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Speaker 1: I mean when he made that announcement, first of all,

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Speaker 1: I was excited, you know, buten Lebron James.

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Speaker 2: I got loved Lebron James.

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Speaker 1: And obviously he's one of the greats, you know what

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Speaker 1: I'm saying. And when I found out that, you know,

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Speaker 1: we got him at Miami Heat, I was super excited,

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Speaker 1: but also I was like, he's a genius. Where else

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Speaker 1: would you go? This is Miami. You know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 3: This is the Heat.

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Speaker 1: We already won a championship.

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Speaker 4: You know what it is is.

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Speaker 1: The greats connect with the greats. Winners work with winners,

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Speaker 1: and Lebron is a great and he's a winner. Miami

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Speaker 1: Heat were winners were great. Our ac in the arena

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Speaker 1: comes down the air. It's a blessing of greatness.

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Speaker 3: Okay, called pretty sure.

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Speaker 5: The air conditioning is just special in any NBA arena

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Speaker 5: except for maybe one in Texas, but we'll get to

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Speaker 5: that one a little later. Welcome back to four years

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Speaker 5: of Heat. I'm your host, Israel Gutierrez and this is

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Speaker 5: episode two, Not So.

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Speaker 3: Fast, DJ khaled.

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Speaker 5: The Heat super fan raving about his team's super fans was,

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Speaker 5: as usual, right in line with other Heat supporters after

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Speaker 5: that extravagant signing party that set.

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Speaker 3: The expectation bar so high.

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Speaker 5: When your team has accomplished the greatest free agent signing

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Speaker 5: trifecta the league has ever seen in one off season, Yes,

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Speaker 5: even the air conditioning starts to feel elite. The afterglow

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Speaker 5: of simply putting the pieces together was still so strong,

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Speaker 5: But the piercing ringing criticism it just kept getting louder.

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Speaker 5: The critics of Lebron for leaving Cleveland the way he

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Speaker 5: did and for needing teammates the caliber of Wade and

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Speaker 5: Bosh were only beginning to dig in their heels. If

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Speaker 5: you go back to the decision, to the question everybody

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Speaker 5: wants to know Lebron, what's your decision.

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Speaker 3: To that one moment where he said.

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Speaker 6: And this fall, man, it's very tough, And this fall,

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Speaker 6: I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and

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Speaker 6: join the Miami Heat.

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Speaker 5: That momentary pause in between the two this falls, that

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Speaker 5: was the last moment he would have to consider all

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Speaker 5: of these consequences. He clearly already done so and made

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Speaker 5: his decision, But that final bit of hesitation, it was

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Speaker 5: there for a reason. If he could have extrapolated and

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Speaker 5: explained what exactly made this choice so challenging. Perhaps he

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Speaker 5: could have avoided some of the arrows headed his way,

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Speaker 5: but he powered right through with four words. This is

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Speaker 5: very tough, carrying way more weight than anyone could have imagined.

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Speaker 5: So much so even as soon to be teammates were

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Speaker 5: hanging on every syllable, wondering if the chosen One, as

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Speaker 5: Lebron has tattooed on his back, would actually choose them

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Speaker 5: as planned, or if a stronger force had pulled them

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Speaker 5: in another direction. Rachel Nichols has been a sports journalist

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Speaker 5: since nineteen ninety five and has covered Lebron James in

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Speaker 5: some capacity since his high school days. She started her

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Speaker 5: career at the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, establishing an affinity

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Speaker 5: for the South Florida sports scene, then went on to

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Speaker 5: work for The Washington Post, ESPN, CNN, and Turner Sports,

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Speaker 5: and currently hosts an interview series on.

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Speaker 3: Showtime called Headliners.

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Speaker 5: Nichols regularly interviewed Miami's three stars for national broadcasts throughout

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Speaker 5: this era, with some particularly memorable talks with Lebron. Specifically,

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Speaker 5: Rachel noted while watching the decision that Wade appeared to

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Speaker 5: have a delayed response, almost as if he didn't know

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Speaker 5: what Lebron would say, despite the fact that he was

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Speaker 5: at a celebration watch party at Miami's famous Prime one

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Speaker 5: twelve restaurant and everyone in the room was expecting him

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Speaker 5: to say some version of Miami or Heat. No matter

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Speaker 5: what had been decided when they talked amongst themselves, Wade

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Speaker 5: still recognized the gravity of choice James was about to make,

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Speaker 5: and given that they hadn't talked in a while, Wade

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Speaker 5: was on pins and needles watching.

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Speaker 2: The Thing I noticed the most from that broadcast and

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Speaker 2: that moment was that Dwayne Wade, you could tell if

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Speaker 2: you look back at that video, absolutely was not sure

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Speaker 2: what was going to come out of Lebron's mouth. You

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Speaker 2: can see it on his face. And there was a

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Speaker 2: little bit of presumption on everyone's part, including obviously ESPN

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Speaker 2: that had a camera there at Prime one twelve Ato's

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Speaker 2: watched party of Yeah, yeah, it's a done deal. We're

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Speaker 2: just going to get Dwayne's reaction, and you could tell

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Speaker 2: on Dwayne's face that he was incredibly nervous about what

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Speaker 2: Lebron was going to say, and that he was incredibly

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Speaker 2: relieved after he said it, and I've spoken to Dwayne

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Speaker 2: a couple times since then, and he said that not

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Speaker 2: only did he not speak to Lebron for the three

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Speaker 2: days before the decision came out, Dwayne was very open

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Speaker 2: about the fact that he and Chris and Lebron had

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Speaker 2: made this plan, but he just stopped hearing from Lebron

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Speaker 2: about three days before the decision date, and that he

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Speaker 2: was texting and getting no answer. And Dwayne has said

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Speaker 2: to me, I kept thinking, Okay, me and Chris, that's good.

