Two-time defending champions Miami Heat will square off against the San Antonio Spurs in the summit clash of the National Basketball Association Finals to decide the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy here.
This will be a rematch of the previous year's finals, where Miami beat San Antonio in seven games. This will be the first NBA Finals rematch since 1997 and 1998, when the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz met in the Finals two times.
The Spurs will have home-court advantage as they finished the regular season with the best win/loss record in the NBA for the first time since the 1984 NBA Finals.
The Finals will be played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format (Games 1 and 2 at home for the higher seeded team, Games 3 and 4 at home for the lower seeded team, Game 5 at the higher, Game 6 at the lower, and Game 7 at the higher).
Game 1 is scheduled today, while Game 7 (if necessary) is scheduled for June 20.
This is the Miami Heat's fourth straight appearance in the NBA Finals. They are first team since the 1987 Boston Celtics to make it to four straight NBA Finals, and only the fourth team in NBA history to achieve that goal, besides the 1960 Boston Celtics (on their way to eventually making it to 10 straight appearances), 1985 Los Angeles Lakers and the 1987 Boston Celtics.
They will also try to be the first NBA team to three-peat since the 2002 Los Angeles Lakers.
In the first round, the Heat eliminated the Charlotte Bobcats and won 4-0. In the conference semifinals, they eliminated the Brooklyn Nets to win 4-1.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, they once again played against the Indiana Pacers in a rematch of last year's Conference Finals.
Miami won the series 4-2 in a Game 6 win, eliminating the Indiana Pacers for the third straight year.
