The Miami Heat and LeBron James are NBA champs for the second year in a row and now the team is closing in on some of the best title runs in history, as they have the chance to three-peat, something only the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls as the only teams to do so.
James had another fantastic series and had 16 points in the fourth quarter of Game 6 and 37 points in Game 7 to bring the team a second straight title. James had a triple double in Game 6 and added 12 rebounds in the final matchup and it was hit shot that sealed the championship by putting Miami up by four with less than 30 seconds to go in the game. The shot came right after Tim Duncan missed a tying layup and the shot effectively sealed the game for the Heat and was a shot that James likely would have missed in the past.
The Heat won Game 7 after pushing the Spurs to overtime in Game 6 and took the 95-88 victory after third finals appearance in three seasons. James was named MVP for the second straight postseason and that followed his second regular season MVP, joining Larry Bird and Michael Jordan as the only players to do so. James hit five three pointers in the game, made all of his foul shots and connected on 12 of 23 shots from the field to give his team the championship at home.
Following the victory, James spoke with CNN's Rachel Nichols about the second straight championship and about how it feels to join some of the best players in NBA history. James spoke about watching episodes of "24" and about how he wants to relish in this championship, as last year's went by too fast. James was asked about which one was tougher to win and mentioned that it was tougher the second time around and that he was trying to repeat this past season and is glad the team was able to come through.
James said that he watched old videos of Michael Jordan during his title run with the Chicago Bulls in the NBA finals for some inspiration and he also was asked about returning to Cleveland. Nichols asked about possibly returning to the Cavs to win an NBA title and how he would handle it and James mentioned that it wasn't something he has thought about, but if it did come, it would handle it better than "The Decision."
"I don't know. I haven't even really thought about it. So when that time comes I'll approach it like a professional," James said. "You learn from your mistakes, and that's something I've been able to do and something I've live with... if I'm in that position again I'll be able to handle it much better."
"Even though I played for Cleveland for seven years, I still lived in my home town of Akron. I was in Akron for 25 straight years. And that's all I knew, all my friends, my family. When I made that change, it was very challenging for me. That's made me, I guess grow, and it's made me comfortable, and play the game of basketball at a high level."