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Speaker 2: That's a duo, Me and Chris. That's gonna be great.

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Speaker 2: We're gonna be great being Chris. So he was trying

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Speaker 2: to talk himself into the idea that Lebron had possibly

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Speaker 2: changed his mind. And I said, so, you didn't know

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Speaker 2: what was going to come out of Lebron's mouth, And

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Speaker 2: he said, I'm not sure Lebron knew for sure what

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Speaker 2: was going to come out of his mouth. That in

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Speaker 2: that moment, he thinks Lebron not that I was having

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Speaker 2: second thoughts, but just the enormity of the situation and

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Speaker 2: what was he about to say was really weighing on him.

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Speaker 2: But Lebron, of course, said South Beach. Dwayne also told

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Speaker 2: me that When Lebron first said South Peach, it took

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Speaker 2: him a second. It took him a beat because, as

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Speaker 2: you know, they don't play in South Beach, so it

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Speaker 2: was not the word he expected. The word he expected

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Speaker 2: was Miami or they heat, and even those South Beach

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Speaker 2: was obviously that Lebron was coming to join Dwayne. The

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Speaker 2: fact that it wasn't any of those three words sort

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Speaker 2: of through him for just another half second.

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Speaker 3: Okay, let's be real for a second.

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Speaker 5: Do we really think Lebron would have tossed out the

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Speaker 5: ultimate plot twist and said something other than Miami at

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Speaker 5: this point, Imagine the egg on the faces of everyone

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Speaker 5: at that Miami watch party had Lebron announced he was

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Speaker 5: staying home or that he was joining Derrick Rose and

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Speaker 5: the Baby Bulls. There's just no way, right, this had

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Speaker 5: been planned far in advance and nothing was going to

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Speaker 5: change this trio's mind, right, right, Well, perhaps one day,

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Speaker 5: when Lebron retires, he'll break out the rocking chair and

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Speaker 5: tell us exactly what he was thinking leading up to

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Speaker 5: that day and just how warranted Wade and Bosh's concerns were.

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Speaker 5: In the meantime, Brian Windhorst is probably the best person

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Speaker 5: to ask. Windhors has been covering Lebron since his high

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Speaker 5: school days, working for the Akron Beacon Journal and Cleveland

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Speaker 5: Plain Dealer before joining ESPN to cover the NBA and

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Speaker 5: a lot more Lebron. Was this the smooth finish to

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Speaker 5: years of planning or was the path more of a

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Speaker 5: rickety bridge that could always collapse just before all parties

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Speaker 5: reached the other side.

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Speaker 7: So when it comes to stuff like this, I'm always

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Speaker 7: going to judge actions over words, So let's focus on

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Speaker 7: the actions. The actions were. In two thousand and six,

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Speaker 7: Chris Bosh, Lebron, James, and Dwayne Wade all aligned their

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Speaker 7: contracts with three year extensions. At the time, under the

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Speaker 7: rules that existed, those guys doing that was unheard of,

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Speaker 7: and Carmelo Anthony, who was obviously in their association group

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Speaker 7: and had was drafted in the same draft class, had

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Speaker 7: the same options. He elected not to do that. He

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Speaker 7: didn't like the risk associated with it, and he took

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Speaker 7: a five year extension. And it's interesting that him his

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Speaker 7: decision doing that ended up causing an interesting development later

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Speaker 7: on when Lebron, Bosh, and Wade all got together and

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Speaker 7: Carmelo had to force a trade, which ended up harming him.

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Speaker 7: That decision ended up in some ways coming back to

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Speaker 7: backfire on Carmelo. But they obviously at that time wanted

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Speaker 7: their contracts aligned to allow for options down the road.

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Speaker 7: But the other thing I think it's important is the

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Speaker 7: actions that took place the week of the twenty ten

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Speaker 7: free agency decisions. They obviously had discussed with each other

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Speaker 7: the idea of playing together, and obviously at some point

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Speaker 7: there was an alignment on deciding to play together with

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Speaker 7: the Heat. And I've listened to all three of their stories.

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Speaker 7: There's certain details that don't line up, and so what

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Speaker 7: the actual truth was, I don't know if we'll ever

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Speaker 7: fully establish. There obviously was a time where they all

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Speaker 7: got together and said, Okay, it's going to be Miami.

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Speaker 7: And I do think for Lebron he always thought it

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Speaker 7: was going to be Cleveland or Miami. And when Cleveland

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Speaker 7: made the pitch, Lebron's discussions with them were about trying

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Speaker 7: to add another piece, and all of those teams discussions

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Speaker 7: were about trying to add Lebron and another piece. That

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Speaker 7: was the what all those teams brought. It was only

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Speaker 7: the Heat that was able to execute Lebron plus two,

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Speaker 7: and it was just simple mathematics that they were able

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Speaker 7: to do that. So in summation they always left the

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Speaker 7: option of playing together open and took actions with their

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Speaker 7: contracts to make that happen as soon as possible, But

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Speaker 7: actually doing it, I do think, came right down to

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Speaker 7: roughly decision day in twenty ten.

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Speaker 5: By the actual decision day, Cleveland had been ruled out

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Speaker 5: because of Bosh's lack of interest in playing there, and

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Speaker 5: even though it felt like Miami was the only remaining option,

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Speaker 5: there were still lingering doubts about what Lebron would actually say.

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Speaker 5: It was the first and most obvious sign that even

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Speaker 5: though this was a union of three stars trying to

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Speaker 5: win championships for themselves and their organization, this was Lebron

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Speaker 5: James taking control of his legacy, an extended business trip,

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Speaker 5: if you will, a four year college stretch, as he

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Speaker 5: would later call it.

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Speaker 3: He had to win championships, not Bosh.

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Speaker 5: He needed to start a collection of rings to chase Jordan,

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Speaker 5: not Wade. The pressure Wade in Bosh felt was just

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Speaker 5: as much to accomplish this for Lebron as it was

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Speaker 5: for their own careers, and by the time they'd reached

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Speaker 5: Herbert Field, a US Air Force base in the Panhandle

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Speaker 5: of Florida, for their first training camp together. All the

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Speaker 5: Heat players had started to feel the unprecedented level of

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Speaker 5: scrutiny this team would face. Their ears were still ringing.

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Speaker 5: Nichols could tell the tone of Miami's main three had

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Speaker 5: changed from post signing party to pre training camp interview.

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Speaker 2: I actually interviewed them at the PEP rally, so there

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Speaker 2: was that joyous moment, and then the interview you're referring

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Speaker 2: to was a lot more defensive. And just to see

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Speaker 2: that change was super interesting because the PEP rally, as

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Speaker 2: you remember, was all excitement, and they got a little

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Speaker 2: carried away, as they admitted later with the not one,

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Speaker 2: not two, not three, not seventeen, And you know, it

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Speaker 2: was joy and it was happiness, and it was this

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Speaker 2: excitement about being together and all the possibility. And by

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Speaker 2: the time we got to right before the season, they

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Speaker 2: had had all that time to hear about how terrible

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Speaker 2: they were, how disloyal some of them were, how selfish

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Speaker 2: some of them were. All the things that were hurled

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Speaker 2: at them, and so much of it was about so

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Speaker 2: much more than basketball or Lebron James. There were so

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Speaker 2: many feelings about the state of the country. There were

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Speaker 2: so many feelings about race, there were so many feelings

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Speaker 2: about Middle America and people leaving their hometowns and their

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Speaker 2: states in the middle of the country because industries had

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Speaker 2: dried up, and that feeling of being abandoned. There's so

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Speaker 2: many things that tied into why that backlash happened. But

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Speaker 2: you could tell by the time we sat down for

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Speaker 2: that interview right before the season, that backlash had hit

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Speaker 2: them all pretty hard.

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Speaker 8: You know. It's that's alid part of the game.

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Speaker 6: And at the end of the day that we all

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Speaker 6: know if they booing you because they don't like you,

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Speaker 6: or because they fear you, what do you think.

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Speaker 9: I think because they fear you can't boo Jordan. How

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Speaker 9: can you boo George because you don't like him.

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Speaker 6: You don't like George's game, You're gonna boom Maddie's games,

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Speaker 6: Bird games doing that.

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Speaker 2: And the posture that they took was to go on

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Speaker 2: the offensive.

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Speaker 10: We all know everything that someone has said about us

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Speaker 10: individually as a team.

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Speaker 8: The style of basketball that we want to play.

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Speaker 10: We want to defensive, rebounding, those our main two things.

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Speaker 8: You can't be nice and do that.

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Speaker 10: You know, when you see Jordan take the ball from

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Speaker 10: somebody and go down and dunk in somebody's face, He's

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Speaker 10: not like, I guess I'll take it from I guess

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Speaker 10: I don't have a nice day.

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Speaker 3: And thanks to ESPN for that clip.

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Speaker 2: They definitely grabbed that idea of you want us to

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Speaker 2: be the villains. Okay, we're going to be the villains.

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Speaker 2: Lebron talked about the fact that he had made a

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Speaker 2: list all summer of all the people who had said

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Speaker 2: things to him, and I said, what are you going

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Speaker 2: to do with that list? And he said, turn him

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Speaker 2: into wins? You did right on your Twitter page.

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Speaker 4: Don't think for a minute that I'm not taking mental

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Speaker 4: notes at everyone who took shots at me this summer.

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Speaker 9: Explain and none explain you read a sel of explantor what.

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Speaker 4: Are those mental notes going to translate.

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Speaker 9: Into to a lot of wins?

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Speaker 3: Thanks again to ESPN for that sound.

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Speaker 5: Training camp at an Air Force base was a less

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Speaker 5: than subtle choice by team president Riley to address the

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Speaker 5: level of dedication needed and the type of brotherhood that

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Speaker 5: would have to be forged in order to complete the

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Speaker 5: championship journey, but it also set the tone for the

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Speaker 5: bunker mentality this group would have to employ to maintain insanity.

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Speaker 5: Every single word was picked apart, and the coverage of

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Speaker 5: the team itself was criticized.

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Speaker 3: Remember the Heat Index.

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Speaker 5: No, it was effectively a separate site from ESPN dot

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Speaker 5: com that had multiple reporters covering only the Heat, not

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Speaker 5: the rest of the association, just Miami. No matter how

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Speaker 5: mine or the story, it got major coverage. Publicly, it

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Speaker 5: was deemed overkill for a team that had won absolutely

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Speaker 5: nothing at the time, despite the fact the site never

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Speaker 5: lacked for traffic. I might have written a few words

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Speaker 5: for the Heat Index, and I remember finding it strange

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Speaker 5: that I went from a local newspaper in the Miami

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Speaker 5: Herald to a national outlet like ESPN, only to cover

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Speaker 5: the local team even closer. But that was the world

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Speaker 5: Lebron and the Heat created for everyone, and the Miami

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Speaker 5: Heat as a team, as Windhors discussed, were forced to

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Speaker 5: wear a label they never wanted, the label of villain.

