2012 NBA Finals

The 2012 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2011–12 season. The Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat defeated the Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder four games to one. This was the second consecutive appearance for the Heat, after losing to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. The Thunder’s first NBA Finals appearance since the team relocated from Seattle, Washington to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma prior to the start of the 2008-2009 season.

About 2012 NBA Finals in brief

Summary 2012 NBA FinalsThe 2012 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association’s 2011–12 season. The Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat defeated the Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder four games to one to win their second NBA title. Heat small forward LeBron James was named the Finals MVP. This was the second consecutive appearance for the Heat, after losing to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. It was the first NBA Finals since 1998 that was not held in California or Texas; the 3 teams that won the previous 13 Western Conference titles were eliminated by Oklahoma City in that order. The series began on June 12, five days later than its originally planned June 7 start. The Heat also became the first team since the 2008–09 Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA title after losing the previous year, and the first Eastern Conference team to do so since the 1988–89 Detroit Pistons. The Thunder’s first NBA Finals appearance since the team relocated from Seattle, Washington to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma prior to the start of the 2008-2009 season. This marked the fourth time in franchise history that the Thunder played in the NBA Finals, and first since 1996, when they lost to the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls.

With the exception of Derek Fisher and Kendrick Perkins, all players from the Thunder were playing in their first Finals. They were the first Western Conference team in fourteen years to play in NBA Finals without coming from the states of California and Texas. The season series was tied, 1–1, with both teams winning at their home floor. The Miami Heat held the lead for most of the first three quarters, including a 13-point lead at one point in the second quarter. TheThunder took the lead with 16 seconds left in the third quarter, but the Heat kept pace with Miami to keep the score at 54–47 at halftime, winning 105–94, in Game 1. The team was seeking their first NBA championship since 1979, and their first since the SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma in 2008. It also marked the Miami Heat’s second consecutive appearances in the Finals and third appearance overall. The club last appeared in the finals in 2006, when it defeated the Mavericks to win its first NBA title, led by Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal.