The Godfather vs. the King: NBA Finals: Clash of the Titans Still Holding Stones

The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers will play the NBA Finals for the first time in their history, although in recent decades it is these teams that are among the most dominant in the entire league.

The Heat Club, founded only in 1988, has been playing in the sixth final since 2006, and Miami has triumphed three times in five attempts so far.

Read more: The Heat’s Recipe for Success: A Victorious Culture for Decades

The Lakers, dating back to 1947 when the club was founded in Minneapolis, already have 16 championship trophies, nearly a third of which – five – won this millennium.

Highlights of the NBA Finals

“Hot”		“Lakers”
4-0 vs. Pacers 4-1 against Bucks 4-2 against Celtics	The way to the end	4-1 against the Trail Blazers 4-1 against Rockets 4-1 against Nuggets
Goranas Dragičius 20.9 tšk., 4.7 res. lost Jimmy Butler 20.7 points, 4.5 res. lost Bamas Adebayo 18.5 points, 11.4 points. Why. Tyler Herro 16.5 pts, 5.5 pp. Why.	Leaders in the playoffs	Anthony Davis 28.8 points, 9.3 points. Why. LeBron James 26.7 points, 10.3 points. cam., 8.9 res. lost Kyle Kuzma 10.5 points. Rondo District 9.1 points, 7.2 res. lost
0-2 (80:95 and 110: 113)	Mutual meetings in 2019-2020.	2-0 (95:80 and 113: 110)
3	Champion titles	sixteen
3-2	Win-loss in the NBA Finals	16-15
2014 m.	Last play in the final	2010 m.

Up to seven of the nineteen championship rings for both teams were contributed by none other than P. Riley.

As early as 1982, the former basketball player became a coach and took command of the Lakers with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, leading the “lakes” to four titles in six years.

After moving from Los Angeles to New York, Mr. Riley finally settled in Miami in 1995, where he had been living for a quarter of a century.

2006 his own Heat team, with Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal, triumphed in the NBA Finals, and Miami won two more titles like Riley.

It is during the recent period that P. Riley’s path crossed with L. James. Together for four years, the two legendary men of the NBA finally changed shape and there was talk of their unexpected divorce for at least a few years.

Now the issue is back in the headlines: Riley-led Heat and LeBron-led Lakers will play in the NBA Finals. This time 15 minutes recalls a story that only makes this final pair even more interesting.

A (not) love story

The story of Pat Riley and LeBron James began 10 years ago.

Doubting losses in the Eastern Conference playoffs and leaving Cleveland behind, LeBron moved his talents to sunny Florida in 2010, and the Miami team led by Riley and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh won twice in 2012 and 2013. NBA champion rings.

The Heat also had a good chance in 2014, but then the San Antonio Spurs stopped them in the NBA Finals with veteran Tim Duncan and rising star Kawhi Leonard ahead.

James had a two-year contract in Miami after his fourth season in Miami, but there was a clause that allowed the King to leave the Heat in 2014 in February. That’s exactly what happened.

As if intuiting the imminent departure of the leader, Mr. Riley alluded to the unity of the team in the closing speech of the season.

“If you have the courage, stay together. “Don’t look for the first door and don’t go through it,” Riley said.

However, his actions earlier in the summer showed no signs of LeBron leaving Miami.

The Heat have signed contracts with free agents Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger to give James rest minutes at the light and heavy positions, and have invited Shabazz Napier to the rookie trade.

It was this little player who was praised by LeBron on social media prior to the rookie swap, indirectly indicating to his team at the time who the target of the call 24 should be.

Although Riley and other members of the Heat denied that LeBron had no influence in the choice of its rookie stock exchange, Miami ultimately invited no one but Shapier to pass through it. Later, when L. James left the team, this player wore the “Heat” outfit all season and was changed.

Riley and his assistants saw no signs that LeBron might leave Miami before the trip to Las Vegas in 2014 in July, where a meeting with L. James awaited them. That’s where the story began, the details of which were only revealed after a while.