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Speaker 7: He came off seeming like a mercenary there, and a

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Speaker 7: mercenary isn't historically a desirable side to root for, you know,

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Speaker 7: they were sort of the villains. Then the nature of

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Speaker 7: them being put together was of of of a villainous act.

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Speaker 7: A lot of people compared what Lebron, Wade and Bosh

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Speaker 7: did to the wrestling move nWo. nWo was cast to

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Speaker 7: be a villain. They were. Their script was to be

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Speaker 7: a villain. The fact that the Heat wore black, and

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Speaker 7: that you know, we're from a glamorous place and sort

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Speaker 7: of represented a lifestyle and in a sort of a

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Speaker 7: class that is not the every fan like. All of

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Speaker 7: it fit into a narrative creating this team, but doing

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Speaker 7: it in such a way that empowered them, and for

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Speaker 7: it to be an absolute abject disaster in public relations,

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Speaker 7: an area that they awe themselves as like thought leaders

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Speaker 7: in that was a huge blow. Then, for him to

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Speaker 7: get to this team and be generally disliked every time

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Speaker 7: they stepped out of Miami was not something he was

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Speaker 7: prepared for, and it was especially surprising because he thought

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Speaker 7: he had prepared for everything. I don't think he could

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Speaker 7: possibly think that there would be more scrutiny on him

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Speaker 7: that was already on him, from being on Sports Illustrated

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Speaker 7: when he was seventeen, to being on ESPN as a

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Speaker 7: high school senior, which at the time was unheard of

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Speaker 7: to signing this huge Nike contract. I mean, people forget

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Speaker 7: Kobe signed. Kobe Bryant was a three time NBA champion

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Speaker 7: and one of the faces of the league. He signed

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Speaker 7: a Nike contract the gear Lebron came in the league

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Speaker 7: for forty million. Lebron signed a Nike contract coming into

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Speaker 7: the league for ninety million. Okay, he felt like that

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Speaker 7: was a big pressures point. The drama in Cleveland of

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Speaker 7: him not getting over the hump, you know, being with

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Speaker 7: the number one seed his last two years there and

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Speaker 7: not getting it done, you know, struggling in his last

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Speaker 7: playoff series with the Calves. I think he thought he

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Speaker 7: knew what adversity was, and he had seen a lot

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Speaker 7: of it, and frankly, he had overcome a big portion

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Speaker 7: of He hadn't become a champion yet, but I'm sure

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Speaker 7: he felt he was going to get there, and so

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Speaker 7: when he came to Miami and there was just the

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Speaker 7: only the only thing I could describe was nightly venom.

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Speaker 5: The regular season began in the most venomous possible setting,

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Speaker 5: Boston's TD Garden. It was where Wade and the Heat

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Speaker 5: were eliminated in their previous postseason and where Lebron had

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Speaker 5: so many duels with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

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Speaker 5: It was the Celtics, remember that also knocked out Lebron

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Speaker 5: in his last game as a Cavalier. This crowd was

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Speaker 5: ready to be the first to mock this Heat super team,

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Speaker 5: and Miami's primary characters gave the crowd plenty of ammunition.

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Speaker 11: Eighty three seventy two.

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Speaker 7: Bush crowd started in with the overrated checks. We're in

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Speaker 7: game one.

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Speaker 5: If you recall, there weren't many returning players on this

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Speaker 5: Heat team. It was Wade Eudonnis Haslam, Mario Chalmers, James Jones,

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Speaker 5: and Joel Anthony. After that, it was a brand new

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Speaker 5: group trying to create chemistry. Well, it was obvious in

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Speaker 5: the opener that chemistry was still to be discovered. The

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Speaker 5: team that was supposed to challenge the all time wins record,

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Speaker 5: according to some, scored all of eighty points in a

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Speaker 5: dud of a debut in Boston.

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Speaker 3: This is a work in progress.

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Speaker 6: We feel like we all know, Rome wasn't built in

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Speaker 6: one day, you know, so it's going to take time,

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Speaker 6: and we understand that we have to keep on making

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Speaker 6: progress every day and she continued to get better.

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Speaker 8: We just missed shots. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, we miss some easy shots and never were able

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Speaker 6: to get into a proper rhythm.

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Speaker 3: But that's not a reason to panic. Right now. This

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Speaker 3: is one of eighty two.

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Speaker 12: You know, I'm sorry if I won't thought we's gonna

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Speaker 12: go eighty two and zero.

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Speaker 8: It just ain't happened.

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Speaker 5: Players that were starting are getting heavy minutes at the

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Speaker 5: beginning of the season. Players like starting point guard Carlos

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Speaker 5: Arroyo and reserve Eddie House would barely be playing by

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Speaker 5: season's end, or, in the case of Arroyo, not even

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Speaker 5: on the team. Throw in the skilled duplication of Lebron

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Speaker 5: and Wade, and the uncertainty and how to use Bosh effectively,

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Speaker 5: and it meant the Heat started that season fairly uneven.

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Speaker 5: They weren't lost, as you could easily get over either.

