was there to “celebrate” or “party” with James. On Sunday, James tweeted that’s all nonsense:

Never mind that it’s pretty apparent from the single photo that Green looks pretty congratulatory. He arguably still looks hurt while shaking hands with James.

Looks like Instagram’s new video app is going to be fun.

It’s not just about blocking shot attempts in transition, however. Blocks make highlights, but Bosh’s hustle to get back on defense slowed down the Spurs’ offense and limited their fast break opportunities.

Duncan sets a screen for Ginobili but Wade and Bosh are set and cover the pick-and-roll.

There might always be selfish stars in the NBA, but despite Miami’s bright light indulgence, these Finals put an end to the thought of selfish champions. The Heat play the game The Right Way, a term first patented by the Spurs. Hero Ball is for those who spend the first three weeks of June in casinos or on golf courses. These Finals were every bit about the intelligence of the teams as they were about specific gifts of athleticism. The ball movement, the cutting, the help defense -- it was all on display.

Detractors of the great game of basketball will never cease to exist, but those folks should really find a new crusade. This was fantastic theater that provided a world full of basketball fans with more than one moment that felt emotionally moving.

(Those stars of yesteryear aided the detractors by reassuring the world they never would have done what LeBron did, neglecting to note that they all played with Hall of Famers and not Mo Williameses and Sasha Pavlovicii.)

But there were those who believed, or at least claimed to believe, that LeBron’s ‘Decision’ would be what felled his career and legacy.

As if the story of Chris Bosh: NBA Star wasn’t already strange enough, the final two games of the 2013 NBA Finals sent it all into the void. The player Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is fond of calling Miami’s most important scored just 10 points in Game 6, but had two crucial defensive plays late. (By “crucial” we mean “absolutely game-saving.”) In Game 7, Bosh went scoreless in 28 minutes, racking up five fouls, two turnovers, seven rebounds, a couple of assists and a block. It was an incredibly impotent performance. Bosh had only gone scoreless one other time in his career, in a 14-minute stint as a rookie that appears to have been shortened by injury. On Thursday, he played 28 minutes in Game 7 of the NBA Finals and got nada.

Bosh’s career is on an insanely weird path, and when you consider how much Dwyane Wade showed his age in this series (despite a fine Game 7 filled with cringe-worthy shots that mostly went in), you really do start to wonder about the future of the Big Three. Pat Riley is ruthless. He might not have the stomach (or heart HAHAHAHA this is Pat Riley nevermind) to trade Wade for a younger, more complementary player in the quest for a three-peat. But Bosh is the type of player who would look better on a team more in need of frontcourt scoring than Miami, which has to be feeling pretty desperate for frontcourt defense after 37-year-old Tim Duncan and not-leaving-anytime-soon Roy Hibbert nearly derailed the run for the 2013 title.

Spoelstra began his work in the NBA as a video coordinator with the Heat, slowly working his way up to be able to put the inglorious positions of “Assistant Coach/Video Coordinator,” “Assistant Coach/Advance Scout” and finally “Assistant Coach/Director of Scouting” on his business cards before taking over for Riley as head coach of the Heat bench in 2008.

Simply being named the head coach could’ve been the crowning achievement for Spoelstra considering he became the first Asian/Filipino-American head coach in any of the four major sports when he earned his new job title. Spoelstra overachieved, though, somehow taking a team that won just 15 games the season before he inherited them and turning the team into a perennial favorite.

LeBron James won another NBA Championship, which should, in effect, kill the narrative forever. And he’s rightly excited. He won a hard-fought series against the Spurs, one of the most entertaining Finals series in recent memory, in large part because he was able to hit jump shots, a weakness of his in the past.

In his speech after the game, he talked about coming from Akron and how statistically he wasn’t even supposed to be here.

Wade played about as well as anybody could’ve asked in Game 7. Sure, his presence on the floor still allowed the Spurs to pack the paint, and he sometimes seemed hampered by the knee. At several points, he found himself clutched over in pain, once literally crawling across the court trying to catch up to a lead pass.