It turns out that the meeting between P. Riley and L. James was not attended by King’s agent Maverick Carter, who does not usually miss any important event for his client, especially if it is related to the attacker’s affairs on the field.

Not only that, in context, LeBron had been involved in a World Cup match in the hotel room, to which he paid more attention, at least at the beginning of the meeting, than his arguments about why the player should stay. with P. Riley of the Heat.

Finally, the president of the Heat, known as the Godfather, returned to Miami to see the culmination of the story, and a few days later he learned that LeBron was leaving the Heat and returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It hit Mr. Riley square in the hearts. The Heat president, who has attracted stars like Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Ray Allen to his team in one form or another over the decade, has not been used to defeats off the field. . but also in cabinets.

P. Riley, who lost the biggest star not only in the team, but also in the entire league, was angry for at least a few days.

“For two or three days, I’ve been really tired, I’m just angry,” Riley later told Ian Thompson, author of The Soul of Basketball. – Let me know in advance and I swear to keep it a secret. So he might have started looking for new players. I think that Micky Arison (owner of Heat – ed.), And our organization, deserve to hear that news in advance. That’s the only thing that pissed me off when LeBron left us. “

According to Thompson, Riley then “felt cheated and circumcised.”

The normally cool and calm president of the Heat, who rarely expresses emotion even during the game, barely took a step that hurt Cavaliers coach Dan Gilbert.

The latter left LeBron in Cleveland in 2010. He addressed the King in a public letter in which he cowardly acquitted James and even swore that the Cavaliers would win the championship ring before the Heat.

According to ESPN reporter Wright Thompson, P. Riley was dissuaded from doing the same just by talking to his closest friends.

However, as it turned out later, due to this situation, Mr. Riley still did not stay.

When the 2016 NBA Finals began in June and the president of the Heat wrote a message to LeBron.

“Win this final and you will be free,” wrote Riley. But she received no reply.

James made it impossible in one of the most impressive finals of all time against the Golden State Warriors and came back from a 1-3 deficit with the team and won his champion’s third ring – the first not with the Heat – and then from the final turned to an anonymous from Miami.

“I can’t name names, but when I decided to leave Miami, there were people I trusted and built strong relationships with over the four years who said I was making the biggest mistake of my life. It hurted me. Of course, it was an emotional period because I left their team, but telling them I was making the biggest mistake motivated me and pushed me forward, “said LeBron excitedly.

Although Riley later denied saying those words to James, the NBA world has virtually no doubt that after the final victory, the King turned to the Godfather, not anyone else.

After being mad at LeBron for a while, Riley assured ESPN in 2017 that he had forgotten the old story.

“He made a decision that was best for his family, for him, for his legacy. I understand it and I don’t get angry. Only those who are intoxicated by alcohol or those who support the Celtics do. Not me, “Riley said.

I understand it and I don’t get angry. Only those who are intoxicated by alcohol or those who support the Celtics do. I do not.

Still, during a conversation with ESPN spokesperson Dan Le Batard last year, the Heat president revealed that he still regretted losing a year to LeBron.

“I didn’t blame James, but I knew they could be the dominant team for 10 years. It was a sad day for me because then we lost the opportunity to play the final maybe even eight times in a row. The possibility of a dynasty was thrown out the window. I don’t know how many titles we would have won. But despite everything, I don’t hold back my anger, “Riley said.

But no matter what Riley says, the NBA world is buzzing with the very idea that the Heat president has finally had a moment of revenge.

The Miami team he put together surprised many and flew to the NBA Finals, where they expect none other than LeBron and the Lakers. The same Lakers in whose history Riley’s name is written in gold letters.

Although he publicly called the former boss before the final “one of the brightest minds in basketball,” people behind the scenes in the NBA do not hide the special motivation in the final of James, who still has a stone in his face for what said Mr. P. after leaving the Heat. Riley.

So NBA fans can look forward to an impressive fight that won’t be short of undercurrents.

The first meeting between the Heat and the Lakers will take place the following night at 4 pm Lithuanian time.