The NBA season is officially over and it’s clear that the San Antonio Spurs were indeed the better team. But had someone said to the Miami Heat that after bringing the Big 3 of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James together, they would reach the Finals four straight times with a chance to win each and every one, they would have gladly taken it.
Two titles is still an amazing accomplishment. Rare is the Michael Jordan feat of going 6-0 in the Finals with MVP trophies as the bonus prizes. Tim Duncan has a Finals loss, as do Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Shaquille O’Neal has one and Kobe Bryant has two. Heck, even Larry Bird has two Finals defeats, and Magic Johnson gave up a handful of potential rings in his four losses. Losing in the Finals is a crushing disappointment, but it shouldn’t take away from the fact that Miami was the first team since the Celtics of the mid-80s to make it to four straight Finals.
In the end, even though James was his usual superhuman self, the rest of the Heat let him down. The Spurs simply played better team basketball while turning some of Miami’s strengths and into weaknesses. San Antonio’s ball movement took advantage of Miami’s aggressive defensive style and the lack of an inside presence also cost the Heat. Gregg Popovich and the Spurs made James work hard to score while shutting down the rest of the group. It was reminiscent of the 2004 Detroit Pistons’ approach to the Shaq-led Lakers. Big Diesel, the series’ most dominant player, averaged 27 points and 11 rebounds and his team was still whisked away in five games.
So what next for Miami?
The Spurs’ depth was clearly a major factor—San Antonio’s bench outscored their counterparts in every game of the series. Boris Diaw had set up shop in the starting lineup by Game 3, and Manu Ginobili, Patty Mills, Tiago Splitter, Marco Belinelli and, to a lesser extent, Matt Bonner and Cory Joseph all contributed. If the Heat want to get back to the Finals a fifth-straight time, they will need to find more help for the triumvirate of James, Wade and Bosh.
But what of the Big 3 themselves? Will they remain intact? It’s a question some were already asking with 28 seconds left in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals when it looked like the Spurs were ready to hoist the trophy. All three can opt out of their contracts this summer and if they decide to stay the course, their current deals will devour approximately 97 percent of the projected $63.2 million salary cap. It gets even more difficult with the luxury tax sitting in the vicinity of $77 million.
If they choose to opt out and re-sign for lower amounts with a championship in mind, they’ll strengthen their position as best team in the Eastern Conference. They’ll also be taking a page from the team that just beat them. Parker was the highest paid San Antonio player at $12.5 million, while Duncan was on tap for a little more than $10 million and Ginobili was a bargain at $7 million. The Spurs sacrificed money in order to win, allowing GM R.C. Buford to buy some quality help.
Bosh was optimistic in his exit interview, saying he believes the core will remain intact. But James was non-committal and Wade left the exit interviews without speaking to the assembled media.
If there’s anyone who can massage egos and cash in on the Heat’s family atmosphere, it’s president Pat Riley. But on the off chance he can’t, the run could be over for the Heat, potentially opening things up quite a bit in the east. It’s going to be a very interesting off-season in Miami.