LeBron James, Dwyane Wade & Chris Bosh: The 2010-2011 Miami Heat Big Three

The 2010-2011 NBA regular season feels like it happened both in eternity and just a moment ago at the same time

And when I asked myself the question, what was the NBA like 12 years ago, all of these core memories from my childhood came rushing back

So get ready for nostalgia overload as we relive one of the greatest seasons of all time, the 2010-2011 NBA season

Before we even get to the NBA regular season, we have to start with this year's offseason

Fresh off a 4-2 loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals versus the Big 3 Celtics, 25-year-old LeBron James has a big decision ahead of him

Will he re-sign with his hometown team that he's led to 60-plus wins in back-to-back seasons, but have failed to put a competitive supporting cast around him

Or would he sign with a big market team and go ship chasing? We would have our answer on July 8, 2010, just one day after Chris Bosh, former Raptors superstar

announced he would be signing with the Miami Heat, joining Dwayne Wade in South Beach

In a live special that aired on ESPN called The Decision, LeBron James would announce 30 minutes into the program

And this fall, I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat

forming the second and newest Big Three in the NBA and officially launching LeBron James on his Villain arc

I remember I was playing in a middle school baseball game when one of my friend's dads came and told us

that LeBron had decided to go to Miami, which may have crushed us as LeBron fans

but not as much as it did the entire city of Cleveland. The whole thing was done in pretty poor taste

but it only made matters worse when the next day, as the new Big Three were getting announced

LeBron would say they... Not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven

The pressure was on LeBron to win in Miami and to do it immediately

We all know the NBA loves its storylines. So, of course, on NBA opening night, they matched up the Celtics with the Heat

the original big three versus the new big three. And the Celtics would win 88-80

Miami would actually start slow this season, going 9-8 through its first 17 games

and were learning through how to play with three superstars on the court. On December 2nd, LeBron would return to Cleveland, and when I say this was brutal, I mean it

The Heat would blow out the Cavs 118-90, and LeBron would finish with 38 points

but he was booed each time he touched the ball, and allegedly several fights broke out in the arena

As the season went on, the Heat would start to find their strides, including a dominant win over the Lakers on Christmas Day, winning 96-80

They'd finish the season strong, winning 58 games and getting the second seed in the Eastern Conference

While LeBron and Miami's Big 3 dominated the storylines this season, so much else happened that we have to cover

Starting with the number one overall pick in that season's NBA draft, John Wall, a point guard out of the University of Kentucky

would have a really good rookie season for the Wizards, averaging 16.4 points per game, 8 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.8 steals

His Wizards were terrible, but he looked so good doing it in those sick Gilbert Aranus Wizards unis before the rebrand

In almost any other year, he would have been Rookie of the Year. But unfortunately for John, that award would go to Blake Griffin

The 2009 number one overall pick who missed his first season due to a stress fracture in his left knee

Blake absolutely dominated in his first technical season in the NBA, averaging 22.5 points per game, 12.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists

And even though his numbers were impressive, what was even more impressive was his athleticism and his highlight dunks

He be selected to the All team and become a part of an exclusive list of rookies that were All Although the Clippers would only win 32 games this season the building blocks were there in a in trade the following year for superstar point guard Chris Paul

would be all they'd need to become perennial threats in the Western Conference for years to come

22-year-old third-year power forward Kevin Love would waste an incredible season on a terrible Minnesota Timberwolves team

but we have to talk about it. He would lead the league in rebounds with 15.2 per game

He would also have a double-double streak of 53 games this year, which was the longest the NBA had seen since Elvin Hayes had 55 in 1973

And he would score 31 points and 31 rebounds in a win over the New York Knicks on November 12th, becoming the first player in the NBA to have a 30-30 game since Moses Malone in 1982

On February 10th, 2011, Ray Allen would become the all-time leader in total three-pointers made, surpassing Reggie Miller's record of 2,560, which leads us right into NBA All-Star Weekend

The Rookies vs. Sophomores game, which is now the Rising Stars game, consisted of some really fun faces

For the sophomores, you had Steph Curry, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden, Tyreek Evans, Drew Holiday, Brandon Jennings

And then for the rookies, you had Blake Griffin, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, John Wall, Wesley Johnson

In the slam dunk contest, Blake Griffin would take home the title with a perfect 50 dunk jumping over a car

