LeBron James and the Miami Heat: From Champions to Breakup to NBA Finals Opponents

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2020

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The NBA Finals tip off tonight between the Miami Heat and LA Lakers. And while the series is loaded with intriguing storylines, perhaps none is bigger than the drama surrounding LeBron James facing off against his former team. LeBron won two rings in Miami, and with the help of superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, seemed destined for years more of dominance. But in 2014, LeBron decided to take his talents back to Cleveland, stunning many within the Heat organization: Heat team president Pat Riley was furious that a team he thought would be a decade-long dynasty went up in smoke. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst takes us inside the complicated relationship between LeBron and Riley...and what it means for one of the most unexpected NBA Championship matchups we’ve seen in years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is, of course, the organization's first trip back to the finals since 2014.
0:06.0	You had a player then by the name of LeBron James.
0:09.0	You will now be facing him in the NBA Finals.
0:12.0	What is that going to be like?
0:14.0	I mean, that's a great storyline, right?
0:16.0	Can you let us enjoy this for a little bit right now?
0:19.0	This is hard to do. It's hard to get to this point.
0:23.7	And I want our guys to recognize that, acknowledge it, enjoy it for at least a night, and then
0:29.0	we'll get on to that tomorrow. Well, Coach Spoh, tomorrow has arrived.
0:37.9	The NBA finals start tonight, and though the matchup between the Lakers and the Heat is
0:43.1	one that pretty much no one saw coming, it's given us one of the best storylines in playoff
0:48.3	memory.
0:49.3	Today, we go inside the tense relationship between LeBron James and Miami,
0:55.1	with the reporter who's covered LeBron longer than anyone, ESPN's Brian Windhorst,
1:00.1	and learn the surprising reason why the marriage of LeBron and Pat Riley was destined to fail.
1:07.1	I'm Pablo Torre. It's Wednesday, September 30th.
1:13.2	This is ESPN Daily.
1:21.6	Brian Windhorst, you have spent, I think, the last decade of your life, trying to establish,
1:29.2	and successfully establishing, by the way, that you are a lot more than the LeBron guy after knowing and covering him longer than any other human being in our business, dating back to your high school days in Akron,
1:34.2	and then even through the time you famously up and moved to Miami to cover him there.
1:39.1	So I just want to begin by apologizing for pulling you back into the orbit of the same sun we've been
1:46.4	worshipping for now 17 years. Well, I wouldn't be here but for LeBron. I was extraordinarily
	...

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