Countdown To The 2018 NBA Finals - No. 1: 2013 Miami Heat vs San Antonio Spurs
As of May 22, 2018 – the start of this countdown – we’re officially 10 days away from the NBA Finals. So with that in mind I started thinking about the best Finals since I really remember started watching the games. I was born in 1987, which basically goes in line of remembering Jordan’s first trip to Finals in 1991. So we’ll use that as our starting point. What were the 10 best NBA Finals since 1991. Each day we’ll reveal one as we countdown to No. 1 on the start of the NBA Finals.
No. 10 – 2008
No. 9 – 2004
No. 8 – 2005
No. 7- 2011
No. 6 – 2010
No. 5 – 1993
No. 4 – 1994
No. 3 – 1998
No. 2 – 2016
No. 1 – 2013 NBA Finals – Miami Heat 4, San Antonio Spurs 3
MVP: LeBron James (Miami Heat)
Notable players: LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard
Head coaches: Erik Spoelstra (Miami Heat), Gregg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs)
Best game: Game 6 (Heat won 103-100 in overtime)
Best moment: Think this one has to be a no-brainer. The end of game 6. It was set up for disaster the moment the officials started to bring out the NBA Finals trophy as the Spurs were up 94-89 with 26 seconds left. You never do that. LeBron hit a three to cut it to two before Kawhi went 1-for-2 from the FT line. LeBron missed the game-tying three, but because Pop decided to go small and switch every screen, that left Bosh open for the rebound. He was able to get the offensive rebound and kick it to Ray Allen who hit a stepback corner three to force the game to overtime.
Background: A year after beating the Thunder in the NBA Finals, the Heat really started to look like the dominant team everyone expected them to be. They won 66 games in the regular season, winning the Eastern Conference by 12 games – shout out to the Knicks for finishing second. After easily getting through the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Heat were pushed to Game 7 by the Pacers and Paul George. The Spurs were the 2 seed in the West, finishing just two games behind the Thunder. The Spurs actually had a fairly easy time getting to the NBA Finals, losing just two games throughout the playoffs with two sweeps, including in the Western Conference Finals over Memphis. This would be the second time that LeBron faced the Spurs in the NBA Finals, losing in 2007 when the Cavs never really had a chance.
Historical standpoint: This was one of those series that just showed a bunch of good basketball. You had LeBron playing incredibly well. Ray Allen hitting that three. You had Duncan missing the layup in Game 7, which stuck with him for an entire year until the Spurs beat the Heat the following year. LeBron led both teams in points per game and assists per games during the series while finishing second in rebounds per game. This would be the last time the Heat won the NBA Finals though, going 2-for-4 while having LeBron, Bosh and Wade in Miami at the same time. You had a bunch of competitive games, including Game 1 with Parker hitting the game-winning shot on a banked jumper with just 5 seconds left. Ultimately this is the best NBA Finals for me because of the comeback in Game 6 combined with the close Game 7 and the fact you had so many big names going at it and playing well. It’s not like you can point at one person and say they cost them the series.
Video highlights from the series: