Speaker 1: I'm always one of the most specialist records for me
Speaker 1: because I was on tour with litl Wayne and Ross
Speaker 1: and I was so excited to get with Drake, you know,
Speaker 1: seeing Drake and tell how much I want to, you know,
Speaker 1: make history with him. And he played me this one
Speaker 1: verse and hook and I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 1: He says it to me, and I was like, Yo,
Speaker 1: this is the record. Let me finish it. So he
Speaker 1: gave me the blessings to go finish it.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Wayne put Ross on it and Little Wayne on it.
Speaker 1: Ross knocked it out for me when we was on tour,
Speaker 1: and you know, Wayne goes in the studio every night,
Speaker 1: no matter what's going on, and he knocked it out
Speaker 1: like five six in the morning. And this is me
Speaker 1: coming off a tour. I'm excited, my careers starting to climb,
Speaker 1: and then boom, I record a song with Drake, Lil Wayne,
Speaker 1: and Rick Ross called I'm One. That record changed the
Speaker 1: energy and the level of greatness for a decade. After
Speaker 1: that record came out, It's like everybody.
Speaker 2: Had to step it up.
Speaker 3: DJ Khaled was on top of the music world at
Speaker 3: about the same time his favorite team, the Miami Heat.
Speaker 3: We're living their dream as well. Welcome back to four
Speaker 3: years of Heat. I'm your host Israel Gutierrez and this
Speaker 3: is episode six.
Speaker 4: The shot.
Speaker 3: I'm on one, in which Lil Wayne drops a pat
Speaker 3: Riley reference and a Heat double Entandra in his verse,
Speaker 3: was released during Miami's first championship season with this core,
Speaker 3: and by the time the twenty thirteen finals began, the
Speaker 3: defending champion Heat had been through a sixty six win
Speaker 3: regular season that included a twenty seven game win streak
Speaker 3: and made it through the Eastern Conference playoffs, highlighted by
Speaker 3: a seven games series against a rugged rival, the Indiana
Speaker 3: Pacers in the conference finals. Awaiting them in the finals
Speaker 3: was the type of test this Heat team hadn't experienced yet,
Speaker 3: a physically daunting task that was unlike the Pacers, who
Speaker 3: did it with size and toughness. The Spurs exhausted teams
Speaker 3: by making them chase a basketball constantly in motion, forcing
Speaker 3: one close out after another after another, only to still
Speaker 3: find an open opportunity, and if the shot went in,
Speaker 3: it only drained defenders a little bit more. It was
Speaker 3: a constant test of conditioning and mental resilience. Eudonis Haslam
Speaker 3: remembers just how taxing it was to stay with these Spurs,
Speaker 3: especially in the last series of the year, after the
Speaker 3: Heat had already played ninety eight games to that point
Speaker 3: and were in their third straight year reaching the final
Speaker 3: series of the season.
Speaker 2: Like I knew this about these guys.
Speaker 5: I knew the way they played a game of basketball
Speaker 5: is the right way to play the game. Maximizing the
Speaker 5: potential of all your guys that's on the court at
Speaker 5: one time. Very few teams do that. You know, you
Speaker 5: might maximize the potential of one of two guys and
Speaker 5: the rest of the guys got to fill in the
Speaker 5: gaps of get the scraps. They maximized the potential of
Speaker 5: all five guys on the court at the same time.
Speaker 2: You had to worry about all five guys.
Speaker 5: Everybody was active, everybody was a threat, everybody was involved.
Speaker 5: It was just a basketball team, man, a great basketball team.
Speaker 5: So you know, we knew that they were going to
Speaker 5: push us, you know, to our limits, you know, mentally,
Speaker 5: you know, not just physically, but more so mentally than anything.
Speaker 3: Shane Battier already felt he'd reached his physical limit by
Speaker 3: this point, after a regular season of playing as an
Speaker 3: undersized power forward for the small ball heat, Battier didn't
Speaker 3: even have much left for the Pacers in the conference finals.
Speaker 3: He hit just two of his fifteen shots in that series,
Speaker 3: all but one being three point attempts, and by Game seven,
Speaker 3: Battier didn't play at all. So heading into a Spurs
Speaker 3: series where the ball whipped around the court much faster,
Speaker 3: Battier wasn't excited about his prospects.
Speaker 6: I was exhausted by that. So I've played the entire year,
Speaker 6: full year. We have obviously a great year, and I spent,
Speaker 6: you know, thirty minutes banging at the power forward every
Speaker 6: single night, and the garden guys, you thirty forty pounds
Speaker 6: heavier than me, every single night. I could do it,
Speaker 6: and I did it, and I was smart about it.
Speaker 6: But by the playoffs, I was just gassed. I had
Speaker 6: no legs and that showed in my shooting, and I
Speaker 6: got to a point where I couldn't make a shot
Speaker 6: and was beyond frustrated. I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed
Speaker 6: for how bad I was playing now, how much I
Speaker 6: was letting the team now.
Speaker 3: Battier was always helpful with an intelligent quote, whether it
Speaker 3: was dissecting how to guard the best players in the
Speaker 3: league or gauging the mood of the team at any point.
Speaker 3: On the subject of his poor play and eventual benching.
Speaker 3: In Game seven against the Pacers, however, Battier probably offered
Speaker 3: his most memorable quote as a member of the Heat.
Speaker 3: He said of the benching, sometimes you've got to eat
Speaker 3: a turd sandwich makes the ribbi I taste better next time. Okay,
Speaker 3: so maybe you didn't want to remember that quote, but
Speaker 3: it stuck anyway, And after that unfortunate meal, there was
Speaker 3: only one option for a follow up ribbi that season.
Speaker 3: It would have to be the Spurs of Tim Duncan,
Speaker 3: Manu Genobili, Tony Parker, and Kawhi Leonard, who offered a
Speaker 3: completely different look than those Pacers did.
Speaker 2: Anyway.
Speaker 4: Well, they played small.
Speaker 6: They were able to match up our small ball, and
Speaker 6: so put Duncan on on cbe and put Kawhi at
Speaker 6: the at the flour and play Genobi and Parker and
Speaker 6: a shooter. And so where Indiana stylistically was much different game,
Speaker 6: it was much more ground and pound. The Spurs were
Speaker 6: able to take away some of our some of our
Speaker 6: space and with their speed and so that was really
Speaker 6: the first time a team tried to match up with
Speaker 6: us and go small, and it was it was like,
Speaker 6: you know, looking in the mirror.
Speaker 3: What was staring back at Miami was the most dominant
Speaker 3: team in those playoffs. According to the numbers, the Spurs
Speaker 3: outscored opponents by seven full points in their twenty one
Speaker 3: games at postseason. The only other team that was even
Speaker 3: close was the Heat, at a six point four differential.
Speaker 3: Just for reference, in the twenty one to twenty two postseason,
Speaker 3: the champion Warriors outscored opponents by an average of five
Speaker 3: points in their twenty two games, the largest gap that postseason.
Speaker 3: Matt Bonner was a reserve on that Spurs team that
Speaker 3: had beaten the Lakers, Warriors, and Grizzlies that postseason. He'd
Speaker 3: already won a title over Lebron James while with the
Speaker 3: Spurs in two thousand and seven, when they defeated Lebron's Cavaliers.
Speaker 3: Bonner also happened to be a teammate of Chris Bosch's,
Speaker 3: having began his career with the Toronto Raptors in two
Speaker 3: thousand and four. He saw a Heat team that was
Speaker 3: more daunting than any opponent he'd faced so far in
Speaker 3: those playoffs a team so defensively capable, they employed tactics
Speaker 3: that didn't exactly match up with the times.
Speaker 7: They had a lot of talent, but they were really
Speaker 7: well coached. They all had really high basketball i q's
Speaker 7: in Their level of execution on both ends of the
Speaker 7: floor was a very high level. Like they guarded pick
Speaker 7: and rolls by hard hedging, which you rarely see this
Speaker 7: day and age in the NBA. They had one of
Speaker 7: the top defenses in the league on top of all
Speaker 7: the talent down on offense. But I just remember like
Speaker 7: there was no let up no matter what five they
Speaker 7: had on the court. There was no like, all right,
Speaker 7: we can relax a little bit, or we could take
Speaker 7: advantage of this line up. There was very there was
Speaker 7: like no weaknesses.
Speaker 4: Game one of that finals would beg to differ.
Speaker 3: The box score was a bit of a puzzle, as
Speaker 3: the Heat shot better than the Spurs from the field
Speaker 3: and the three point line and out rebounded San Antonio,
Speaker 3: but the Spurs would only turn the ball over four
Speaker 3: times the entire game compared to Miami's eight, giving San
Speaker 3: Antonio the few more shot attempts it needed, and with
Speaker 3: his team up two points with digits on the clock,
Speaker 3: Tony Parker turned a broken play into a game winning
Speaker 3: bank shot that remains one of the craziest finishes to
Speaker 3: an NBA Finals game, and yet not even the craziest
Speaker 3: finish of this series.
Speaker 8: Shot clock at won Parker not going to get a
Speaker 8: shot off any What a.
Speaker 9: Shot for Parker.
Speaker 4: Parker discussed his wild banker afterward.
Speaker 6: It was a crazy play.
Speaker 10: I thought I lost the ball like three or four
Speaker 10: times and didn't work out like I wanted to. But
Speaker 10: you know, at the end, I was just trying to
Speaker 10: get a shot up and felt good when I left
Speaker 10: my hand, and I was happy you.
Speaker 4: Went in just like that.
Speaker 3: The Heat were down one game to none in the
Speaker 3: NBA Finals for the second straight year. Unlike the last Finals,
Speaker 3: when Miami was confident it would recover from its Game
Speaker 3: one loss to the Thunder, this loss to the Spurs
Speaker 3: left the Heat confused. Where were the glaring mistakes to
Speaker 3: fix it? Was hard to tell, but somehow Lebron only
Speaker 3: manage eighteen points, the most on the team. Wade had
Speaker 3: seventeen and Boston Allen both had thirteen, and given how
Speaker 3: it ended with the Spurs capitalizing on a little luck
Speaker 3: at the end, it felt like a season of amazing
Speaker 3: feats was already on the brink of ending with a
Speaker 3: second finals failure in three seasons.
Speaker 4: Here's hassling.
Speaker 2: We were a little nervous. We're a little nervous, I
Speaker 2: tell you.
Speaker 5: Losing game one, okay, See, we built confidence because you
Speaker 5: can look back and say, okay, I made this mistake,
Speaker 5: I made that mistake. If I don't do this, I
Speaker 5: don't do that. These are different things that San Antonio.
Speaker 5: You're like, where did we go wrong?
Speaker 2: What happened? You know what I'm saying? When did this?
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
Speaker 5: So now they said they have you searching a little bit,
Speaker 5: you know what I'm saying, instead of going right in
Speaker 5: the locker room saying, you know what, I knew.
Speaker 2: I messed that up. I knew I messed this up.
Speaker 2: We fixed this, We'll be fine. Now.
Speaker 5: You just kind of searching a little bit, and they
Speaker 5: put you in that place where is what we do,
Speaker 5: are is what we're bringing? Is it good enough? Is
Speaker 5: it enough?
Speaker 2: They put you in that place of a little a doubt.
Speaker 5: Sometimes that's the doubt you get from San Antonio because
Speaker 5: unlike some teams, they're not gonna lose it, You're gonna
Speaker 5: have to win it.
Speaker 3: To pull this series out against the Spurs, not only
Speaker 3: would the Heat have to face an offense it gives
Speaker 3: you no time to think and runs you ragged, they'd
Speaker 3: have to face a defensive philosophy that had already confounded
Speaker 3: Lebron James in the past. Not only did Spurs coach
Speaker 3: Greg Popovich implement a defensive game plan against Lebron in
Speaker 3: the two thousand and seven Finals that earned his Spurs
Speaker 3: a title, but Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle brought back similar
Speaker 3: strategies to slow Lebron and eventually win the twenty eleven Finals.
Speaker 3: The first two plus quarters of Game two did very
Speaker 3: little to quell the concerns of the Heat that Popovich
Speaker 3: defense once again kept Lebron under wraps, as he missed
Speaker 3: ten of his first thirteen shots in that game. Late
Speaker 3: in the third quarter, the Heat were trailing by a point.
Speaker 3: In arena decked with Heat fans wearing white was noticeably
Speaker 3: nervous as the Spurs were calmly keeping Miami in check
Speaker 3: for a second straight game. That's when Mario Chalmers, the
Speaker 3: point guard who saved the day in Game four against
Speaker 3: the Thunder in the previous finals by having a big
Speaker 3: scoring night against Kevin Durant came to the rescue again.
Speaker 3: Before the series began, Chalmers figured this wasn't going to
Speaker 3: be a great series for him once he learned the
Speaker 3: Spurs tried not to anger their opponents.
Speaker 2: I know it's gonna be a tough series for me.
Speaker 11: Where they told me that San Antonio is a team
Speaker 11: that kills you with kindness, and like everybody knows me.
Speaker 2: I'll love a confrontation. I love when you talk to me.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna talk.
Speaker 11: Back, but I can't handle Oh you missed that shot,
Speaker 11: You'll make it again next time, Like huh, Like how
Speaker 11: are you on the opposite team telling me I'm gonna
Speaker 11: make the shot next time? I shoot it, Like I
Speaker 11: can't hit it.
Speaker 2: I don't know what to.
Speaker 12: Say to that.
Speaker 4: So who would say that?
Speaker 2: All of them?
Speaker 11: Tim Duncle said, Tony Parker will say like they were
Speaker 11: such a nice team and nice guys.
Speaker 2: Was like.
Speaker 13: Like, no, we're out here for blood, like this is
Speaker 13: for the Championshi, Like, I'm not supposed to like you.
Speaker 13: I was supposed to respect you, which I do respect you,
Speaker 13: but I'm not supposed to like you. In this moment,
Speaker 13: and you're not giving me nothing to not like you,
Speaker 13: like you papped me on the back, you helping me out,
Speaker 13: like you just being a nice guy. And it's kind
Speaker 13: of like I like that, Like I don't like you
Speaker 13: being a nice guy to me. You can do that
Speaker 13: off the court, but basketball were going at it.
Speaker 3: In Game two, though Chalmers didn't need the Spurs players
Speaker 3: to tick him off. The score and situation already did.
Speaker 3: The Heat were at home and it was starting to
Speaker 3: feel like that Game six in twenty eleven, when Dallas
Speaker 3: quieted the Heat's home crowd for good. With three eleven
Speaker 3: left in the third, Chalmers drove for a layup, which
Speaker 3: he converted while being fouled by Spurs guard Danny Green.
Speaker 9: Chalmers counted hand along. I don't know if Green actually
Speaker 9: got a piece of it. Either way, James miss fires,
Speaker 9: but Chalmers with an aggressive move.
Speaker 3: Chalmers would convert the free throw and on the next
Speaker 3: play assist on a Ray Allen three pointer. Then, after
Speaker 3: assisting on a Lebron layup, Chalmers finished the quarter with
Speaker 3: another and one.
Speaker 8: Chalmers into the lane push shot gun it unfound hand
Speaker 8: a reel to the line for another round one.
Speaker 3: In the fourth, Rio added another short jumper to give
Speaker 3: him eight points and two assists during a twenty three
Speaker 3: to two run that gave Miami a sudden nineteen point lead.
Speaker 3: The game was never close again, and despite Chalmers outscoring
Speaker 3: all his teammates with nineteen, it was enough of a
Speaker 3: team effort to comfortably beat San Antonio and tie the
Speaker 3: series at a game apiece. In the hallway from the
Speaker 3: court to the Heat locker room, a space the team
Speaker 3: calls Championship Alley, cameras caught Lebron praising his point guard
Speaker 3: big timers.
Speaker 2: Big time boy, what puck?
Speaker 3: Still, the Heat had given up home court advantage to
Speaker 3: the Spurs and were facing the daunting task of having
Speaker 3: to play three consecutive games in San Antonio and win
Speaker 3: at least one to avoid elimination and regain the home
Speaker 3: court edge. Well, Game three did just as much to
Speaker 3: hurt Miami's hopes as Game two did to booie the Heat.
Speaker 3: After winning by nineteen in Game two, the Heat lost
Speaker 3: by thirty six. In Game three in San Antonio, the
Speaker 3: Spurs shooters were at their most lethal, as Danny Green
Speaker 3: and Gary Neal combined to hit thirteen three pointers in
Speaker 3: just nineteen attempts.
Speaker 9: Neil has to put it off way outside, then he
Speaker 9: knocks it down. Carry Neal having the game of his
Speaker 9: life here in the NBA Finals. Neil tries it again,
Speaker 9: puts it in carry Neal coming on a show. The
Speaker 9: twenty one point lead, He's got twenty four letter drives.
Speaker 9: Neil touched past the green another three pointer.
Speaker 14: That's good.
Speaker 9: Thirteen threes for San Antonio.
Speaker 3: And to this point, Lebron James's scoring totals were eighteen
Speaker 3: in Game one, seventeen in Game two, and fifteen in
Speaker 3: Game three. It was a troubling pattern that if it
Speaker 3: followed the one from the twenty eleven Finals, would then
Speaker 3: see Lebron have his worst performance in Game four. And
Speaker 3: unlike the Dallas series, James wasn't getting the same level
Speaker 3: of support from Wade. Miami's shooting guard had only scored
Speaker 3: forty three points through three games himself. In fact, by
Speaker 3: the time the Heat reached Game four of the Finals,
Speaker 3: Wade had only experienced two twenty point scoring games the
Speaker 3: entire postseason, scoring twenty one way back in Round one
Speaker 3: against Milwaukee and another twenty one coming in Game seven
Speaker 3: against the Pacers. If Wade was going to win his
Speaker 3: third title in his tenth year in the league, he'd
Speaker 3: need to be more of a compliment to James, just
Speaker 3: like the previous postseason, when the Heat needed Way to
Speaker 3: win Game four in Indiana and he responded with thirty points,
Speaker 3: nine assists and six rebounds. They needed him to come
Speaker 3: up Hughes in another Game four that also felt like
Speaker 3: a must win.
Speaker 15: He looks up from must we gotta go get it
Speaker 15: back tonight, try to begin it.
Speaker 11: I not is difficult.
Speaker 8: Is costed it last?
Speaker 14: Second weight weight.
Speaker 3: Wade was at his best when a championship team needed
Speaker 3: him most, scoring thirty two points with six rebounds, six steals,
Speaker 3: and four assists. James and Bosh also combined for fifty three,
Speaker 3: giving Miami the performance from their stars that they desperately
Speaker 3: needed for a one oh nine ninety three win.
Speaker 9: Alan kicks it out to Wade. Wade to the basket
Speaker 9: off but under and backs it in. What a performance
Speaker 9: from Dwayne Wade and the Heat with their largest lead
Speaker 9: of the night.
Speaker 3: It was the type of show you Donnis Haslam had
Speaker 3: seen from Wade so many times through their first ten
Speaker 3: years together.
Speaker 5: I've always, you know, sat back and just watched you,
Speaker 5: Wade Man, and just be a part of his journey,
Speaker 5: you know what I'm saying. Obviously, you know, if I
Speaker 5: wasn't out there setting screens for him, I was watching them.
Speaker 2: So you know, when you when you.
Speaker 5: Have a relationship with somebody like that, you know, you
Speaker 5: just happy to see them do well, no matter what
Speaker 5: situation there.
Speaker 2: And so for me, I was just happy to see
Speaker 2: my boy out there doing well.
Speaker 3: Wade went on to play forty eight more playoff games
Speaker 3: in his career after those thirty two points in Game four,
Speaker 3: and he'd only surpass that total one more time in
Speaker 3: a twenty sixteen series against Toronto. It was the last
Speaker 3: time Wade would call upon his powers at that championship level,
Speaker 3: and it would come at the absolute perfect time. The
Speaker 3: finals were tied again at two to two, giving Miami
Speaker 3: the critical home court advantage right back. It was usually
Speaker 3: Wade relying on James in big playoff moments, but James
Speaker 3: knew this was a much needed performance from his co star,
Speaker 3: and he said as much afterward.
Speaker 16: More than anybody, we needed d Wade to be the
Speaker 16: Flash of six. He definitely came through for us. Every
Speaker 16: single play that we need he made, especially in the
Speaker 16: fourth quarter, who was doing a zero step and he
Speaker 16: was wrapping the ball over people's heads, dunking the ball.
Speaker 16: I mean, he was all over the place, man, and
Speaker 16: we needed that type of game from him to even
Speaker 16: the series out.
Speaker 3: By Game five, the Spurs were looking to change the momentum,
Speaker 3: so coach Popovitch made a couple of adjustments. Man U Jenobili,
Speaker 3: who'd made a career of coming off the bench, would
Speaker 3: be inserted into the starting lineup, and there would be
Speaker 3: one more major defensive adjustment. Six foot eight forward Boris
Speaker 3: Dia would play more minutes and guard Lebron James for
Speaker 3: almost all of them. Yeah, the Spurs had Kawhi Leonard,
Speaker 3: but he couldn't handle Lebron by himself. Not in his
Speaker 3: second year in the league. Diao, whose minutes were ragged
Speaker 3: to start the series, provided the perfect option to defend Lebron,
Speaker 3: especially with the strategy Popovich implemented, which was essentially to
Speaker 3: try to force James into contested two point jumpers. Diao
Speaker 3: didn't even play in the first round of the twenty
Speaker 3: thirteen in playoffs because of a procedure on his back
Speaker 3: that kept him out nearly a month. By the finals,
Speaker 3: he was a major player.
Speaker 14: Again, here's d l So, you know in April, just
Speaker 14: a few games before that, I had a back surgery.
Speaker 14: Uh they drilled through my spine and and my back
Speaker 14: muscle to take an assist that was inside my spinal canal.
