June 21, 2012: LeBron Gets His Ring

Dwyane Wade (left) and LeBron James

June 21, 2012: LeBron James, the most-hyped basketball player of all time, gets his validation as an all-time great confirmed, by winning his 1st NBA Championship.

He had been hyped since high school in Akron, Ohio. He was hyped from there to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, without having attended a single college class. He got them to the Finals in 4 years. But after 7 years, and only 1 Finals appearance, his contract had run out, and he asked team owner Dan Gilbert to bring in new players that he could lead to an NBA Championship. Gilbert did not give him that assurance, and so James made "The Decision": "I'm taking my talents to South Beach."

He went to the Miami Heat, who already had Dwyane Wade, who had led them to the title in 2006. They brought in Chris Bosh, Juwan Howard, Shane Battier, Udonis Haslem and Eddy Curry. LeBron knew that Wade was The Man in Miami, but, unlike Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, he didn't have to be The Man: He wanted a title, not recognition as the leader.

The Heat won the Eastern Conference title in 2011, but were beaten in the NBA Finals by the veteran San Antonio Spurs. In 2012, they got back to the Finals, this time against the Oklahoma City Thunder, making their 1st Finals appearance since 1996, when the franchise was the Seattle SuperSonics. The Thunder were no slouches, as they had Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kendrick Perkins, Nick Collison, Nazr Mohammed, Reggie Jackson (no relation to the Baseball Hall-of-Famer of the same name) and the veteran Derek Fisher, in his 8th NBA Finals, having won 5 of them.

In 1991, in winning his 1st title, Michael Jordan saw his Chicago Bulls lose Game 1, but he took over, and led them to win the next 4 straight. This would also happen to LeBron in 2012. The Thunder won Game 1 in Oklahoma city, 105-94, Durant scored 36, James 30. But the Heat took home-court advantage away in Game 2, 100-96. James and Durant each scored 32.

The series moved to Miami, and Games 3 and 4 were close, 91-85 and 104-98, respectively. Westbrook scored 43 points in Game 4, one of the best performances ever in an NBA Finals defeat. Game 5, at the American Airlines Arena (now named the Kaseya Center) was a coronation, as the Heat won, 121-106. Durant scored 32, James 26, but a 36-22 3rd quarter gave the Heat the advantage, and eventually the title.

LeBron had his title, and his ring. He then led the U.S. team to the Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in London. Sports Illustrated named him its Sportsperson of the Year.

He led the Heat to the title again in 2013, beating the Spurs in 7 games. But the following year, the Spurs beat the Heat in 5 games, ending LeBron's tenure in Miami. In hindsight, the long LeBron Era can be broken up into halves: The 1st half being the Tim Duncan Era (2003-14), the 2nd half being the Steph Curry Era (afterward).

James would get a 3rd title, in 2016, having returned to the Cavaliers; and a 4th, with the Los Angeles Lakers, in 2020.

UPDATE: The Heat do not yet have a team Hall of Fame, but they have retired some uniform numbers. From their founding era, they have retired 10 for guard Tim Hardaway Sr. From their 2006 NBA Championship, they have retired 3 for guard Dwyane Wade, 32 for center Shaquille O'Neal, 33 for forward Alonzo Mourning, and 40 for forward Udonis Haslem. From their 2012 and 2013 NBA Championships, in addition to holdovers Wade and Haslem, they have retired 1 for forward Chris Bosh.

As yet, they have not retired 6 for LeBron James, probably due to the fact that he is still an active player. But they have retired 23 for Michael Jordan -- not because he had anything to do with their team, but for overall contributions to basketball. And 6 has been retired by the entire league for Bill Russell.

Hardaway and Mourning have been elected to the Florida Sports Hall of Fame.

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June 21, 2012 was a Thursday. The Stanley Cup Finals had ended 10 days earlier, as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the New Jersey Devils, to my chagrin, in 6 games. Football was out of season. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Miami Marlins, 6-5 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Chris Nelson and Wilin Rosario hit home runs for the Rox, while Jimmy Rollins did so for the Phils.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-2 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Quintin Berry singled Ramón Santiago home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-1 at the O.co Coliseum (as the Oakland Coliseum was then known). Travis Blackley had been level with Clayton Kershaw for 8 innings. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Josh Lindblom relieved Kershaw, and started the bottom of the 9th by walking Coco Crisp. Jemile Weeks singled, and Yoenis Céspedes hit a 3-run home run off Josh Lindblom, to make a winning pitcher out of Ryan Cook.