I can't remember what the public perception was of that dunk at the time, but I remember me and my brothers thinking it was really stupid and completely overhyped

But that leads us into the NBA trade deadline where two blockbuster trades would go down in this regular season

First, the Jazz would send superstar point guard Darren Williams to the Nets for Devin Harris, Derek Favors, and two first-round picks

And then Carmelo Anthony would force the Denver Nuggets hand, trading him to the New York Knicks in a complicated trade that involved 12-plus players

But the gist of it was that Carmelo and Chauncey Billups were going to the Knicks, and Denver was getting a first, two seconds, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, and Danilo Gallinari in return

And that brings us to the meat of this video, which is the NBA playoffs and how each team finished the regular season

Starting with the Boston Celtics, their original big three, KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce were getting older

but they had a rising star point guard in Rajon Rondo and were still a good team with an incredible defense

that would finish as the third seed in the Eastern Conference. But the talk of the Eastern Conference was not the Celtics or the Heat

It was a different team, a team that would go 62-20, their best record since Michael Jordan

the Chicago Bulls, led by a third-year 22-year-old point guard, Derrick Rose

This was the year Derrick Rose transformed into a superstar. He went from averaging 20.8, 6, and 3.8 on 26% from 3, while taking almost none a game

to averaging 25 points per game with 7.7 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and shooting 34% from 3 on 4.8 attempts per game

Derrick would dominate the MVP race and become officially the youngest MVP in NBA history

at 22 years and 191 days old. And what's even crazier is during Bulls Media Day

before the season began, he said to the reporters, why can't I be MVP

Rounding out the rest of the Eastern Conference, we had the Orlando Magic who had finished 52 and 30

led by Defensive Player of the Year and Rebounding Machine, Dwight Howard, and fresh off a finals appearance

from just two seasons ago. You had the Atlanta Hawks at 44 and 38

led by Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Jamal Crawford. the 42 and 40 New York Knicks with two stars in Carmelo Anthony and Amari Stoudemire

And then we have the seven and eight seeds in the East that I want to mention for nostalgia

purposes only The Philadelphia 76ers with Andre Iguodala Elton Brand Drew Holiday Thad Young Lou Williams and the 37 and 45 Indiana Pacers team who somehow made the playoffs led by Danny Granger with rookie Paul George who averaged 7 points per game

The last team I have to mention in the East is a team that did not make the playoffs

It's actually the team with the worst record in the league. You guessed it, the Cleveland Cavaliers

Going 19-63, Cleveland fans were in absolute shambles. Not only did LeBron leave them in

gut-wrenching fashion, but their team was terrible, and they had the worst losing streak of all time

in this season with 26 losses in a row. In the Western Conference, we had five teams that won

50-plus games. The San Antonio Spurs had the number one seed at 61-21. We all know what this

Spurs team was. It was the same team that was good for a decade-plus with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker

Manu Ginobili, but this wouldn't be their year. They would get upset in the first round by the

number eight seed Memphis Grizzlies. Led by Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and OJ Mayo

they would defeat the Spurs in six games, and they didn't even have their best player, Rudy Gay

who was out with a shoulder injury. The Grizzlies would then face off versus the Oklahoma City

Thunder, who defeated the Denver Nuggets in the opening round. The Thunder team was led by scoring

champion Kevin Durant, who averaged 27.7 points per game this year, and they also had Russell

Westbrook and James Harden but the craziest part of it all was that all three of these guys were

22 years or younger. They had just had a 55 win season and were the four seed in the west but the

Grizzlies would give them hell and take them to seven games including game four that went to three

overtimes. In the end the Thunder would prevail in seven games advancing to the Western Conference

Finals. On the other side of the Western Conference you had the Los Angeles Lakers who were fresh off

of three straight NBA Finals appearances, including back-to-back championships, led, of course, by Kobe Bryant, who was as good as ever

sixth man of the year, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and a 20-year-old rising star big man, Andrew Bynum

They would defeat the CP3-led New Orleans Hornets in six games and would face off against Dallas Mavericks

in the Western Conference Semis, who had just defeated LaMarcus Aldridge and the Portland Trailblazers in the opening round

But before we get to Lakers-Mavs, I have to mention one of the most iconic games

of the whole decade occurred in game four of this series with the Blazers and the Mavericks