Speaker 14: So I was trying to come back from that, and
Speaker 14: and the back is something that takes some time and
Speaker 14: you using your back for everything. And so I was already,
Speaker 14: you know, struggling coming back from from this injury. And
Speaker 14: that's why the playoff already started. It's stuff to kind
Speaker 14: of get back into the game. You know, the coach
Speaker 14: already has his team that they started the playoff, and
Speaker 14: you have a momentum. So so yeah, early on, I
Speaker 14: wasn't playing much in those in those playoffs, just coming
Speaker 14: back from from that injury. But then it's basically wanted
Speaker 14: to try something different people on the Brown at that time.
Speaker 2: Then he took a chance with me. Di.
Speaker 3: I was drafted twenty first in the same draft class
Speaker 3: as James Wade and Bosh. Back then, he was effectively
Speaker 3: a big guard without as much bulk. By twenty thirteen,
Speaker 3: DIA's body was more solid and he was able to
Speaker 3: do just what Popovich asked, give Lebron just enough space
Speaker 3: to get off a jumper, but no ability to get
Speaker 3: to the rim.
Speaker 2: So yeah, a lot easier said than done.
Speaker 14: So that's the overall concept now, not letting him get
Speaker 14: close to the basket, that's the other part.
Speaker 12: You know.
Speaker 14: It was like, yeah, make him take jumpshond but how
Speaker 14: and so and that's why you know, they tried to
Speaker 14: put me on him, And maybe I was a little
Speaker 14: more efficient at it because of the body type as well.
Speaker 14: I had enough weight, enough strength to actually trying to
Speaker 14: keep him away from coming too close, so I could
Speaker 14: use actually my body, I could use the length to
Speaker 14: actually back up a little bit because if you too close,
Speaker 14: obviously he would it would beat you because he was
Speaker 14: also you know, very quick, fast and powerful. So I
Speaker 14: had to back up a little bit and use a
Speaker 14: little bit of my size to be able to disrupt
Speaker 14: as well as a shot.
Speaker 2: It's not you know, just let him shoot.
Speaker 14: That's not you know what we meant by okay, right,
Speaker 14: you'd rather have him take him outside chat he has to.
Speaker 14: He still has to be a contested chot because if
Speaker 14: he's wide open, he's gonna he's gonna make the shot.
Speaker 14: So it was just speaker poison. It was just better
Speaker 14: for us to have him taking an outside chat that
Speaker 14: is contested. I want to say it again, it's not
Speaker 14: just an open outside chot, but it was.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 14: It was better for us d than him coming close
Speaker 14: to the basket.
Speaker 3: Dial's additional presence appeared to affect James. In Game five,
Speaker 3: Boris played twenty seven minutes and Lebron was just eight
Speaker 3: of twenty two from the field. He hit two of
Speaker 3: four to three pointers, but only hit one two point
Speaker 3: shot in seven tries. The Spurs defense was also disrupting
Speaker 3: Lebron at the rim, as he only made four of
Speaker 3: his ten attempts near the basket. In a third quarter timeout,
Speaker 3: leading by two points, Popovich explained to his team what
Speaker 3: it would take to finish the job and take the
Speaker 3: series lead again.
Speaker 8: This game, it's a big boy game, physicality, toughness with
Speaker 8: the ball. It's supposed to be hard. It's the final,
Speaker 8: all right, Give him some adversity, knock the stuffing out
Speaker 8: of him.
Speaker 3: The result was a ten point Spurs win that put
Speaker 3: the heat on the brink of elimination. Returning back to
Speaker 3: Miami for Game six and seven, San.
Speaker 9: Antonio Spurs take a three to two lead in the
Speaker 9: NBA Finals, doc to Miami.
Speaker 16: We've been here before and going back home being confident about,
Speaker 16: you know, our game, being confident about you know, getting
Speaker 16: a win, which we are.
Speaker 3: The Heat would have to win both in order to
Speaker 3: earn its second straight championship. Without those two wins, Miami
Speaker 3: would fall to one and two in three Finals appearances
Speaker 3: since James's arrival. It wasn't quite like going into Boston
Speaker 3: for a Game six because you had a championship in
Speaker 3: your back pocket. But it was beginning to feel like
Speaker 3: a historic regular season would be deemed rather meaningless because
Speaker 3: the Spurs had just too much firepower from Miami. What
Speaker 3: would it take to overcome this deficit and fend off
Speaker 3: the Spurs? Only a game Lebron James would call by
Speaker 3: far the best game he's been a part of, and
Speaker 3: arguably the biggest shot in NBA Finals history.
Speaker 16: You know what, twenty plus seconds ago and us being
Speaker 16: down five, you know, the human nature, doubt starts to
Speaker 16: creep into your mind.
Speaker 15: You see San Antonio fans popping in jerseys, you know,
Speaker 15: jumping up and down.
Speaker 4: It's a dark moment.
Speaker 9: We're back in Miami, where the NBA Finals return.
Speaker 4: Or Game six, well the Spurs close out.
Speaker 9: And win their fifth championship, or can Miami force a
Speaker 9: decisive Game seven?
Speaker 3: Game six between the Heat and the Spurs in American
Speaker 3: Airlines Arena was everything a sports fan could ask for.
Speaker 3: There was the Jugger Nott favorite, the Miami Heat, attempting
Speaker 3: to avoid elimination at home in front of boisterous but
Speaker 3: nervous fans, all dressed in white. There were the underdog
Speaker 3: San Antonio Spurs, established winners, trying to complete a seemingly
Speaker 3: impossible task in a challenging setting.
Speaker 16: Go Man, Go has a fun protect tone court. Hey,
Speaker 16: when you think you gave everything that you got, you
Speaker 16: gotta give more.
Speaker 2: Sure, you gotta give more, man, It's all about us.
Speaker 3: You could feel the tension in the building throughout the game,
Speaker 3: and neither team was truly able to take control. The
Speaker 3: Heat actually took a forty to thirty three lead in
Speaker 3: the second quarter, it's largest of the game, and it
Speaker 3: looked for a moment like Miami would create some distance
Speaker 3: from San Antonio.
Speaker 9: Wait pumps sooner, Jenoble Natty wide open heaps of praise.
Speaker 4: But the Spurs would truly put the heat's feet to
Speaker 4: the fire with a seventeen to four run to close
Speaker 4: the half with a six point lead.
Speaker 9: Harker gets in the paint, kicks it out, d out
Speaker 9: for three, won't go, Blinder tips up and then what's
Speaker 9: one point three from landing?
Speaker 4: What a hustle play for Blinder?
Speaker 9: I have a second quarter comps doing in on one
Speaker 9: of those runs.
Speaker 3: And then open the third quarter with a Genobli three
Speaker 3: pointer that put the Spurs up nine points.
Speaker 4: The tension was building.
Speaker 6: Here's battier tension was this is the right word.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: We were just looking for a spark, anything, just get
Speaker 6: us going. We this never happened. It just never came.
Speaker 6: That six to zero run, that eight to two runs,
Speaker 6: just never never had it. And they kept making shots
Speaker 6: and quite as hitting threes. As were just like, go
Speaker 6: be kidding me. So I'm like to say, I'm gonna
Speaker 6: say that we were the most confident group in the huddle.
Speaker 6: Never gave up. We never gave up. Then in the huddle,
Speaker 6: you know, we were just say stay with it, stay
Speaker 6: with it, stay with it, stay with it, stay with it.
Speaker 4: But did you feel it? You're saying stay with it,
Speaker 4: but did you feel it?
Speaker 6: I don't I said it. I was trying to will
Speaker 6: it into existence. That's what we were all trying to
Speaker 6: will that that feeling into existence. I don't know in
Speaker 6: our heart of hearts if we truly truly felt confident,
Speaker 6: but we were trying to fake it till we made it.
