Miami Heat win NBA championship title, defeating Oklahoma City Thunder 121-106 in Game 5 of the finals

When speaking about his oft-criticized and over-analyzed star, LeBron James, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has a line: you cannot win unless you win.

James won in every conceivable way on Thursday as his Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-106 in Game 5 of the finals to win James’s first NBA title, erasing nine years of doubts and disappointment.

The man dubbed “The King” while in high school finally had his coronation, and while the game will go down in history as James’ vindication party, it will not be remembered as particularly dramatic. The Heat opened it up in the third quarter with five 3-pointers and led by 24 to start the fourth quarter.

James put together a great 44 minutes for his final act of the season, putting together a triple-double with 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds to set a steady pace for a championship drubbing.

Miami became the most disliked team in the NBA in 2010 when James ditched the Cleveland Cavaliers to team up with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade to form a megateam in South Florida. In a twist, Thursday’s win didn’t look like the superstar circus the team usually looks like: Sharpshooter Mike Miller, a role player with a bad back, made seven 3-pointers to score 23 points while Bosh had 24 and Wade had 20. Oklahoma Ctiy was led by Kevin Durant, who had 32 points.

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