–
Arison who caused a few ripples by electing to stay in the United States to watch his team win their fourth match to draw level in the series, instead of attending the launch of his latest luxury cruise liner, received his payback last night when he was there to see the Heat overcome San Antonio Spurs to win the decisive seventh game in the series.
–
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.
Micky Arison and LeBron James of the Miami Heat celebrate after defeating the San Antonio Spurs to win Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, June 20, 2013 in Miami, Florida / Getty
–
/ By Stanley Green /
Last night in Miami, Micky Arison was as highly charged and emotional as any owner of a basketball team that has just witnessed his team win their second NBA championships in succession is entitled to be.
Surrounded by the team of superstars which she had assembled and who had pulled off an amazing comeback to win the last two games in the series, Mickey was surprisingly lost for words. Instead he grabbed the stadium microphone to issue a challenge to the largely partisan crowd in the Heat’s American Airlines Arena “Miami, show the world you know how to party!”
And that celebration did more than display the tremendous relief that Arison, his coach Erik Spoelstra and the heat players must have felt in winning such a hard fought championship against San Antonio Spurs.
On the night Miami Heat overcame San Antonio Spurs by the comparatively comfortable margin of 95-88 in the deciding match of a dramatic series to retain the NBA title. However most NBA commentators remarked that Miami Heat’s victory was actually sealed in the six match of the series, played on Tuesday in San Antonio.
In that match San Antonio were literally seconds away from winning the championship , before Miami showed tremendous character to overcome a deficit to win in overtime and force last night championship decider.
While last night’s victory was down to a tremendous team effort from the Heat, there is little doubt that the star of the show was the ever enigmatic LeBron James who notched up 37 points to earn Miami their third title in the history of the NBA championships. Enough to earn James the distinction of being the most viable player in the tournament and for the second successive season.
Magnanimous in defeat was Gregg Popovich, head coach of Spurs who conceded that Miami Heat were the better team throughout the tournament and that San Antonio had given their best, which is all he could ask
NBA commissioner David Stern was highly enthusiastic about the standard of the play during the championship finals describing the series as a “championship for the ages” which had gone a long way in increasing global awareness of the excitement of basketball which was reaching a worldwide audience.
