Spurs Win 2014 NBA Championship, Dethrone Heat

Chris Bosh predicted at shootaround on Sunday that the Heat will extend the series by beating the Spurs in Game 5.

“We’re not going down, we’re going to win this game tonight. We’re going to come, prepare like we need to do. Plain and simple, we’re going to win this game. I don’t care about guarantees, we’re just going to win the game. Take it like you want it,” said Bosh.

Yeah, about that.

Although the Miami Heat came roaring in the first quarter behind LeBron James’ 17 points, the San Antonio Spurs exacted their revenge and closed out their Finals opponent in five games with a 104-87 win at the AT&T Center.

Kawhi Leonard, the first non-All-Star player to be named Finals MVP since Chauncey Billups in 2004, finished with a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Manu Ginobili exorcized his demons from last year’s putrid Finals performance to add 19.

Dwyane Wade only had 11 points and Bosh only 13, as they both seem sluggish and unable to really get in the flow of the offense. James finished with 31 points, but it was all for naught as the Spurs put this game out of reach during the third quarter behind a torrid rally that included Ginobili’s insane dunk over Bosh and Patty Mills’ back-to-back triples.

The Spurs wanted to get back to the Finals after that bitter seven-game defeat last year, but more than that, they wanted another shot at Miami. They wanted revenge. Well they got it.

People couldn’t believe it when Tim Duncan made the prediction that the Spurs would get it done this time. It was out of character for the future Hall of Famer. It was bold. It was raw. It was emotion. But unlike Bosh’s pre-game assertion, Timmy & Co. delivered on their promise and added a fifth title to their coffers under the Duncan and Gregg Popovich era.

“We remember what happened last year and how it felt in that locker room and we used it and built on it and got back here and it’s amazing,” Tim Duncan said. “It makes last year OK.”

And it seems only fitting that as the door is shutting on Duncan and Ginobili’s careers, Leonard’s is just starting to open.

“They just told me, ‘Keep being aggressive,'” Leonard said.

As Wade, James, Miami and the rest of the NBA learned tonight, he not only listened, he heard, digested and responded and we were all witnesses.