Heat claim back-to-back NBA titles The Miami Herald (MCT) MIAMI - That's three titles for a town and two crowns for its king. With a season, a playoffs, an NBA Finals and a Game 7 that will echo for years to come, the Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs, 95-88, on Thursday night at AmericanAirlines Arena to win its second NBA championship in a row. LeBron James played stunning, brilliant basketball to earn the NBA Finals MVP for the second year in a row, and Dwyane Wade, who played throughout the playoffs despite knee problems, saved his best for the final game of a gruelling post-season. James finished with 37 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Wade had 23 points, 10 rebounds and an assist and made 11 of his 21 attempts. "Listen, I can't worry about what everybody says about me," James said on the stage as an arena rocked around him and white confetti and streamers floated through every inch of air space in the building. I'm LeBron James, from Akron, Ohio, from the inner city. I'm not even supposed to be here. That's enough. Every night I walk into the locker room, I see a No.6 with James on the back, I'm blessed. So what everybody says about me off the court, don't matter. I ain't got no worries. People won't think about criticising James' game after Thursday. Beginning now, he begins his march to become not only one of the greatest ever to play the game but the best. To repeat as champions, the Heat had to win back-to-back games for the first time since Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Miami won Game 7s in back-to-back series, providing South Florida with one of the exhilarating rides professional sports can offer. It was the Heat's first Finals Game 7 in the 25-year history of the franchise and it was a classic, every bit as good as the entire series as a whole. The teams seemed to swap the lead on nearly every possession throughout the third quarter and the final period provided nail-biting drama until the final minute. Game 7 was tied 11 times and the lead changed hands seven times. "This was a tremendous game," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. It wouldn't end any other way. James, who scored 22 points in the second half, nailed a 19-foot jumper with 27.9 seconds left to give the Heat a 92-88 lead and then, to seal the championship, stole a pass from Manu Ginobili after a timeout. He then made a pair of free throws to kick-start the celebration. For Tim Duncan, the four-time NBA champion, it was his first time to be defeated in a Finals series in his career. Duncan finished with 24 points, going 8 of 18 from the field, Alongside the 1972 undefeated Dolphins, the 2013 championship Heat will go down as one of the greatest professional sports teams in South Florida history. The unforgettable run began with a franchise-best 66-win regular season, which included a 27-game winning streak, and ended on a makeshift stage in the middle of AmericanAirlines Arena with Heat owner Micky Arison raising his franchise's third Larry O'Brien Trophy. James' transcendent stretch of greatness since the beginning of the 2011-12 regular season has been a masterstroke of legendary athletic excellence. He's won it all two years running - the championship, the MVP and the NBA Finals MVP - becoming the first player to win all three in back-to-back seasons since Michael Jordan in 1991 and 1992.