Speaker 3: Lebron didn't have to fake it. He'd made it before
Speaker 3: in a similar circumstance with his team's championship hopes on
Speaker 3: the line just a year earlier, so his response to
Speaker 3: the Spurs threat was to put his head down and
Speaker 3: power through. At some point there, he lost his white
Speaker 3: headband and committed three turnovers in a sort of bold
Speaker 3: in the China Shop type of stretch. It was maniacal,
Speaker 3: but it worked, as James scored half of his thirty.
Speaker 4: Two points in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3: Bosh explained how a desperate Lebron did anything in everything
Speaker 3: the team needed at the moment.
Speaker 14: We needed a big shot, we needed a block of
Speaker 14: stop leadership, anything. He's just been able to plug in
Speaker 14: that hole.
Speaker 9: Sunday, Mike Lebron James, who had lost his headband.
Speaker 2: You know, it doesn't hurt that he's the best player
Speaker 2: in the world.
Speaker 8: So he signed a ducking height, chucket fight, Lebron sliding
Speaker 8: it away.
Speaker 4: Want a play Lebron fakes up off the.
Speaker 9: Glass, said under duncan doing it on both ends.
Speaker 8: The MVP went out the headband.
Speaker 3: He was seven to eleven from the field in the
Speaker 3: period with two assists in a block shot. His stretch
Speaker 3: of head bandless play actually got Miami a three point
Speaker 3: lead with under two minutes remaining. But while the Heat
Speaker 3: thought they could exhale briefly, Parker and Jenobilians dead took
Speaker 3: all of the air out of the building.
Speaker 8: Dude shot by Parker, step back three.
Speaker 3: Tony Parker scored the next five points, including a three pointer,
Speaker 3: and after Kawhi Leonard stole the ball from James on
Speaker 3: the next possession, Genobili drew a foul from Ray Allen
Speaker 3: and hit a pair of free throws to put the
Speaker 3: Spurs up four and after yet another Lebron turnover. This
Speaker 3: was the downside of Lebron's bulling the China Shop approach,
Speaker 3: Genobili then split a pair of free throws. The Heat
Speaker 3: were trailing ninety four to eighty nine with twenty eight
Speaker 3: seconds left to play, as the Heat called a twenty
Speaker 3: second timeout.
Speaker 16: You know what twenty plus seconds ago and us being
Speaker 16: down five, You know, the human nature doubt starts to
Speaker 16: creep into your mind.
Speaker 15: You see San Antonio fans popping in jerseys, you know,
Speaker 15: jumping up and down.
Speaker 2: It's a dark moment.
Speaker 3: As the team was in their desperate huddle, everything around
Speaker 3: them appeared to be preparing for a Spurs celebration. Not
Speaker 3: only were a good amount of heat fans beginning to
Speaker 3: exit the building, but an NBA championship tradition was already underway.
Speaker 3: Arena personnel were crouching into place just beyond the edges
Speaker 3: of the court, holding the yellow ropes that would cordon
Speaker 3: off the court in preparation for the trophy presentation on it.
Speaker 3: Said trophy was being transported onto the floor. Also within
Speaker 3: view of those excited Spurs players and coaches, Spurs family
Speaker 3: and team personnel were gathering behind the Spurs bench with
Speaker 3: passes already in hand that would allow them to cross
Speaker 3: those yellow ropes and join in on the celebration. It
Speaker 3: was all actually happening right in front of them, so
Speaker 3: it was hard for the Spurs not to already feel
Speaker 3: like champions. Matt Bonner made the briefest of appearances in
Speaker 3: Game six, he spent almost all his time on that bench,
Speaker 3: and at this moment, Bonner was fighting every instinct to celebrate.
Speaker 7: I'm a huge like don't count your chickens before they
Speaker 7: hatch type guy, like, you know, stay focused, and that's
Speaker 7: part of the Spurs culture, in the Spurs way, like
Speaker 7: you know, one game at a time, forty eight minutes,
Speaker 7: play harder and smarter than your opponent. So even though yeah,
Speaker 7: we were in a pretty good spot, we had two
Speaker 7: shots to beat them in Miami and win the championship.
Speaker 7: I was at no point was that like, oh, we
Speaker 7: can do this, you know. It was like, it's not
Speaker 7: It doesn't happen until it actually happens. And so coming
Speaker 7: into game six, I don't know what I expected. You know,
Speaker 7: there's a certain ebb and flow to your point about
Speaker 7: a seven game series that's hard to quantify or put
Speaker 7: your finger on. But there's certain games where it's like
Speaker 7: all right, and fans I think can pick it up too,
Speaker 7: or anyone watching that watches a whole series, it's like,
Speaker 7: all right, this one's gonna be a tough one. So
Speaker 7: on for me, like Game six was kind of a
Speaker 7: surprise that we were in the position we were in
Speaker 7: to win it, and it was like, Oh my gosh,
Speaker 7: like is this really gonna happen? Like are we gonna
Speaker 7: beat these guys?
Speaker 2: Like this team's unbelievable.
Speaker 7: And here we are up five points, there's under a
Speaker 7: minute left. There they're having to foul us. Like I'm
Speaker 7: looking to my left, there's the Larry O'Brien trophy. The
Speaker 7: whole court's roped off of the security, our friends and
Speaker 7: family are standing behind the bench with after game celebration passes.
Speaker 7: It's like it's like, holy smokes, like this is surreal,
Speaker 7: Like we're about to win the NBA championship in Game six.
Speaker 7: Did not see this coming, and then no one saw
Speaker 7: what coming What happened after that.
Speaker 3: What happened after that was twenty eight seconds of some
Speaker 3: of the most unforgettable basketball in history. During a timeout
Speaker 3: with his Spurs leading by three and twenty eight seconds
Speaker 3: away from a championship in Game six, Popovich saw that
Speaker 3: the heat switched out Bosh in favor of sharpshooter Mike Miller,
Speaker 3: who famously hit a three pointer earlier in the game
Speaker 3: despite one of his shoes having come off his foot
Speaker 3: to play before.
Speaker 9: Mike Miller was only one sneaker on.
Speaker 3: Miller, so Popovich took out his big guy Tim Duncan
Speaker 3: for a more versatile defender in Diau. It was a
Speaker 3: move pop had made plenty before and would do again.
Speaker 3: This desperate possession began with the brick of a three
Speaker 3: point attempt from Lebron, but Miller, who was in for
Speaker 3: Miami's best rebounder, remember, grabbed his only offensive rebound of
Speaker 3: the game and kicked it back out to his buddy Lebron,
Speaker 3: who knocked down this three point attempt to narrow the
Speaker 3: gap to ninety four to ninety two.
Speaker 4: With just twenty seconds remaining.
Speaker 9: James catches fires a three way off rebound, still specked
Speaker 9: up by Miller, back out to James. Another three, Yet God,
Speaker 9: James knocks it down. Two point game. We're twenty seconds remaining.
Speaker 3: The Spurs called their last time out. Popovich would set
Speaker 3: up the inbounds play, knowing the Heat had to foul
Speaker 3: if they wanted to extend the game, and subbed Duncan
Speaker 3: back into the game to inbound the ball. Miami specifically
Speaker 3: wanted to foul Kawhi Leonard, and they got that opportunity.
Speaker 9: Duncan looking has to get it in, finds Leonard. Leonard
Speaker 9: fouled by Miller, who did a good job fouling right away.