But he had 23 points to go along with ten rebounds, hitting mid-range jumpers and finishing deftly in the paint with both hands. He came through in the clutch. In his first 19 games of the postseason, he only hit 20 points twice, with only one double-double. In the final four games, he cleared 30 points and hit 20 on two other occasions while recording a pair of double-doubles.

Imagine how many other athletes are held to such a high standard, where reaching the Finals in three straight years proves an afterthought to the subsequent failure once there. And yet, with that pressure mounting and the world penning a story of LeBron, the champion who wasn’t, Miami did what it usually does.

The Heat won. Again. Because that’s what great teams do.

For a team often considered the most talented in the league, the Heat seem to make things as difficult as possible en route to success. Trailing in the waning minutes of a series-deciding Game 6 on Tuesday, though, Miami’s best players came through, coming back from down five with under 30 seconds to go before winning in overtime to force a Game 7. And Game 7 went down to the wire, with neither side leading by 10 at any point and LeBron James needing to score his 33rd-through-37th points of the evening to get the Heat the win and the title.

To reflect on what’s potentially the peak of the LeBron/Dwyane Wade/Chris Bosh, era, we’ve put together a collection of highlights -- from the chuckle-worthy to the downright incredible -- to remember this year’s NBA Finals. (Note: there will be many Spurs highlights, because a seven-game series requires awesomeness from both sides)

After facing so much criticism for his past playoff failures, LeBron James has led the Miami Heat to two-straight championships and has them on the verge of a dynasty.

While James wasn’t always at his best throughout the postseason and had some especially rough stretches in the Finals, he rose to the occasion when it mattered most and brought another title to Miami. And now he can also cross “Winning an NBA Finals Game 7” off his bucket list after a 37-point, 13-rebound effort.

After the game, James took to the podium to reflected on his extraordinary stretch.

“Last year when I was sitting up here with my first title, I said it was the toughest thing I’ve ever done,” said James. “This year I would say (I) was absolutely wrong. This was the toughest title among the two. We were down every series. We were able to take a lead and then we’d be down again. We were scratching for our lives in Game 6 down five with 28 seconds to go. It’s a true test of our perseverance.”

The parade is expected to go through downtown Miami and end with a rally inside AmericanAirlines Arena. The rally will be a ticketed event.

More details are expected to be released Friday afternoon.

“My name is Three, not Dwyane. Alright, thank you,” Wade informed South Beach.

The man meant it. The first reporter up to bat with Wade opened up his question without referring to him as “Three.”

It’s as glorious as you imagined.

Micky Arison, your team just won the NBA Championship. How do you feel?

And in case you’re wondering, here’s the back story on those goblets.

“Hey Dwyane, you got a little something on your face. Here, I’ll help you wash it off.”

That’s Ray Allen, who knows that you need to protect your eyes in these situations.

Chris Bosh also came ready with his own stylish eye-wear, seen here as he attempts to drown Dwyane Wade.

After a complete slugfest of an NBA Finals, one of the best championship series any of us have ever seen, the two teams showed a mutual respect, hugging it out after the Miami Heat earned their second straight title.

And then with Tim Duncan, who had 24 points and 12 rebounds in a losing effort.

James had 37 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists in the decisive Game 7, making mincemeat of the Spurs’ series-long strategy of giving him space. He drilled five threes, and with less than 30 seconds on the clock and just a two-point lead, pulled up off a pick-and-roll and nailed a jumper that essentially sealed the Heat’s victory.

James, once dogged for his lack of postseason performance, becomes only the second player ever to win the regular season MVP and Finals MVP in back-to-back seasons. The other? Michael Jordan, and he only did it once. James is also now the 10th player to win the Finals MVP multiple times, and just the fifth to win the trophy in back-to-back years. This is the 12th time the winner of the regular-season MVP has managed to take home the Finals honor.