The most dominant season in the Miami Heat’s Big 3 era was 2012/13. That year, the Heat won 66 regular season games, setting a new franchise record for most wins during the regular season, erasing the previous mark of 61 set in 1997. The Heat were by far the best team in the league and won the 2013 NBA championship.
The main reason for Miami’s success was that LeBron James did it for Miami, who dominated both sides of the court. But while the Ohio native took home MVP honors, he finished second behind Marc Gasol in the Defensive Player of the Year balloting. That’s not it.
Gasol won the DPOY award despite not being part of the All-Defensive First team. That did not sit well with King James. Seven years later, LeBron still remembers the incident.
“The voting scale is a little weird to me, sometimes,” said LeBron. “I mean if you take 2012, if you just stick with me, for 2012-13, I had a chance to be Defensive Player of the Year and also MVP in the same season. And that year, Marc Gasol was rewarded Defensive Player of the Year but he made Second Team All-Defense.”