Speaker 3: As Leonard was at the line preparing the first free throw,
Speaker 3: Ray Allen was behind him, raising his arms in a
Speaker 3: request for the remaining crowd to get loud.
Speaker 9: During the regular season, Kawhi Leonard eighty two percent from line.
Speaker 3: Spurs players on the bench were locked arm in arm,
Speaker 3: the tension written on their faces, A lot of pressure on.
Speaker 9: A twenty one year old in his first NBA Finals.
Speaker 3: Leonard missed the first and everyone in the arena immediately
Speaker 3: knew the Heat would have a chance. In between free throws,
Speaker 3: Duncan was again taken out of the game in favor
Speaker 3: of dil while Spolstra took out Miller and brought in Bosch.
Speaker 3: Leonard made the second free throw, increasing the lead to
Speaker 3: ninety five ninety two. With nineteen seconds left, neither team
Speaker 3: had a timeout remaining. Ray Allen calmly inbounded to Mario Chalmers,
Speaker 3: who jogged the ball up the left side of the floor,
Speaker 3: as Allan went up the right side of the floor
Speaker 3: to use a screen set by Wade and Plant himself
Speaker 3: in the corner and it's.
Speaker 4: Ninety five ninety two.
Speaker 9: Spurs need a stop to secure this win. Chalmers in
Speaker 9: the front board against Tony Parker takes it left side,
Speaker 9: picked up by Leonard.
Speaker 3: Chalmers, meanwhile, had gotten a screen from Bosch that forced
Speaker 3: the Spurs to switch, leaving Parker on b and Leonard
Speaker 3: defending Chalmers. This wasn't the Spurs normal pick and roll defense.
Speaker 3: This was their no threes pick and roll defense, and
Speaker 3: that's why all the switching occurred and why Duncan was
Speaker 3: out of the game.
Speaker 17: So Miami needs a good three.
Speaker 14: They've got time to set it up.
Speaker 17: Chalmers left side reil.
Speaker 3: That's when Bosh set a screen for lebron that he
Speaker 3: could either use to cut to the basket or flare
Speaker 3: out for a three.
Speaker 4: Because Dia was shaded toward the basket.
Speaker 3: Lebron chose a three point option, moving to his left
Speaker 3: behind Bosh and took a pass for a fairly open
Speaker 3: three point attempt.
Speaker 9: James Catchers puts up a three. We'll go.
Speaker 3: The key here was di Ou, rather than stay in
Speaker 3: the paint and prepare for a potential rebound, saw that
Speaker 3: Parker was trapped behind the Bosch screen. And attempted to
Speaker 3: jump out and contest what would have been a game
Speaker 3: tying three pointer from the best player in the world,
Speaker 3: the player he'd been a side tying to defend in
Speaker 3: the previous two games of these finals. But that meant
Speaker 3: Bosh could waltz freely toward the basket, watching Lebron's attempt
Speaker 3: float through the air while he took to the paint.
Speaker 3: Bosh would then fight off Genobi for the rebound he
Speaker 3: snatched with two hands.
Speaker 8: James outside three in the air off the rim. Doot
Speaker 8: Good screamed out for seven seconds.
Speaker 3: Would Duncan have stayed in the paint and trusted a
Speaker 3: rebound would be on the way, We'll never know.
Speaker 4: Here's Chalmers.
Speaker 11: The biggest play of the game was Greg Papas taking
Speaker 11: out Tim Duncan. That was the biggest player of the
Speaker 11: game when he did that.
Speaker 4: Did you notice it before the play started that Tim
Speaker 4: wasn't in there.
Speaker 11: I seen him and I was like, oh, okay, and
Speaker 11: I thought it was kind of weird.
Speaker 2: I was like, y'all really don't.
Speaker 11: Have a rebound then, and I don't know what's gonna happen.
Speaker 11: Like So when they did that, they wanted to switch everything.
Speaker 11: So I seen that and I knew somebody would be open.
Speaker 11: So when Bron shot the shot, ceb just dove to
Speaker 11: the rim and he had no nobody really decides to
Speaker 11: box him out and got it.
Speaker 3: And you know, so Cebe gets that rebound. Not a
Speaker 3: lot of people are looking at your side of the court.
Speaker 3: Your hands up wide open?
Speaker 4: Is that were you thinking? When he's coming down with
Speaker 4: the ball. Please see me, I'm gonna make this shot.
Speaker 11: In that moment, you know, you just like me, you
Speaker 11: know how I am. I want to take that last shot.
Speaker 11: I want to be in that moment. I don't care
Speaker 11: if Michael Jordan's on the court, Bron, Jesus Christ himself.
Speaker 2: I want to take that shot.
Speaker 4: So therefore, well you had Lebron and Jesus on the court.
Speaker 4: By the way, Yeah, in.
Speaker 11: My mind, I'm open, like no matter what's going on,
Speaker 11: if you see me, I'm open. So my hands is up.
Speaker 11: But in reality, no, Ray Allen's right there. Everything happened
Speaker 11: the way it was supposed to happen.
Speaker 3: What actually happened was basketball poetry, basketball wizardry, and basketball history.
Speaker 3: Bosch secured the rebound and immediately saw Alan backpedaling in
Speaker 3: front of him, bailing toward that point line on the
Speaker 3: right side of the floor. Genobili had fallen down while
Speaker 3: fighting Boss for the rebound, so Tony Parker rushed over
Speaker 3: to try and contest the shot. As Alan so gracefully
Speaker 3: gathered the pass, fixed both feet in that small space
Speaker 3: between the three point line and the out of bounds line.
Speaker 3: His heels were hovering oh so gently above the white paint.
Speaker 3: It would have meant he was out of bounds if
Speaker 3: they'd come in contact. Alan had a handful of these
Speaker 3: situations throughout the year. He was very regularly the top
Speaker 3: option for important shots late in games, and that meant
Speaker 3: heat players were quite familiar with Allen's tendencies in these situations.
Speaker 4: Here's Alan.
Speaker 17: It was like if you had this bazooka in your
Speaker 17: back pocket that you had so he knew at any
Speaker 17: get moment, and he knew I was always moving around.
Speaker 17: You know this is It's interesting because we've been in
Speaker 17: this situation before, So I knew Lebron was floating towards
Speaker 17: the ball, and as we switched, Genobili would guarding me,
Speaker 17: and I just knew that we had to get the ball.
Speaker 17: It wasn't about shooting a three. It is about getting
Speaker 17: the ball, and I was going to get it. And
Speaker 17: the minute when I seen CB get it, I said,
Speaker 17: let me get my butt back out to just three
Speaker 17: point line, which, interestingly enough, I had worked on that shot.
Speaker 17: I did that every day before a game, so it
Speaker 17: wasn't foreign. As that ball left my fingers, it just
Speaker 17: felt like it floated, didn't feel didn't feel like anything.
Speaker 3: It felt like he'd done it a million times because
Speaker 3: he had. Just like Alan said, this team's chemistry was
Speaker 3: no mistake. Neither was Alan's ability to shoot and make
Speaker 3: a three in any situation. He was obsessive about his preparation,
Speaker 3: even practicing shots he'd never taken before in a game
Speaker 3: like this one. Jackie McMullin wrote about Alan's regimented ways
Speaker 3: while he was in Boston, and she saw all that
Speaker 3: preparation work for Alan in that exact moment.
Speaker 12: Not a popular thing to say in Boston, but I
Speaker 12: was glad for him because he had prepared his entire
Speaker 12: life for a moment just like that. And that's not hyperbole.