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Speaker 5: They each seemed to come dressed with one enormous red flag,

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Speaker 5: and said flag would be waived on every sports themed

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Speaker 5: talk show in America until even Heat fans were in

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Speaker 5: a panic. There was the opener in Boston where they

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Speaker 5: all looked like strangers. There was the second loss to

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Speaker 5: the New Orleans Hornets, led by a Mecca okafor the

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Speaker 5: big man had a twenty six point seventeen rebound performance

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Speaker 5: and it was a major concern for a Heat team

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Speaker 5: with questions at center. There was a loss to Utah

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Speaker 5: where Paul Millsap went nuts with forty six points, unearthing

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Speaker 5: more holes in the Heat defense.

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Speaker 11: He gives it off the pall.

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Speaker 13: Can you believe that?

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Speaker 3: One point?

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Speaker 11: Gay at the buzzer? Millsap the follow up and all yeah,

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Speaker 11: is that he knows it.

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Speaker 5: There was another loss to Boston, this time in Miami,

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Speaker 5: where Ray Allen hit his first seven three pointers and

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Speaker 5: Wade was two for twelve from the field for a

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Speaker 5: lousy eight points. Then there was a loss to Memphis

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Speaker 5: without Wade, where Rudy Gay hit a game winner over

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Speaker 5: Lebron Rudy for the win.

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Speaker 7: Yes, yes, yes, the night.

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Speaker 14: Was on when the ball left his hand and he

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Speaker 14: is the hero knock him down a big shot over

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Speaker 14: Lebron James out stressed armed.

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Speaker 5: There was a loss to Indiana where the Heat scored

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Speaker 5: just seventy seven points at home and Wade had the

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Speaker 5: worst shooting game of his career, one of thirteen from

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Speaker 5: the field. There was the game, the Heat got dominated

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Speaker 5: by Dwight Howard and JJ Reddick to fall to eight

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Speaker 5: and seven. On the same day, President Barack Obama told

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Speaker 5: Barbara Walters the Heat needed time to gel. It had

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Speaker 5: reached a presidential level of concern. Then there was game

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Speaker 5: number seventeen in Dallas. The Heat would fall to nine

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Speaker 5: and eight and have a player's only meeting afterward. It's

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Speaker 5: pretty obvious because it's in the title, but a player's

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Speaker 5: only meeting does not include coaches. That was particularly notable

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Speaker 5: after this contest, however, because during the game there was

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Speaker 5: an incident that had some questioning the head coach, Eric

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Speaker 5: Spolstra and his relationship with this super team. As the

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Speaker 5: team was headed to the huddle a timeout, Spolster was

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Speaker 5: walking onto the floor as Lebron was walking toward the bench.

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Speaker 5: The two collided, Lebron's right arm bumping into Spolster's right shoulder,

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Speaker 5: despite the fact James was looking in Spolster's direction the

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Speaker 5: entire time.

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Speaker 7: Under the time out there Spolster.

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Speaker 14: Miami still has not scored in the third quarter, but

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Speaker 14: Dallas has scored thirteen unanswered points.

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Speaker 5: Here's Brian Winhorst on the first in season controversy to

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Speaker 5: hit this Heat team bump gate.

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Speaker 7: The bump was absolutely a message. Lebron doesn't do that

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Speaker 7: without sending a message just how far he was willing

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Speaker 7: to go. I'm not sure what I remember is coming in,

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Speaker 7: you know, I believe the game in Dallas is on

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Speaker 7: a Saturday night, there was a day off and coming

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Speaker 7: in on Monday or you know, whenever. The next availability

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Speaker 7: was wondering how Eric Spolstra was going to react to

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Speaker 7: a lot of speculation about his job status, and Eric

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00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:13,159
Speaker 7: being absolutely as confident as I'd ever seen him that

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Speaker 7: entire season, and that was a huge moment because while

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Speaker 7: he was certainly projecting it to the media and therefore

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Speaker 7: the public, he was also projecting it to the players.

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Speaker 7: And he was doing it because he knew, despite what

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Speaker 7: Lebron's messages were, that he had the organizations backing. And

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Speaker 7: in later years it kind of came out. And it's

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Speaker 7: not surprising because this is kind of who Lebron is

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Speaker 7: that Lebron may have passive aggressively made some references to

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Speaker 7: Pat about trying to coach again. I'm not sure Lebron

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00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,159
Speaker 7: ever actually directly called for it. I think he just

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00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,840
Speaker 7: sort of influenced in his way, and you know, we

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00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 7: saw the same things happen later in his career with

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Speaker 7: other coaches, so it's not that surprising. But I actually

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Speaker 7: think that that was a valuable moment because Spolstra, knowing

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Speaker 7: that he had Riley's back, only emboldened him, and it

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Speaker 7: was kind of like, you know, a teenager testing his limits.

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Speaker 7: He tested his limits, he learned what they were, and

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Speaker 7: they moved on from there.

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Speaker 5: We've already established a level of pressure placed on Lebron

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Speaker 5: after joining Miami. His vision of how this was going

435
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,480
Speaker 5: to go didn't start out nine to eight. The obvious

436
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Speaker 5: place to set the blame was on the head of Spolstra,

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Speaker 5: who happened to only be in his third year in

438
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 5: the seat. Lebron's mission to come to Miami and be

439
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,840
Speaker 5: stamped a champion wasn't going to be ruined by some

440
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,920
Speaker 5: novice headman, especially when a legend was in the organization

441
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 5: in pat Riley, and he'd already done one in season

442
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 5: rescue routine for his five oh six championship team when

443
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,560
Speaker 5: stan Van Gundy stepped down after twenty one in games.

