LeBron James steers Heat to NBA title

"I'm LeBron James from Akron, Ohio, from the inner city. I'm not even supposed to be here… It doesn't matter what anybody else says about me. I ain't got no worries."

The greatest basketball player in the world can now begin to build a solid case to be considered the greatest of all time.

A trophy in each arm, LeBron James stood at the centre of the American Airlines Arena after the Miami Heat's exhilarating Game Seven 95-88 victory over the San Antonio Spurs last night and revelled in the ticker tape and the retention of the NBA title.

Awarded finals MVP for the second year in a row, he finished the game with 37 points and shared a total of 60 with his team mate Dwyane Wade who now has three rings from his time in South Florida.

Wade is now firmly ensconced as a Miami legend but the entire sport belongs to James who was drafted straight out of highschool 10 years ago this week. He was dominant at the right times throughout this series but especially in Games Six and Seven when it was all or nothing for the reigning champions.

"No matter how bad you're hurting," said James, "you've got 48 minutes of all out ball and I was blessed to pull off some shots."

Two nights previously, Miami were down 10 in the fourth quarter and San Antonio had one hand on the Larry O'Brien Trophy. That's when James took control, finishing with a triple-double in a 103-100 overtime victory.

"You need a little bit of luck to win an NBA Championship and that's exactly what we had… I've never been in a situation where nine months is going down the drain until we get an extra life.

"I work on my game a lot, throughout the off-season. I put a lot of work into it and to be able to come out here and (have) the results happen out on the floor is the ultimate. The ultimate. I'm at a loss for words."

While there was a little more room for comfort last night and no need for overtime, neither team ever opened up a lead of more than seven while the scores were level a total of 11 times making for a gripping contest which not disappoint.

"This is the sweetest one because of everything we've been through, everything i've been through personally," said Wade. "To get here to this moment … it's special, so special.

"Credit to the San Antonio Spurs, they're an unbelievable team, an unbelievable franchise. This is the hardest series we ever had to play. But we're a resilient team and we did whatever it took."

The Spurs had never lost at this stage and Tim Duncan, who was appearing in his fifth finals, admitted that his chance to draw his team level with 50 seconds remaining would live long with him, saying he felt lower than he did after the previous game slipped through their fingers.

"Missing a lay-up to tie the game. Making a bad decision down the stretch… Game Seven is always going to haunt me."

Duncan had 24 points and 12 rebounds but he was keen to tip his cap to James who he had beaten once in the finals before, the 2007 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers: "He was unbelievable… We couldn't find a way to stop him."

Kawhi Leonard with 19 points and 16 rebounds was superb once again for the Spurs and looks like a future star with every passing game but the other members of their past success were less involved: Manu Ginobili, in what was possibly his last game for the Texas team, scored 18 but made some terrible errors in the dying minutes while Tony Parker was negated by James before being benched towards the end.

The Spurs will now be ushering out their golden era and hope for something to fill the void.

"It was a great series and we all felt that," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I don't know if 'enjoy' is the right word, but in all honesty, even in defeat, I'm starting to enjoy what our group accomplished already, when you look back. And you need to do that, to put in perspective. So it's no fun to lose, but we lost to a better team. And you can live with that as long as you've given your best, and I think we have."