Speaker 12: Ray Allen is an OCD cat. Shaves his head at
Speaker 12: the exact same time every day. On game day. He
Speaker 12: had the exact same meal, chicken and rice. He had
Speaker 12: a very precise pregame routine.
Speaker 4: He didn't leave.
Speaker 12: Anything to chance ever. In fact, I remember they used
Speaker 12: to mess with him the Celtics. You know, Paul Pierson
Speaker 12: Ray were good friends long before Ray came on the
Speaker 12: Celtics and Ray had the same parking spot every day,
Speaker 12: and so Paul and some of the guys used to
Speaker 12: mess around and get there two hours early and park
Speaker 12: their car and Ray spot, you know, and they would
Speaker 12: mess with them all the time about I remember Paul
Speaker 12: telling me once they were on a plane after a
Speaker 12: big win. Paul had had like thirty five points, and
Speaker 12: he was sitting, you know, he sat down on the
Speaker 12: plane and Ray goes, what are you doing. Go sit
Speaker 12: in the seat that you were in yesterday. And Paul's like,
Speaker 12: shut up, right, he goes, Paul, like he meant it,
Speaker 12: like go sit there. Everything had to be exactly so.
Speaker 12: So in that moment, Bosh gets the rebound, because Tim
Speaker 12: Duncan isn't in the game, potentially gets the rebound, kicks
Speaker 12: it out to Ray.
Speaker 3: Alan took the pass, rose up for three, and created
Speaker 3: his most memorable NBA moment as a thirty seven year
Speaker 3: old in his seventeenth season in the league, on his
Speaker 3: fourth NBA team.
Speaker 17: That's the beautiful thing about these moments because when the
Speaker 17: three ball goes in, it's like a It's like a
Speaker 17: bomb just hit because everybody jumps to their feet.
Speaker 9: James catch Us, puts up a three, won't go recount,
Speaker 9: bosh back out to Alan his re ty game with
Speaker 9: five second.
Speaker 17: You know, it's just like such an amazing feeling. You know,
Speaker 17: it's like the hairs on your arm.
Speaker 2: Just raise up.
Speaker 18: Back to Alan the long shot.
Speaker 4: Alan, come down town.
Speaker 8: What's five point two left?
Speaker 4: It got it inbound set, Antonio.
Speaker 9: They're gonna wave it off so that they can look
Speaker 9: at the shot.
Speaker 8: I believe it.
Speaker 17: Had been on that floor so much on that court
Speaker 17: shooting that same shot that in that exact shot. I've
Speaker 17: done that over and over again, so I knew where
Speaker 17: it was. You know, I knew exactly where I was
Speaker 17: on the floor. You just there's no reason not to.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 17: I was nervous that I stepped on the line because
Speaker 17: all it took was one time, But I knew where
Speaker 17: I was. And that's just you know, you play a
Speaker 17: sport for so long, when you work on your whatever
Speaker 17: job that you have on a team, when you work
Speaker 17: on it, it just becomes second nature to you.
Speaker 4: And that's all it was for me.
Speaker 17: And you know, Mike Miller had this look on his
Speaker 17: face when we came to the huddle, and I know
Speaker 17: they called a three, but they're gonna review.
Speaker 2: It to make sure my foot was behind line.
Speaker 17: I was so nervous because if my foot was on
Speaker 17: the line, just a tad bit, then we'd be having
Speaker 17: a different conversation right now.
Speaker 3: This moment where Ray Allen hit the biggest shot of
Speaker 3: his life, a three pointer that tied Game six of
Speaker 3: the Finals with five point two seconds left. As heat,
Speaker 3: players and fans let out a giant sigh of relief,
Speaker 3: would immediately follow with chaos. Did Allen step on the
Speaker 3: out of bounds line? Was it a turnover? Did he
Speaker 3: step on the three point line? Was it just a
Speaker 3: two point basket that didn't tie the game. All of
Speaker 3: these questions would be answered after the brief chaos. Whistles
Speaker 3: were being blown, stopping played despite neither team having a
Speaker 3: time out, and Spurs coach Greg Popovich was running up
Speaker 3: the sideline furious that the referee even stopped the game
Speaker 3: because He wanted his team to act quickly before the
Speaker 3: celebratory heat can set up their defense, but the replay
Speaker 3: rules required the officials to review the Allen shot before
Speaker 3: play could continue.
Speaker 8: Pay I want to three to the corner. Sure, no
Speaker 8: tie up. The cat just stopped the cut. That stopped
Speaker 8: to make sure it's a three. Allen hit a three
Speaker 8: from the corner to tie the game. San Antonio sees
Speaker 8: the clock stop because Mike Callahan, the official, wants to
Speaker 8: confirm a three or a two. Now the official say
Speaker 8: it's a three. Called on the floor. Well, rotch the replay.
Speaker 8: It is clearly a three from Ray Allen. His feet
Speaker 8: are behind the line, and we are tied at ninety five,
Speaker 8: the all time three point shooter in the history of
Speaker 8: the NBA regular season and postseason. Ray Allen hit a
Speaker 8: huge three to tie this game.
Speaker 3: Once it was determined that Allen's shot was a three
Speaker 3: and that he didn't step out of bounds, the Spurs
Speaker 3: could now inbound for a desperate full court play for
Speaker 3: a championship. Tony Parker took the inbound pass with Lebron
Speaker 3: James guarding him, dribbled all the way up the left
Speaker 3: side of the court, and eventually missed a running bank
Speaker 3: shot as he fell toward the seats on the baseline.
Speaker 9: Those Parker final seconds Parker on the drive puts it
Speaker 9: up overtime.
Speaker 3: There Day six, the buzzer sounded and overtime would begin soon,
Speaker 3: but not before Allan could officially recognize the enormity of
Speaker 3: his shot.
Speaker 17: Man it just for me. I always say that it
Speaker 17: was written, you know, it was just it was just
Speaker 17: meant to happen, you know. And these were of those
Speaker 17: situations where if I could give anybody in my life
Speaker 17: the opportunity for this one moment to make sure that
Speaker 17: they stayed focused and stayed at the task at hand,
Speaker 17: because you never known your numbers called you know, all
Speaker 17: the shots I've hit my career, like this is the
Speaker 17: one that people will talk about the most, and this
Speaker 17: will be the one that you know, at this stage,
Speaker 17: at this level, where it changed the tide of a
Speaker 17: lot of people's careers on both sides, in certainly franchises.
Speaker 17: So players make plays and shoot or shoot, and I
Speaker 17: just remember just feeling, you know, such a great feeling
Speaker 17: to know that you did your job when your team
Speaker 17: needed you to do your job, you know, to do
Speaker 17: something and it's more than your job. It's going above
Speaker 17: beyond hit and doing something that you know, put your
Speaker 17: team in the situation to win a game where you
Speaker 17: you gain the mostmost of respect from all your peers.
Speaker 17: That that is one of the greatest feelings and one
Speaker 17: of the reasons that you played this game to be
Speaker 17: able to be relied upon him, to be you know.
Speaker 11: By your team.
Speaker 3: Alan was relied upon to hit a pair of free
Speaker 3: throws with one point nine seconds left in overtime, and
Speaker 3: he did so to put Miami up three on the
Speaker 3: ensuing Spurs play. Bosh followed up that huge offensive rebound
Speaker 3: in regulation with a smothering block of a Danny Green
Speaker 3: three point attempt as the buzzer sounded. Green, by the way,
Speaker 3: had already broken the Finals record at the time for
Speaker 3: threes made in the series. That block was no minor feat.
