For the entire regular season, the supremacy of the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference was brought into serious question by the Indiana Pacers.
Then came the playoffs. And the question was answered — emphatically.
The Heat became the third franchise in NBA history to reach the title series in four consecutive seasons, a laugher of a conference-title finale getting them there again Friday night. LeBron James and Chris Bosh each scored 25 points, and Miami eliminated the Pacers for the third straight year with a 117-92 romp in Game 6 of the East championship series.
"I'm blessed. Very blessed. Very humbled," James said. "And we won't take this opportunity for granted. It's an unbelievable franchise, it's an unbelievable group. And we know we still have work to do, but we won't take this for granted. We're going to four straight Finals, and we will never take this for granted."
Dwyane Wade and Rashard Lewis each scored 13 points for Miami, which trailed 9-2 before ripping off 54 of the next 75 points to erase any doubt by halftime. The Heat set a franchise record with their 11th straight home postseason win, going back to the final two games of last season's NBA Finals, leading by 37 at one point.
Indiana led the East for much of the regular season, one where the Pacers were fueled by the memory of losing Game 7 of the East finals in Miami a year ago. So they spent this season with a clear goal: toppling Miami as kings of the East.
The Pacers were two games better in the regular season. They were two games worse in the postseason. Game 7, this time, would have been in Indianapolis. The Pacers just had no shot of making it happen, not on this night.
"The group loves to compete and loves to compete at the highest level, and be pushed to new levels," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
So now, the Celtics and Lakers have company. Until Friday, they were the only teams in NBA history to reach the Finals in four straight years. The Heat have joined them, and their quest for a third straight title starts in either San Antonio or Oklahoma City on Thursday night.
"It's all about 15 special men and what they've been able to accomplish these last four years," said Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, who handed the East title trophy to Greg Oden. "Just a little bit more work to do, but I'm really proud of the incredible job that these guys have done."
The way they played in Game 6 made a prophet out of Bosh, who predicted Miami would play its best game of the season. Miami's largest lead at any point this season, before Game 6, was 36 points. Indiana's largest deficit of the season had been 35 points. After a layup by James with 3:39 left in the third, the margin was a whopping 37 — 86-49. James' night ended soon afterward.
"It was just one of those games that we want to play from beginning to end," Bosh said. "Here on our home court, we wanted to make a statement."
There were the now-requisite Lance Stephenson events, adding intrigue to the first half. The Pacers' guard walked over to James and tapped him in the face in the opening minutes, stood over him after both got tangled under the basket, and got whistled for a flagrant foul for striking Norris Cole in the head in the second quarter.
It was the end of a memorable series for Stephenson, none of which really had anything to do with basketball. His newsworthy moments from these East finals started when he talked about the health of Wade's knees before the series and reached an apex in Game 5 when he blew into James' ear and walked into a Heat huddle.
The Heat were bothered by it all, but got the last laugh. And when it was over, Stephenson went out and shook hands with plenty of Heat players, as did the rest of his teammates.
Knicks: Phil Jackson lost out on his preferred coach, but he's working hard to keep his star player. The Knicks president said Friday he talked to Carmelo Anthony about postponing free agency, and the All-Star forward responded that he'll think about it.
"I told him it might be a good idea to hang in here and see what it's like for a year, and go out the next year," Jackson said.
Anthony can opt out of the final year of his contract, which would pay him $23.3 million, and has said that was his plan. But Jackson said there are financial benefits to Anthony waiting, for both sides, and told him that during a dinner about a month ago.
"He opened the door, and I stuck my foot in it and said this is what we can do," Jackson told the team's beat writers.
Jackson also told Anthony that Steve Kerr would be coming in to coach, a plan that didn't work out. Kerr was his first and only known candidate to replace Mike Woodson, and Jackson said Kerr had essentially committed to leave the TNT broadcast booth to take the job. But then the Golden State job opened up when the Warriors fired Mark Jackson, and Kerr preferred that one to remain close to his family in California.
"Unfortunately for him, he committed to me the day before the job opened with Golden State. So I had to kind of release him to actually go to this job and say, 'You have to do what's right for yourself,' " Phil Jackson said. "I understood entirely the process he was going through to have that job open up. That was something he kind of thought would be a good fit for him. So that's good, we're happy for him."
Jackson said he's been doing interviews, but wouldn't name those candidates. He wants to talk to Derek Fisher, who played for him in Los Angeles, after Oklahoma City's season is finished, but ruled out Brian Shaw, his former player and assistant who just completed his first season as Denver's coach. The Nuggets have said they are happy with Shaw — and Jackson doesn't want to give them any compensation even if they would let him leave.
"Brian is under contract with Denver," Jackson said. "Denver has everything that we owned for the last few years, so there's nothing else I want to give them."
He was referring to the price the Knicks paid to acquire Anthony from the Nuggets in 2011. It is still costing them now, as Denver owns the Knicks' first-round pick next month in Jackson's first draft in charge. The deal would hurt even more if Anthony left this summer. But perhaps Jackson, who is a little more than two months into his job, won't have to worry about it after giving Anthony something to think about.