Down 23 points to start the fourth quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers would miraculously come

back in an effort led by Brandon Roy, who would score 18 of his 24 points in that fourth quarter

winning 84 to 82. And not only was it an incredible comeback, but also if you understand the history

of Brandon Roy and how incredible of a player he was just a few seasons before and the devastating

career-altering injuries he would sustain in those years, you'd understand this is a powerful moment

where just for a glimpse, we were able to see vintage Brandon Roy again. The Mavs were a well-seasoned

veteran team led by 32-year-old Dirk Nowitzki, 37-year-old Jason Kidd, 33-year-old Jason Terry

32-year-old Sean Marion, and 30-year-old Karan Butler. In a shocking turn of events, they would

sweep the Lakers in the Western Conference semis and move on to face the Oklahoma City Thunder

in the Western Conference finals. These two teams couldn't be any different. You have the old

Mavericks versus the young Thunder. As exciting as the Thunder team's future was, now just wasn't

their time. The Mavericks would handle them in five games, and we all know how great the Thunder

would eventually be, but in this series, Dallas would take advantage of their youth and their

experience in the Eastern Conference MVP Derrick Rose and the number one seed Bulls would waltz

their way to the Eastern Conference finals defeating the Pacers and the Hawks handily

after the Celtics swept the New York Knicks in the first round and Miami would defeat Philadelphia in five games we had a super intriguing fun matchup in the Eastern Conference semis the Boston Celtics versus the Miami Heat

the old big three versus the new big three. The Celtics had beat the Heat three out of four times

in the regular season, so everyone was expecting a hard-fought series, but we just didn't get that

Miami really did handle them in five games. The only thing I really want to mention from this

series is that Rondo dislocated his elbow and still played, which I think is super badass

It set us up for what we thought would be a juggernaut of an Eastern Conference Finals

the supposed best team in the East versus the actual best team in the East. But Derrick Rose

and the Bulls would have to wait because the Miami Heat would dismantle them in five games as well

on their way to the finals. Neither of these Conference Finals series were all that interesting

as great as the storylines were leading up to it, but it did set us up for a fantastic storyline

in the NBA Finals. The Miami Heat versus the Dallas Mavericks, a 2006 rematch of Dirk versus D-Wade

but the most important storyline, could LeBron James win a championship? Was all of the hate he had taken moving to South Beach

and the way that he did it going to be worth it? The Heat would get off to a fantastic start

winning game one, 92-84. LeBron played fantastic, had 24 points, 9-5, and it seemed like this Heat team was just going to be too much

for the older savvy vets of the Mavericks. Game two seemed to bring us the exact same story

after a Dwayne Wade corner three put the Heat up 15 points

with 7.14 to go in the game. But instead, the Mavericks finished on a 22-5 run

including a game-winning layup from Dirk Nowitzki and would win the game 95-93, evening the series

Miami would go up 2-1 in the series with an 88-86 win

and at this point, again, it looked like this series was Miami's to lose

But instead, the infamous LeBron James Game 4 occurs. In an 86-83 loss, LeBron James would play 45 minutes

go 3-for-11 from the floor, 2-for-4 from the free throw line, and finish the game with 8 points

He did have 9 boards and 7 assists, but you expect so much more from the supposed best player in the league, especially when Dwayne Wade had 32 and Chris Bosh had 24

And from there, things would snowball. Dallas would take Game 5 as well, going up 3-2 in the series, 112-103

And finally, they would close out the series winning game six 105-295, giving Dirk Nowitzki

and Jason Kidd their elusive first ring in their careers and leaving everyone wondering

how did a team of 32, 33, and 37-year-olds beat LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh

We're now sitting here in 2023. We know how LeBron's career has played out since then

But if you take a step back and you put yourself in 2011, there wasn't a lower point in LeBron James' basketball career

Everyone was wondering, did LeBron just sell his soul and his goodwill among the basketball world to never win a ring

And to make matters worse, he played awful according to his standards in this finals, averaging 17.8 points per game and getting outscored by Jason Terry

But it wasn't that he just didn't win a ring. It was about the decision he had made in the offseason

and the hatred he had encountered because of it that put this immense pressure on him to win and to win now

As someone who likes LeBron, I'm glad to know the story doesn't end here

but it is the end of the story within this video, what the NBA looked like 12 years ago

If you enjoyed this video, check out this video I made on why 2016 was so legendary for basketball

You won't regret it. And as always, we'll see you on the hardwood