National Basketball Association

Heat 'fans' miss wild Game 6 ending

Published Jun. 19, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

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It happens at every arena in every city. People who presumably purchased tickets to a game leave that game while the outcome is still undecided, but not looking good for the home team.

A lot of times you can understand. It’s Wednesday night, your kid has school in the morning, traffic’s gonna be a mess getting out of here and, if we’re being honest, you don’t really care if your beloved Milwaukee Bucks beat the Jazz that night. You saw a few dunks, you had a big Coke and some popcorn. It was a good night.

But then there was Tuesday night in Miami, and not only was there no excuse, there was not even a reasonable explanation.

With about two minutes left in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, fans in Miami started heading to the exits. And they just kept pouring and pouring and pouring out. And with 28.2 seconds left in a four-point game they just poured some more, climbing those stairs in an sad march to LIV or some other place where people who are two months behind on their mortgages walk around in $200 shirts drinking straight from a bottle of Patron.

Oh, you mad? Sorry, you don’t get to be mad about being stereotyped, Miami. Not today. You did this to yourselves.

As everyone knows, there are 24 seconds on the NBA shot clock, meaning that there were, at minimum, two possessions left in the game when Manu Ginobili was at the line, attempting to extend San Antonio’s lead from four to five.

But while the rest of the basketball-watching universe remained mesmerized by a game even Magic Johnson said was one of the best he has ever seen, droves of Heat fans, having seen enough, had to hear about Ray Allen’s game-tying 3-pointer from the parking lot.

Many turned around and came back in (or were locked out trying to), but the damage had been done.

Dan Le Batard, sports columnist and general Miami defender, was humiliated.

And he wasn’t the only one. Victor Oquendo is a Miami native and local TV sportscaster.

"In fairness, Heat fans weren’t the only ones who thought that baby was ovah. The NBA had wheeled out the Larry O’Brien trophy, then had to whisk it back out of sight after Allen’s shot. LeBron James said he had noticed its presence, and it ticked him off.

But that didn’t do much to save Miami fans."

The full wrath of Twitter descended upon the city of Miami Tuesday night, and Twitter is not a merciful jury. The sentiment, if you really want to distill it, was this:

Miami, there are title-starved fans in Houston and Minnesota and Portland and Phoenix and — dare we mention it? — Cleveland, who would have eaten that up, you spoiled, ungrateful brats.

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