LeBron James' epic basketball career elevated even higher in the stratosphere Sunday night with his fourth NBA Finals championship for his third different team _ intensifying the argument whether he is now the sport's G.O.A.T. It was the Los Angeles Lakers' record-tying 17th franchise title _ capping a fateful year that began with the stunning, unexpected death of Lakers' icon Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash.
So, yeah, that has to be and is the top of the marquee here, no doubt.
In sports, one team wins and second place is, like, rather unfairly, the worst place to be.
Don't forget the other team here, though.
The Lakers, of LeBron and Anthony Davis, were supposed to win it all.
The Miami Heat were not supposed to be anywhere near this. After not even making the playoffs last season? No way.
But here they were, the Heat, somehow in Game 6 of the Finals, one win from a shot at the crown.
They finished miserably. Yes. No softening of that.
The Lakers clinched Sunday night in a 106-93 steamrolling of the Heat.
It was 64-36 at the half. Never got much better for Miami.
LeBron's 28-point triple-double led the way. Bam Adebayo's 25 topped Miami's sheet.
The score became (sort of) respectably close at the end, but L.A. dominated this telling night. Especially on the defensive end. Miami was becoming Cinderella at midnight, carriage turning to pumpkin. When does the Heat miss nine free throws?
It was an anticlimactic evening that denied America the drama of a Game 7, the best thing in sports.
It did not do justice to the season Miami had, or the fight shown until this aberrant fizzle of a finish.
The Heat beat Indiana, No. 1 seed Milwaukee and then Boston to unexpectedly reach the Lakers in the Finals.
Jimmy Butler's 40- and 35-point triple-doubles kept Miami in the final series as he entered Heat lore with his performance.
Miami played most of this Finals with all-star Bam Adebayo either missing or hobbled with a neck sprain. Key cog Goran Dragic, out with a foot injury, gamely tried to return Sunday, shades of Willis Reed in the 1970 Finals.
No excuses, though.
It has been a heck of a recent run for Miami sports.
Heat in an out-of-nowhere NBA Finals.
Marlins reaching the National League Division Series in their first MLB postseason in 17 years.
Hurricanes football No. 12 in the nation even after Satrurday's big loss at Clemson.
And the Dolphins won at San Francisco on Sunday. Didn't just win. Dominated.
Did I mention that MLS expansion soccer team Inter Miami just earned its first two-game win streak?
This crazy pandemic year has oddly seemed to bring out a lot of good in South Florida sports.
So, yeah, the Heat got crushed Sunday night.
Please don't say embarrassed. The Heat don't deserve that.
Something I have never liked much about sports _ about being a fan or covering the games professionally _ is the idea that second place is shunted off onto the worst loser's pile ever. Ask any team that has ever fallen short in a Super Bowl.
Here, how about credit both ways? How's that for a concept?
LeBron and the Lakers earned what they got.
The Miami Heat earned respect for getting this far, against odds.
Congratulations to both.