444
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 5: As Windhorse explained, the heat would stand by Spolstra even

445
00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:11,199
Speaker 5: after some let's call it nudging from Lebron, but as

446
00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:14,960
Speaker 5: former Heat point guard Mario Chalmers tells it, Lebron almost

447
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,399
Speaker 5: had to kick the tires on a Riley return because

448
00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:21,679
Speaker 5: Lebron didn't come to Miami to fail. He was in

449
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,439
Speaker 5: the process, in his mind of chasing and eventually surpassing

450
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,880
Speaker 5: the careers of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, the players

451
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,880
Speaker 5: he watched and idolized. Brian and Jordan had a head

452
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,440
Speaker 5: coach in common while earning their rings, and for Lebron,

453
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:41,640
Speaker 5: a basketball historian, he figured he'd need a similarly experienced

454
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 5: leader with which to pair, and he'd say as much.

455
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:46,360
Speaker 3: Here's Chalmers.

456
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,240
Speaker 13: I would hear business pieces of it, But I know

457
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:55,239
Speaker 13: bron biggest state was he's never had let me not

458
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,760
Speaker 13: say the wrong thing, A highly successful culture, a highly

459
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:01,800
Speaker 13: started out at the coach. You know, Mike Brown was

460
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,439
Speaker 13: a good coach, was a good coach.

461
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 3: He never had his Phil Jackson.

462
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:09,520
Speaker 13: Right there, you go, that's perfect way to say. He

463
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 13: says that he said that multiple times on the team

464
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 13: in the locker room. So I don't think it was

465
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,919
Speaker 13: more of anything against Spoe. I just think I mean,

466
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:19,680
Speaker 13: I think Bron just wanted that person that had the

467
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,280
Speaker 13: accolades and that he knows what really pushed him to

468
00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:25,679
Speaker 13: be what he came to Miami to beat, and that's

469
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 13: one of the greats. And I don't think he's seen

470
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 13: that from Spoe at first. But once they got it

471
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 13: together and you could see them form a different type

472
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 13: of bond, a different type of relationship.

473
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 5: What the heat we're searching for was that binding agent,

474
00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:41,159
Speaker 5: the unifying experience that clarifies the mission and brings the

475
00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 5: team even closer. At the moment, this was a team

476
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 5: barely over the five hundred mark, with a superstar wondering

477
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,600
Speaker 5: if he'd made the right choice, and almost an entire

478
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,719
Speaker 5: country reveling in its failures. This wasn't what you Donnis

479
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 5: Haslam gave up millions to be a part of.

480
00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 8: It was a struggle.

481
00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:00,679
Speaker 12: I mean, we had a great, great training camp, you know,

482
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,639
Speaker 12: competition wise, I think we were where we needed to be.

483
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 12: I think mentally, you know, it took some It took

484
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,359
Speaker 12: a while to get comfortable. You know, nobody wants to

485
00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:11,400
Speaker 12: step on anybody told you know, we want to allow

486
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:13,520
Speaker 12: le Bron to be Lebron. We want to allow Chris

487
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,439
Speaker 12: to be Chris, I think Dwayne and I kind of

488
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:16,919
Speaker 12: just took a back seat just to kind of let

489
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,600
Speaker 12: those guys get comfortable, and I think that ended up hurting,

490
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,200
Speaker 12: you know, all of us early on in the season.

491
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:23,879
Speaker 12: But I think it's something that needed to happen. You know,

492
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,440
Speaker 12: you can't just go from A to D. You got

493
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 12: to go through B and C. You can't skip steps,

494
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:30,280
Speaker 12: and I think those growing pains with things we just

495
00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 12: had to go through.

496
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:34,400
Speaker 5: Did the B and C Haslam reference there also mean

497
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:38,240
Speaker 5: the Boston Celtics. No, but it would have been really

498
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,360
Speaker 5: cool if it did. That's a confrontation still to come.

499
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,080
Speaker 5: For now, it was just one C, the city of

500
00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:49,240
Speaker 5: Cleveland that would provide just the building block this group needed.

501
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:53,399
Speaker 5: To this point, there was an awkwardness hovering over this group.

502
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,479
Speaker 5: Their joy for the game, their thrill of being brought together.

503
00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:01,320
Speaker 5: It had been met with a national grown and dulled severely.

504
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:03,920
Speaker 5: The resolve they built up during that stay in the

505
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,800
Speaker 5: Air Force base was being threatened. Lebron was mystified that

506
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 5: he was booed, and that loss in Memphis, a city

507
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:14,000
Speaker 5: that Lebron never scorned. He never even teased the possibility

508
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,639
Speaker 5: of signing there. After a couple of steadying winds against

509
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 5: the Wizards and Pistons, the Heat were set for Cleveland,

510
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,840
Speaker 5: Lebron's former home, a place he knew he wouldn't be

511
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:26,320
Speaker 5: greeted warmly anymore.

512
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,879
Speaker 4: And then, of course, you guys play in Cleveland. Dwayne

513
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:31,399
Speaker 4: you recently said you think you're going to need a

514
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 4: police escort just to get out of that city. What

515
00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:36,160
Speaker 4: is that going to be? Like him?

516
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 9: That's gonna bring my camera.

517
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:39,960
Speaker 8: I just want to get the footage.

518
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,600
Speaker 9: I think it's get a lot of booze that night too.

519
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 6: You know, it definitely won't be a warm reception, but

520
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 6: it's another game, another challenge for us to deal with

521
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,240
Speaker 6: adversity throughout the course of the season, and.

522
00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:56,280
Speaker 9: I'm looking forward to it.

