LeBron James Silenced Miami's #TeamPetty Haters for Good Last Night

In the end, LeBron James wins. 

That haze in the distance you see is the collective souls of #TeamPetty floating up to pettiness heaven, leaving the bodies of Miami Heat fans who can no longer deny the obvious: LeBron James is a bad mother-bleeper. As the kids say, game recognize game.

James and his Cavs completed the first-ever comeback from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA finals last night with their 93-89 Game 7 win, bringing a championship to the city of Cleveland for the first time in more than half a century. As much as Miami Heat fans thought their entire bodies would hate it when this happened, once it did, a piece of them just had to appreciate the greatness that is so familiar. 

Since LeBron left Miami, Heat fans have tried to shape the narrative surrounding his time in Miami: He needed Pat Riley, he needed Dwyane Wade, he needed Chris Bosh, and he needed Miami for him to be truly great.

But last night, even the most jaded Heat fan had to stand and applaud what went down: James putting the final nail in the coffin and burying any thought that he needs anyone else to thrive. James is the danger; he is the one who knocks. Not Steph Curry and his hot-and-cold MTV Rock N' Jock-style game. Not the greatest regular-season team of all time. Not a franchise in the Heat that he lovingly refers to as his "college." Not anyone. LeBron James brings the good shit with him, and you just go along for the ride. 

Though today might be a buzzkill for Miami fans who were rooting for James to fail, there has to be some relief. Rooting for LeBron to lose is like placing a bet on the under and constantly rooting for no one to score. You can do it, but it's no way to live. LeBron left Miami two summers ago looking to bring a championship to the place he grew up, something in a vacuum anyone in America could understand.

The problem was, he was leaving one place to do it: Miami. That sucked. It hurt. Nobody wants a good thing to end. What LeBron's 2016 championship cements, though, is that the Heat will always have a chapter in its franchise history that includes a historic four-year stretch headlined by a man who may go down as the greatest athlete ever. That happened in only one place too. 

Well, #teampetty is dead.

— Joy Taylor (@JoyTaylorTalks) June 20, 2016

Team petty is over. Now it really is time to just appreciate that we got 4 years and 2 titles out of that dude. He's a Heat legend as well.

— Sweep The Leg (@SweepTheLeg337) June 20, 2016

 

Good for you, @Kingjames

RIP #TeamPetty ...it was a good run, but evil never wins.

— Ryan Yousefi (@Rizzmigizz) June 20, 2016

Though I was and am part of #TeamPetty, real recognizes real

Congrats to @KingJames on keeping his promise and taking a championship to CLE

— Boshua Q. Bear, Esq. (@jcotera1106) June 20, 2016

Rightfully so, today, and this entire offseason, will be about the greatness of LeBron James — he deserves that. What the Miami Heat and its fans can now focus on more is themselves and becoming the team to deny LeBron James any further success. Not in a jaded, petty way, but in the same way they would want to end anyone else's season.

That's all that's left — rooting for Dwyane Wade to have one last moment like LeBron James had last night. Rooting for Pat Riley to have one last moment like LeBron James had last night. Rooting for the Miami Heat to have another moment like LeBron James had last night.

Rooting for something, and not against something. It feels good to be petty-free.