After weeks of speculation and TMZ-like reporting, LeBron James chose to join Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, in Miami.

“I can’t say it was always in my plans, because I never thought it was possible,” James said on a made-for-LeBron live show on ESPN. “But the things that the Miami Heat franchise have done, to free up cap space and be able to put themselves in a position this summer to have all three of us, it was hard to turn down. Those are two great players, two of the greatest players that we have in this game today.”

LeBron leaves behind Cleveland , a city rich with sport let downs. Many Cavalier fans will make LeBron into the enemy, but the organization itself should be blamed for failing to put together a better team over the past seven years.

Pat Riley is the true star this off-season. He was able to convince two(James, Bosh) of the top ten players in the NBA to join his All-Star Wade. Now Riley will convince other players to join them for a cheap.

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The Boston Celtics agreed to a deal with Jermaine O’Neal. O’Neal’s contract is reportedly for the midlevel exception, about $5.76 million in the first year of a two-year deal. A six-time All-Star, O’Neal has averaged 14 points and 7.5 rebounds in a 14-year career for Portland, Indiana, Toronto and Miami. With the Heat last year, he averaged 13.6 points and 6.9 rebounds in 28 minutes.

David Lee has agreed to a sign-and-trade worth $80 million dollars over six years with the Golden State Warriors.

The deal will send Lee to the Warriors for Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf and Kelenna Azubuike among others.

The creator of “Ball Don’t Lie” and the infamous “Both Teams Played Hard, My Man,” Rasheed Wallace was a fan favorite, if he was on the team you rooted for. Opposing fans could find a multitude of reasons to boo Rasheed form his temperment, to his bald spot. But what made Rasheed truly stand out was the mentality in which he played basketball. His words and actions would dig deep into the opposition psyche, forcing them to lose focus on the game and turn their focus to Rasheed. Of course he will be remembered for the absurd amount of technical fouls he achieved, many of which are attributed to the stigma put on Rasheed early in his career. That stigma followed him from Washington to Portland, Detroit then eventually Boston. In the NBA once you are seen a certain way, the chances of you changing that viewpoint are next to nothing-ask Ron Artest. Aside from his temperament Rasheed was an excellent teammate and ambassador for basketball. Here are some highlights of Sheed’s career:

Rasheed scored 15,860 points and grabbed 7,321 boards

On 2/23/94, Notre Dame, Ind., North Carolina 80, Notre Dame 71, received first technical foul as a Tar Heel.

Wallace helped the Pistons win an unexpected NBA title, beating the heavily favored Lakers 4 games to 1. After the championship season, he paid for replica WWE World Heavyweight Championship belts to be made for each of his teammates and presented them as gifts when the 2004–05 regular season started.

Wallace was also suspended by the NBA for seven games for threatening then referee Tim Donaghy on an arena loading dock after a home game in 2003. That was the league’s longest suspension for something that did not involve violence or substance abuse.

The relics of the 95′ Draft are nearly all gone. Only Kevin Garnett, Michael Finley, Kurt Thomas, Antonio McDyess, and somewhat Jerry Stackhouse remain.

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The NBA got what it wanted, a seventh game in the Finals between the leagues two most cherished franchises. Kobe Bryant, the Finals MVP, scored 23 points despite 6-of-24 shooting, and the Lakers won their 16th NBA championship Thursday night, dramatically rallying from a fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Celtics 83-79 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Pau Gasol had 19 points, and 18 rebounds. Ron Artest  added 20 points, 5 steals and was by far the MVP of Game 7. He held Paul Pierce to 5 of 15 shooting.

The first half was overwhelmed by each teams defense as the Celtics committed 8 turnovers and were out-rebounded on the offensive glass 15 to 2. The Lakers shot 26.5% in the first half and Ron Artest lead all scores with 12, and the score was 40-34. Los Angeles had the worst NBA Finals shooting percentage for a winning team in the shot-clock era.(32.5%)

Paul Pierce had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who just couldn’t finish the final quarter of a remarkable playoff run after a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Garnett added 17 points and Rasheed Wallace had 11.

Rajon Rondo finished 2 boards shy of his third triple double of the playoffs with 14 points, 10 dimes, and 8 boards.

Exactly two years to the day after Boston beat the Lakers by 39 points to clinch the 2008 title, Los Angeles got revenge for perhaps the most embarrassing loss of Bryant’s career.

The Lakers will hold a parade Monday, with the team riding floats from Staples Center down Figueroa Street to the USC campus in downtown Los Angeles. A rally at the Coliseum last year attracted 95,000 fans, but the Lakers are skipping the arena in favor of a more interactive celebration, the team said.

(Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

(Photo by Ronald Martinez-Getty Images)

The Los Angeles Lakers were in need of some home-cooking and in Game 6 they dominated the game from start to finish, winning 89-67. The NBA Finals will go a full 7 games for the second time in 16 years (2005 Pistons-Spurs).

Kobe Bryant aggressive from the tip scored 26 points, and had 11 boards.  Pau Gasol added 17 points and 13 rebounds, and 9 assists.  Boston had the second lowest-scoring performance in NBA Finals history. Only Utah’s infamous 54-point performance against Chicago in 1998 was worse than this offensive disaster.

Ron Artest rebounded from his poor offensive play with 15 points, and 3of 6 from beyond the arc.Lakers bench outscored Boston’s 25-11 and won the board battle 52-39.