523
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 6: I've got a lot of memories with those fans, and

524
00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 6: you know, I'm gonna see a lot of fans seen

525
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,040
Speaker 6: every single night for those forty one home games every season,

526
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:03,880
Speaker 6: plus playoffs.

527
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 8: But I'll be on the other side of sound.

528
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 5: Thank you to ESPN for that bite. It's one of

529
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 5: the developing themes of this Heat experience. It was even

530
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 5: more of a harrowing homecoming than anyone could have predicted.

531
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:20,320
Speaker 14: For seven seasons, Lebron James Moore, the colors of the

532
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:25,040
Speaker 14: Cleveland Cavaliers. Then came the decision, and tonight comes the return,

533
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 14: and moments ago he took to the court in.

534
00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:47,240
Speaker 5: Cleveland, just off Lake Erie Is, the building once called

535
00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 5: Quicken Loans Arena. On December two, twenty ten, Rachel Nichols

536
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 5: was one of many journalists who parachuted in to witness

537
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 5: the Return of the King.

538
00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:58,960
Speaker 2: Do you sort of think, Okay, we know what sand

539
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,960
Speaker 2: behavior is like, and what a difficult or tense situation

540
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 2: is like, and absolutely none of that prepared any single

541
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 2: one of us for what it was going to be like.

542
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,160
Speaker 2: I have never before or since been in an environment

543
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,200
Speaker 2: like that. I have been to thousands of games in

544
00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 2: half a dozen sports. I have been covered Super Bowls,

545
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,680
Speaker 2: I have covered World Series. I have covered other players

546
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 2: returns to cities they used to play in. I have

547
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:29,160
Speaker 2: never ever seen or felt anything like that. And when

548
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 2: I say felt, the feeling is is that the building

549
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 2: was vibrating. And I don't mean that is a euphemism.

550
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,360
Speaker 2: I mean that there was so much noise and so

551
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,160
Speaker 2: much sound that you could put your hand down on

552
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:43,120
Speaker 2: the table in front of you and it was vibrating

553
00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 2: a little bit. The players would say later as they

554
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,560
Speaker 2: were gathering in the pregame locker room that it felt

555
00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:50,640
Speaker 2: like the fans were in there with them, that's how

556
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 2: loud it was. And they actually had to cover They

557
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:57,240
Speaker 2: call it the vomitatorium, which is a ridiculous name, but

558
00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 2: it's the tunnel where players walk out from the locker

559
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,959
Speaker 2: room onto the court. That area had not been previously

560
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,160
Speaker 2: covered in Cleveland, and they actually covered it for that

561
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:07,560
Speaker 2: game because they were so worried about what fans were

562
00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,560
Speaker 2: going to throw at the players. And I was their

563
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:13,920
Speaker 2: court side and I saw a battery land in front

564
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 2: of me, so I know those were being thrown, and

565
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:19,960
Speaker 2: who knows what else from other parts of the building,

566
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,520
Speaker 2: to say the least, at the names being called of

567
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 2: these players, and went way outside the bounds of what

568
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 2: is appropriate on a basketball court. And I want to

569
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,480
Speaker 2: be careful because you know, there's give or take, twenty

570
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 2: thousand people in that building, and I am sure that

571
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,560
Speaker 2: nineteen thousand, five hundred of them behaved completely appropriately, But

572
00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 2: the fact that you did have a vocal and physical

573
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:48,880
Speaker 2: minority of fans that didn't really change the experience. And

574
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 2: one of the things I noticed as all of this

575
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:55,360
Speaker 2: chaos was going on is that Lebron James, with his

576
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:58,200
Speaker 2: headphones on as he was getting ready for the game,

577
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 2: looked like he had no idea that all of this

578
00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:04,640
Speaker 2: was happening outside those headphones around him. And of course

579
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:07,360
Speaker 2: he did, We all know that he did. But the

580
00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,800
Speaker 2: fact that he was able to maintain that barrier and

581
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:13,920
Speaker 2: that mental piece in that environment is one of the

582
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 2: more impressive things, frankly, that I have seen. And we

583
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 2: saw how he played during that game. He played like

584
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:21,320
Speaker 2: he felt and you could see it.

585
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:22,960
Speaker 7: Now.

586
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,600
Speaker 15: It's me I stuttered for the visiting why every heat

587
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,040
Speaker 15: at four six from Saint Visit Saint Very High School

588
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 15: Lubber six labroad day.

589
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:42,280
Speaker 5: Windhorse, like myself was in the building as well. I'd

590
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,680
Speaker 5: been there probably a dozen times in my career to

591
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 5: that point. And when I say the air felt thick,

592
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 5: it's the only way I could explain it. Everywhere you

593
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:55,480
Speaker 5: looked there was a sign of tension. The oxygen literally

594
00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 5: felt different than it did outside. Windhorse had spent countless

595
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,720
Speaker 5: nights in that fiding, none were like this night.

596
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:07,800
Speaker 7: Yeah. So I remember walking into the bowl and I

597
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:10,840
Speaker 7: don't know, maybe it was just a perception, but everything

598
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 7: felt different. The light felt different, the air felt heavy.

599
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,880
Speaker 7: You could just feel it. I mean, you know, typically,

600
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 7: you know before games, you know, there's just sort of

601
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 7: just one hundred different things happening, you know, and you

602
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,920
Speaker 7: know it's all sort of unfocused. It's just sort of relaxed.

