LeBron James Captures First NBA Championship After Eight NBA Years

LeBron James Captures First NBA Championship After Eight NBA Years

A year ago, LeBron James experienced the most trying and humiliating failure in his career.  But now, he is savoring the victory of being a champion together with the cluster of Miami Heat Stars.  Failure made James ascend from that hurting experience and pushed him towards victory.

"The best thing that happened to me was us losing in the Finals [in 2011], and me playing the way I played," James said late Thursday night inside the American Airlines Arena, sitting between the two most remarkable trophies of his basketball life: The Larry O'Brien NBA championship trophy and the Russell MVP award.

"It was the best thing to ever happen to me in my career because basically I got back to the basics," he said. "It humbled me. I knew I was going to have to change as a basketball player, and I was going to have to change as a person to get what I wanted."

James did not succumb to failure instead rise from it.  Dwyane Wade revealed that, "For the first time, I heard LeBron James open up and kind of let us in on what it's like to be LeBron James."

Perhaps we expected that in his championship moment — the aftermath of a great 121-106 victory over Oklahoma City — James would be gloating, but James rose above all of that.  He did not vindicate himself for past criticisms but rather liberated with the truth that he had sifted through it all.  The Most Valuable Player earned 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds.

At 27 years old, LeBron James earned his championship on Thursday night.  He shared the same experience Michael Jordan had when he won his first championship at 27.   "I'm a champion, and I did it the right way. I didn't shortcut anything," James said.

James needed Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade for the championship. In NBA, no one wins a title without an All-Stars supporting cast. That has been true for the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks in the past several years, and that proved true for the Heat, too.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Saturday June 23 2012, 8:16 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0