Celtics appeared to be resting on the fact they only had to win one game, just not Game 6. Ray Allen lead Boston with 19 points, but the team shot 33% from the field and 21% from deep. Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, and Paul Pierce combined for only 35 points.

Kendrick Perkins injured in the first quarter, did not return. He suffered a right knee sprain, and will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

Thursday’s game will be only the 17th Game 7 in Finals history (out of 64 Finals) Series tied 3-3.

(Photo by Ronald Martinez-Getty Images)

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

The Boston Celtics continue to turn to a different player each game to lead them and in Game 5 the Celtics captain Paul Pierce stepped forward. Pierce got the openings he had been denied all Finals, and lead the Celtics to a 92-86 win, to take a 3-2 series lead. Pierce was able to get separation from Ron Artest and scored a team leading 27 points.

Rajon Rondo finished with 18 points, 8 dimes, and a whopping 7 turnovers. Ray Allen was unable to get going from beyond the arc, but Ray Allen is still perfect form the free throw line(14-14).

Kevin Garnett scored 18 points with 10 boards. Celtics get the win shooting 13 less free throws.

The Celtics defense was reminiscent of 08′ at times throughout the game, but in the 3rd quarter Kobe Bryant tried to get his team over the hump single-handeely. He scored 23 straight Lakers points between the 4:23 mark of the second quarter until there was 2:16 left in the third. But that’s also the time when the Celtics built their biggest lead: Over that span, they expanded the lead from one point to 13. Bryant finished with 38 points.

Pau Gasol has nearly vanished from the Finals scoring 12 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.

Lakers head home for Game 6 on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, and a victory then or in Game 7 in L.A. on Thursday would give the Celtics a record 18th NBA championship.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers when asked about his teams chanches heading back to Los Angeles for Game 6, “We’ve played our best on the road all year.”

*SIDENOTE: The Houston Rockets trailed Knicks 3-2 going home in 1994 and won.  It took John Starks getting 3 blocked at end of Game 6 and shooting 2-for-18 in Game 7.

Celtics lead the series 3-2

(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Paul Pierce gets a much needed stress relief by punching Referee Eddie Rush in the side of the face. I’m sure the majority of NBA players would love to have the opportunity to put their hands on the officials. Rush took the punch like a champ though!

Photo by Jim Rogash-Getty Images

The Celtics in danger of going down 3-1 to the Lakers, got a big help from their bench who scored 21 points in the 4th as the Celtics win 96-89 to even up the series.

Game 4 was a slug-fest early as both teams struggled offensively. Paul Pierce scored 19 points, Kevin Garnett had 13 and Ray Allen bounced back from a seven-quarter shooting slump to score 12 points for Boston. Kobe was once again the constant for the Lakers scoring 33 points,  Pau Gasol scored 21 points but only had 6 rebounds. the two combined for 11 turnovers.

Doc Rivers went with mix of Ray Allen and four bench players in the second half and it proved to give the Celtics momentum to hold on for the win. Glen Davis in 22 minutes had 18 points and 5 boards( 4 offensive boards). Celtics bench outscored the Lakers bench 36-18. Nate Robinson had 12 off the bench and refereed to him and and Davis as “Shrek and Donkey” in the post-game press conference.

Once again team that wins the boards battle wins the game Celtics 41/Lakers 34.

Andrew Bynum (knee) was unable to start the second half, and was limited to only 12 minutes and 2 points. Lamar Odom played 39 minutes and had only 10 points, in yet another lousy game during the Fianls

Rasheed Wallace, and Kendrick Perkins are both 1 technical away from 1-game suspension.

Game 5 is Sunday night in Boston. The Celtics’ win guaranteed them a trip back to Los Angeles and averted a 3-1 deficit that has never been overcome in NBA history. Series tied 2-2.

Photo by Jim Rogash-Getty Images

Game 3 is statistically important. How important is Game 3 of the NBA Finals? In NBA Finals history, the series has been tied 1-1 on 32 occasions. The Game 3 winner has gone on to win 28 of those 32 series (87.5 percent).

Not sure if Lakers or Celtics players are aware of this stat, but Game 3 turned out to be quite a tough battle. A near carbon copy of Game 2, the road team played tough and the Lakers win 91-84, to take a 2-1 series lead. Celtics defense in the second half nearly turned the game in their favor, but the Derek “Grey Mamba” Fisher scored 11 points in the 4th quarter finishing with 16 points. Kobe Bryant was a tad trigger happy going 10 of 29 from the field and 1 of 7 from deep. He lead all scoring with 29 points though(8-8 FT).

Boston came out fired up going to Kevin Garnett early as he looked to make up for his poor play in the first two games. Garnett made the Celtics first four shots finishing with 25 points.  The Lakers stayed composed and with some help from the referees the Lakers went on a 32-10 run. The team that gets the boards wins and the Lakers out-rebounded the Celtics 43-35. Referees had their hand in this game yet again, but both teams shot 24 free throws, the Lakers missed 5 and Boston missed 8.

Ray Allen and Paul Pierce combined to go 1 for 13 from the field as Boston went nearly 6 minutes without a field goal in the first half. Pierce finished with 15 points, including 3 for 4 from 3-point range, but Ray Allen used up all his “gummi beary juice”. He missed all eight 3-pointers, all five 2-pointers and got to the line just twice.

Game 4 is Thursday in Boston. Lakers lead series 2-1

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Thanks to nba.com super slow-motion replays, Allen’s techinique is so nicely demonstrated in this video. props to cabronitosaviola for the video.