The NBA's new superteam outlasted the old one, but barely.
"They're great," James conceded of the Celtics after he scored 31 points to lead the Heat to victory in Game 7 on Saturday. "You can never relax. You can never relax at all on the court when you're competing against those guys. You can never feel comfortable. You always feel on edge when you go against them. This is their chemistry that they've built over the years. It's like no other team that I've ever faced in the postseason. They're great."
"They're great."
James is about to enter another environment where he can never feel comfortable: The NBA Finals begin Tuesday in Oklahoma City. As much distaste as Celtics fans have for the look-at-me Heat, the blue-collar Celtics may have increased Miami's title chances by preparing James for the challenge to come.
James has been beaten by these Celtics twice in the playoffs and now has beaten them twice, and each matchup was inflated to epic proportions. Technically, James broke through last May, when they eliminated the Celtics in five games in the conference semifinals, but that one did not feature a healthy Rajon Rondo or a Kevin Garnett playing at one of the highest levels of his career.
This year was different. This year's Celtics forced James and the Heat to dig deep and dispense with the insidious AAU mentality that a loss is just a momentary setback before the next highlight-filled showcase. By the time Celtics coach Doc Rivers cleared his bench with 28 seconds left in the fourth quarter on Saturday, both sides were spent.
"We have great respect for the championship DNA they have," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Doc does a tremendous job. He's pushed our coaching staff. He's pushed me to be a better coach. So we do not take this for granted. We're happy we got through this, built some character, and we obviously have a bigger goal in mind."
If there is any wonder why the classic Rocky resonates almost 40 years later, this matchup summed up why. Before every home game, the Celtics jog onto the court serenaded by the tune "Going the Distance," and it was a perfect soundtrack to this series. The Heat were in the role of the talented but somewhat careless Apollo Creed, more concerned with the show than the competition, while the Celtics were the gritty Rocky Balboa, who pushed Creed to the limit of his abilities and forced him to find reserves he never knew he had.
That is why anyone who scoffs that the Heat will never have what it takes to win a championship is being criminally short-sighted. For the Heat to win a title, they require tests like this one to forge their resolve, just as Pierce, Garnett and Allen experienced crushing defeats elsewhere before their joyous victory in 2008. The Heat were forced to raise their game to match the Celtics' grit, and even in defeat the Celtics remained a team the Heat wish to emulate.
"We look at them and say, look what they deal with, look what they go through on a yearly basis," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "That's something that, hopefully, one day we strive to be, because that would mean we're successful and that means we're still together. They are great champions. It was tough to beat them the last two years. We were thankful we were able to."
Championships are seldom easily won, but if the Heat accomplish the feat this season, the Celtics will have made it even more difficult that usual.
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