No matter the winner, NBA Finals worthy of appreciation

The intensity of Game 6 brought out the best in LeBron James, even without his standard headband.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

These Finals haven't always been pretty, they haven't always been close, but they have been special nonetheless. Even in the one-sided games, it wasn't so much that the loser played poorly as it was that the winner played so well it seemed they had almost perfected the sport. Consider what we saw in Game 6 alone: James, the desperation on his face, trying to do everything in the fourth quarter, including score, rebound and defend the impossibly quick Tony Parker; Duncan, energized by the scent of a fifth championship, somehow finding it within himself to play like he was 27, not 37; Chris Bosh, not only grabbing the crucial offensive rebound that led to Ray Allen's season-saving three-pointer, but making two remarkable blocks, on Parker and Danny Green, that sealed the game.