LeBron, Heat share mutual respect for each other 6 years after split
James, who went from high school to league, sees time spent with Miami as his college years
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Over the course of four consecutive Finals matchups between 2015 and 2018, real animosity developed between LeBron James and the Golden State Warriors, with flagrant fouls, suspensions and trash talk dotting the rivalry.
James returns to the NBA Finals this week for the 10th time in his 17-year career and the ninth time in the last 10 years on friendlier terms and he will be greeted by familiar faces. His Los Angeles Lakers are set to face the Miami Heat, an organization he led to four Finals appearances from 2011-14 and back-toback titles in 2012 and 2013. Heat President Pat
Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra, who oversaw James’s four-year stint on South Beach, have guided a retooled roster built around All Stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo back to the Finals for the first time since James departed.
At NBA Finals media day, held Tuesday on a practice court inside Disney World, James and the Heat expressed mutual admiration in advance of Game 1 on Wednesday. James has often referred to his time with the Heat as a college-like experience due to its impact on his personal growth: He won his first championship in 2012 and he married his wife, Savannah, in 2013.
“I went to Miami when I was 25 years old,” James said. “I was still a kid and still trying to figure out who I am as a person and as a man, growing while still trying to compete for a championship every single year. I grew, and they allowed me to grow. It was a perfect match for those four years.”
The Heat’s culture has gotten plenty of attention in recent weeks, as they knocked off three higher-seeded teams to reach the Finals. Spoelstra has devised a balanced offensive approach that almost always features five offensive threats on the court simultaneously, and he has mixed in a fearsome zone defense to throw opponents off-kilter. Butler and Adebayo, meanwhile, have carried on Miami’s long-standing reputation as a home for obsessive workers.
James said that the two things that stood out to him about this year’s Heat were effort level and unselfishness on offense.
“They play [extremely hard] for 48 minutes, no matter if they’re up, no matter if they’re down,” he said. “Everyone is live on the floor. There’s not one guy that you can disrespect or be off throughout the course of an offensive possession. They do a hell of a job of moving without the ball, sharing the ball, cutting, passing.”
On paper, the Lakers look like Goliath and the Heat is David. Los Angeles posted the West’s best record, while Miami ended the regular season as the East’s No. 5 seed. But James, Anthony Davis and coach Frank Vogel all
stressed their respect level for the Heat, who posted a 12-3 record in the playoffs and knocked off the Milwaukee Bucks, the East’s top seed, in five games.
For James, the presence of Riley and Spoelstra was enough to get his attention. He called Riley “one of the greatest minds” in league history, and chided media members for underrating Spoelstra’s coaching impact. James said it bothered him that Spoelstra’s role in the Heat’s two title runs was diminished by some analysts, who said he was merely winning because he had a superteam led by a “Big 3” of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
“You guys always said, ‘Well, you have LeBron, you have D-Wade, you have Bosh [so] any coach can do it.’ ” James said. “No, any coach can’t do it. If any coach could do it, then there would be a lot more champions in this league. There would be a lot more successful coaches. Spo likes it. That’s what fuels Spo: the disrespect that you guys give him.”
While the Heat spent six years rebuilding into a title contender after James’s decision to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers and his home state of Ohio, James kept on winning. The Cavaliers reached four straight Finals with James, highlighted by their first championship in franchise history in 2016. Now 35 and in his second season with the Lakers, James is seeking to lead his third organization to a title.
“I just think it is a true testament to [James’s] greatness to be able to sustain this type of success year in, year out,” Spoelstra said. “Different uniforms. New players and new teams going after him. It’s a real testament to that commitment. He’s seen everything. At this point in his career, it’s just about winning. His ability to do what he does at his age is incredibly uncommon.”
The 49-year-old Spoelstra, who joined the Heat as a video coordinator in 1995 and was installed as coach in 2008, said that he needed a “six-week reflection period” to move past James’s decision to leave Miami in 2014.
The Heat had just lost a tough Finals to the San Antonio Spurs, and James’s move felt abrupt after so much shared success.
“You get back to work,” Spoelstra said. “We’ve built a lot of different teams over the years. We’ve been conditioned to move on and give everything, your heart and soul, to the next group and the next team.”
The Heat’s current group has no counter for James’s vast Finals experience. Butler, Adebayo and point guard Goran Dragic are all making their First Finals appearances, and Miami will lean on veteran forward Andre Iguodala, who reached four Finals with the Warriors, to defend James and counter his mental edge. Butler has waited years for a rematch against James, after losing to the Heat in 2013 and to the Cavaliers in 2015 as a member of the Chicago Bulls.
“He’s still dominating,” Butler said of James. “You’ve had to go through him at [age] 26, [age] 35 and probably at [age] 49. He’s shown why he is the player that he is and why he’s had the career and the legacy that he’s continually building. It’s not going to be an easy task these next couple of games. If anybody is up for that task, it’s the Miami Heat.”
James sought to downplay his matchup with his former team Tuesday, saying “absolutely not” when asked if he drew any extra motivation from competing against Riley and Spoelstra. Davis, his close friend and sidekick, told a different story.
“To be back in the Finals against Miami, I think means a lot more to him winning this than anyone else,” Davis said. “I think this championship is probably second behind Cleveland, being able to get this one for him.”