MIAMI -- LeBron James remembers walking off the court June 14, 2007 in Cleveland after one of the most frustrating weeks of his life.
James’ Cavaliers had surprisingly made the NBA Finals. But they provided little resistance for the San Antonio Spurs and were swept 4-0. James’ rugged series included averaging 22.0 points, five below his seasonal average, and 5.8 turnovers while shooting a mere 35.6 percent.
What did he think in the immediate aftermath?
"That I hope I get another opportunity," James said this week. "I know it’s not promised. It was like, 'Wow, that was a great experience for our team.' But I knew at that moment I didn’t want that to be the last opportunity I had in the Finals."
It certainly wasn’t. James bolted to Miami in 2010 and lost in the Finals to Dallas in 2011 and won last year over Oklahoma City.
Now, he’s back again and the Heat will run into the Spurs in a series starting Thursday. But the situation is vastly different.
"Our team is more experienced, first of all,"’ said James, whose Heat are favorites six years after the Cavaliers had been heavy underdogs. "My Cleveland team, we were very young and we went up against a very experienced team, well-coached team, and they took advantage of everything that we did. ... And I’m a much better player. I’m 20, 40, 50 times better than I was in the ’07 Finals."
Since that difficult series against the Spurs, James has won four MVP trophies and has become clearly the best player in the game. But a guy who once was the top player will have something to say as to whether James picks up a second ring.
San Antonio big man Tim Duncan won MVP awards in 2002 and 2003, meaning he and James have won half of the last dozen handed out. Duncan, 37, is still good enough to have joined James on the recently announced All-NBA first team.
But the two never stepped on the court at the same time this season. If you want to find any film of a James team going against a Duncan outfit, you have to go all the way back to Jan. 17, 2012.
Duncan missed the Nov. 29 game at Miami when he was sent home by San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich to rest along with fellow Spurs starters Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green. The Spurs were fined $250,000 for the move.
For Miami’s March 31 game at San Antonio, the Heat rested James and fellow starters Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers. They weren’t fined because the players were at the arena and had designated injuries.
While Thursday’s game at AmericanAirlines Arena will be the first game between James and Duncan since the Heat won 120-98 17 months ago, it’s been even longer since both teams had their Big Threes intact for a meeting. The last time James, Wade and Chris Bosh met up with Duncan, Parker and Ginobili was in a 110-80 Miami win March 14, 2011.
"It’s very interesting. It’s tough to really measure up against those guys," Bosh said of the teams alternating having sat out key players during this regular season. "But everybody knows what they’re capable of."
Bosh played a key role when he was the only Heat All-Star on the court in March. His 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds remaining gave Miami an 88-86 win. That came after the Spurs also had been spunky when undermanned, losing the November game 105-100.
"When we played them there, they had all their guys (although actually not an injured Ginobili)," said Heat forward Udonis Haslem, dismissing that the regular-season games between the teams should be thrown out. "So it was still a real game. We brought our guys that we had playing and we got a win on their home floor and that win helped us get homecourt advantage (throughout the playoffs). So to us it was a real game."
Still, fans were plenty disappointed. The first meeting was televised nationally on TNT. The second meeting was on NBA TV and was touted as a Finals preview before much interest was lost after the Heat sat down stars.
Well, now the teams are in the Finals. And two of the best players in history will both be on the court at the same time.
Duncan has four rings, but hasn’t been back to the Finals since 2007, when he averaged 18.3 points and 11.5 rebounds against the Cavaliers. James wants to win a bevy of rings, and Duncan’s gang stands in his way.
At least James he now has a much better chance.
"This is our third year advancing to the Finals," James said of the Heat. "So we’re very experienced as well. We’re not young, we’re not inexperienced. We understand the opportunity that we have."
When James played in his first Finals game June 7, 2007, he was held by the Spurs to 14 points on 4-of-16 shooting. Nobody is expecting anything like that to happen this time in Game 1.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomasson@hotmail.com or on Twitter @christomasson.