Speaker 3: Game seven was officially necessary score.
Speaker 9: Past the Green breedlot boss game over.
Speaker 4: A Game seven and the Spurs were devastated. Here's Matt Bonner.
Speaker 7: Did that really just happen? Because again, like you know,
Speaker 7: it's such a long, arduous process to reach that mountain
Speaker 7: top of winning an NBA championship. It starts in the offseason,
Speaker 7: in preseason and training camp in preseason, in eighty two
Speaker 7: regular season games, and then the playoffs is like a
Speaker 7: whole other season. And then to get to that point
Speaker 7: where the trophies twelve feet to your left and you
Speaker 7: think you're about to win it, and then you know
Speaker 7: at the snap of the fingers it's ray Allen makes
Speaker 7: that shot and it's tied, and actually actually we're going
Speaker 7: back to square one. It's hard to put that into words,
Speaker 7: what that emotion was.
Speaker 3: It might have been the biggest gut punch ever felt
Speaker 3: in an NBAS. The Spurs saw their future as champions,
Speaker 3: and then it was ripped away with ray Allen's shot
Speaker 3: and his immediate declaration to get those MFN ropes out
Speaker 3: of here. Lebron didn't mince words when discussing what it
Speaker 3: meant to be a part of that game.
Speaker 16: Well as by far the best game I ever been
Speaker 16: a part of, something you would never be able to
Speaker 16: recreate once you're done playing a game, and I'm blessed
Speaker 16: to be a part of something like this.
Speaker 3: Game seven would be nearly impossible to prepare for. With
Speaker 3: the sting of Game six still living fresh in Spurs minds,
Speaker 3: But would you believe it if I told you it
Speaker 3: could have been even more devastating for the San Antonio Spurs.
Speaker 3: That's impossible, right, Remember when I told you neither team
Speaker 3: had a time out when that game tying ray Allen
Speaker 3: three pointer went in with five point two seconds remaining. Well,
Speaker 3: that was especially important because in those chaotic few moments
Speaker 3: where the referees were stopping play to replay the shot
Speaker 3: and make sure it was indeed a three pointer, Greg
Speaker 3: Popovich put Tim Duncan back in the game for Boris
Speaker 3: Dia without a time out. That was technically an illegal substitution.
Speaker 3: Here's the aps, Tim Reynolds.
Speaker 18: That review is technically not a substitution. Opportunity Gus who's
Speaker 18: on the floor for the final five point two seconds,
Speaker 18: Tim Duncan, who should not have been back in the game.
Speaker 18: So it would have it appened we vied to a
Speaker 18: heat protest, and we all wanted to come back three
Speaker 18: days later to finish theket. If Tony Parker makes that shot,
Speaker 18: the heat absolutely would have protested that Tim Duncan should
Speaker 18: not have been on the floor.
Speaker 3: So let's play this alternate ending out together, shall we?
Speaker 3: After the review and ensuing a legal substitution. Parker takes
Speaker 3: the ball the length of the floor, and, just like
Speaker 3: he did in Game one of the series, hits an
Speaker 3: incredibly difficult bank shot, this time as time expires.
Speaker 4: First off, Parker's shot would have immediately.
Speaker 3: Supplanted Allen as the greatest and Finals history because it
Speaker 3: would have set off probably the most insane championship celebration ever.
Speaker 3: But think about this, The Heat would have seen the
Speaker 3: illegal substitution afterward and immediately filed a protest. If the
Speaker 3: Heat would have won the protest and it was a
Speaker 3: clear violation, it would have meant having to replay the
Speaker 3: final five point two seconds of regulation of Game six
Speaker 3: and then likely overtime, and if the Heat pulled out
Speaker 3: the win in ot, having to play a Game seven
Speaker 3: immediately afterward. It would have been easily the most hectic
Speaker 3: Finals finish ever. Imagine the Spurs, still damp from Champagne
Speaker 3: celebrating their fifth championship in Miami, having to then regroup,
Speaker 3: replay five insanely intense seconds, and if they don't score,
Speaker 3: having to forget all that celebrating and approach a Game
Speaker 3: seven for all the marbles that they had already thought
Speaker 3: they had here's more from Reynolds.
Speaker 18: But can you imagine what that would have done to
Speaker 18: the league, Like, Hey, here's a trophy, there's confetti, we're
Speaker 18: cutting down nets, we're destroying the locker room, like the
Speaker 18: Spurs would have had to go back into their unclean,
Speaker 18: champagne soaked locker room the next day or whatever it
Speaker 18: would have taken. It's it's so crazy to think that
Speaker 18: that could have very easily happened that way if Tony
Speaker 18: gets a little more oomphed on that very very makeable
Speaker 18: look that he had.
Speaker 3: But Parker did indeed miss and while sympathy wouldn't have
Speaker 3: been part of the protest process, it is kind of
Speaker 3: easy to see how Papovitch could have made that mistake
Speaker 3: in such a crazy scene. It's very much a no harm,
Speaker 3: no foul situation, but it's an unspoken detail to one
Speaker 3: of the best games in Finals history that certainly adds
Speaker 3: to the intrigue of it. There was still a Game
Speaker 3: seven left to play in this classic series, but Game
Speaker 3: six was unforgettable for anyone who watched. I remember being
Speaker 3: in the building at two or three in the morning
Speaker 3: following that game, with reporters and broadcasters everywhere still shocked
Speaker 3: by what they just saw, so imagine how much it
Speaker 3: was still on the minds of the Spurs. The Heat
Speaker 3: would need one more win to close the deal and
Speaker 3: repeat as champs, and that lingering Spurs pain would make
Speaker 3: Miami's mission that much more attainable. Jackie McMullin spent time
Speaker 3: with the Spurs during the twenty thirteen offseason. Game six
Speaker 3: was every bit as devastating as you would have thought.
Speaker 12: I remember talking to Brett Brown afterwards. Brett Brown was
Speaker 12: an assistant on that team, and he said he was
Speaker 12: sitting on the bench and he saw the ropes coming out,
Speaker 12: and he wasn't thinking, Oh no, no, don't do that.
Speaker 12: It's not the balloons you know in the forum prematurely
Speaker 12: right up in the rafters. Brett Brown in real time
Speaker 12: is going, oh my god, we did it. We just
Speaker 12: beat freaking Lebron. I can't this is I can't believe this,
Speaker 12: this is happening. And then it didn't happen.
Speaker 3: On the next four years, if he that shot was
Speaker 3: the most biggest shot in the world.
Speaker 1: I just show that shot to this day, I think
Speaker 1: about that shot.
Speaker 11: Let's not make this Game six one of the greatest
Speaker 11: games to lose in Game seven or not make this
Speaker 11: championship worth having.
Speaker 15: Lebron has missed a do whatever it takes. He is
Speaker 15: today's greatest player.
Speaker 2: Like, at the end of the day, the respect that
Speaker 2: I have in this league and around here.
Speaker 5: Is because I won. It's not because I'm a nice guy.
Speaker 5: It's not because I'm the oldest guy in the league.
Speaker 5: It has nothing to do with that.
Speaker 12: They figured their best chance at beating the Miami Heat
Speaker 12: was to wear Lebron down.
Speaker 4: And how do you do that.
Speaker 12: You put him in the mixer because that was going
Speaker 12: to keep Miami Movie out of their comfort zone. Make
Speaker 12: Lebron work so much harder than anyone had ever made him.
Speaker 3: Work four years. If he dies a production, If iHeartRadio
Speaker 3: and the NBA