603
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:37,680
Speaker 7: Everybody's eyes in that room were on one person, and

604
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 7: you know, the Calves were not calming it down. They

605
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 7: were putting him on the scoreboard. You know, when Calves

606
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:48,880
Speaker 7: owner Dan Gilbert came in, they put him on the

607
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 7: scoreboard as he walked in, almost like it was a

608
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:55,760
Speaker 7: some sort of fake boxing match to sort of, you know,

609
00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 7: pit him as the opponent, even though they're laughably not

610
00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:03,800
Speaker 7: combatants on that court. It was very uncomfortable. It was

611
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:07,520
Speaker 7: uncomfortable for me. I can't imagine what it felt like

612
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:16,920
Speaker 7: for Lebron and the absolutely brilliant, just soul sucking, emboldening

613
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,320
Speaker 7: at the same time performance in the second half that

614
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:22,120
Speaker 7: Lebron had rena row.

615
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:25,600
Speaker 3: That's when teams get better of Lebron. James is just

616
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:29,720
Speaker 3: Lebron fire here in this third period.

617
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 7: Just killing that crowd with spectacular execution.

618
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:38,520
Speaker 9: This is not there now.

619
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:41,520
Speaker 6: He did say coming in this game, he knows all

620
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:44,640
Speaker 6: the spots on this floor and he's going to every single.

621
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:45,520
Speaker 15: One of them.

622
00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:49,160
Speaker 11: So Lebron is taking us tollicks pat to Cleveland. Lebron

623
00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:53,360
Speaker 11: James of a heap, facing this hostile crowd all night long.

624
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 11: It's an easy win, and you know that they are

625
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:01,160
Speaker 11: happy to get out of towns the back hallover for

626
00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:04,399
Speaker 11: Saturday night's meeting with Atlanta. The Heat with a third

627
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,360
Speaker 11: straight win. They go to twelve at eight.

628
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:12,680
Speaker 7: And it broke the Cavaliers because they were a bad

629
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 7: team that was doing okay, and they ended up losing

630
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 7: more than twenty in a row after that, and the

631
00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:21,720
Speaker 7: Heat basically had one loss for the next six weeks.

632
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:26,319
Speaker 7: That was as pivotal of a regular season game as

633
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:27,239
Speaker 7: you'll ever see it.

634
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,160
Speaker 5: Lebron finished that game with thirty eight points, twenty four

635
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:34,520
Speaker 5: of them coming in the third quarter.

636
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 3: He added eight assists and didn't even need to play

637
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:38,240
Speaker 3: in the fourth quarter.

638
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:40,839
Speaker 5: He was talking to players on the Caps bench after

639
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:43,720
Speaker 5: a couple of impressive buckets. It looked like the joyous

640
00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:47,440
Speaker 5: version of Lebron, at least for one game, was back,

641
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 5: and as a result, it appeared the Heat turned the

642
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,920
Speaker 5: corner with such vigor they couldn't even see it behind

643
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:58,080
Speaker 5: them anymore. The one eighteen to ninety dismantling of his

644
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:01,760
Speaker 5: former franchise would be the third of eleven straight wins

645
00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,440
Speaker 5: for Lebron in the Heat, and it would be part

646
00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:07,200
Speaker 5: of a stretch where Miami won twenty one of twenty

647
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,480
Speaker 5: two games. What team did Miami lose to in that span?

648
00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:14,439
Speaker 5: That would be the Dallas Mavericks, the team Miami lost

649
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:18,160
Speaker 5: to during Bumpgate that got this whole role started. It

650
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:21,680
Speaker 5: would provide a bit of foreshadowing, helping establish the Mavericks

651
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:24,040
Speaker 5: as one of the Heat's primary rivals in this era.

652
00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:27,719
Speaker 5: But another rival would also emerge in year one, the

653
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,640
Speaker 5: Chicago Bulls, and they would soon bring this red hot

654
00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:33,960
Speaker 5: Heat team to actual tears.

655
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:41,400
Speaker 7: When Dwayne Wade had two meetings with the Bulls, he

656
00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:43,960
Speaker 7: didn't have that second meeting for fun.

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00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,880
Speaker 3: The questions got louder. The joy for a lot of

658
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:51,640
Speaker 3: people got heightened by They're not good enough.

659
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 4: They're not good enough.

660
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:53,920
Speaker 13: They're not good enough, They're not good enough.

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00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:54,919
Speaker 9: That's the game.

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00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:55,680
Speaker 3: Within the game.

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00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 12: You know that people you forget, but it's a real

664
00:36:59,080 --> 00:36:59,719
Speaker 12: war out there.

665
00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:01,959
Speaker 3: It's not check as it's.

666
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:05,319
Speaker 12: Chest, just gonna beat him up. I'm making physical and

667
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,359
Speaker 12: once again that's right up my alley. I told you

668
00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:09,560
Speaker 12: they wanted me to be here for a reason. You know,

669
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:12,439
Speaker 12: they sacrificed for me for a reason. So once again

670
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:13,600
Speaker 12: I'm gonna give them their money's work.

671
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:18,480
Speaker 7: I believe that the pressure got to him, and I

672
00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:20,719
Speaker 7: think the pressure got to him in Dallas, and so

673
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:24,400
Speaker 7: what made me wonder if something within him had been broken.

674
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:26,719
Speaker 12: Lebron James comes in front of him, they do the

675
00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:28,600
Speaker 12: little rap video punch thing and all that.

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00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:30,680
Speaker 8: I remember it like it was yesterday.

677
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,680
Speaker 12: And then it was like from that point on Dirt

678
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 12: and Jason Terry went on Demon time.

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00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,719
Speaker 3: Four years. If he does a production off iHeartRadio and

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00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:44,280
Speaker 3: the NBA