San Antonio Spurs defeats two-time defending champion Miami Heat 104 - 87 on Sunday night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas, grabbing the team's fifth championship in NBA franchise history.
MVP Kawhi Leonard scored 22 points along with 10 rebounds, followed by Manu Ginobili with 19 points, and Patrick Millis with 17 points.
22-year old Leonard became the youngest Finals MVP since Tim Duncan won the title back in 1999.
"It just feels like a dream to me," Leonard said while crediting Duncan's presence for inspiring him in an article at The Washington Post. "Just coming here and seeing him prepare every day and having that drive and will to win at the age he is and after winning all the championships he's won before I got here just motivated me to go even harder because I'm young."
Miami Heat's Lebron James, who was last year's MVP, scored 31 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Bosh with 13 points and Dwayne Wade with 11 points.
In an interview at NBA.com, Lebron James says that he simply wanted to inspire his teammates but deemed his performance as "not good enough."
Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat's coach, commends the newly-crowned champions' performance. In a statement at NBA.com, Spoelstra quotes: "They played exquisite basketball in this series and in particular these last three games. They are the better team. There is no other way to say it. They played great basketball, and we couldn't respond to it."
This would be San Antonio Spurs' first championship since they won the title seven years ago, defeating Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
