ALLAN THE MAN

Music boomed, confetti rained down and strobe lights beamed through billowing smoke as Miami’s NBA team celebrated their second-consecutive championship with a parade through the downtown on Monday.

Players, coaches and personnel rode on buses and trucks through the streets, including along Biscayne Boulevard to the American Airlines arena for a rally.

LeBron James scored 32 points and the defending champion Miami Heat advanced to the NBA Finals for the third year in a row on Monday with a 99-76 rout of the Indiana Pacers.

The Heat captured the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final four games to three and booked a championship series showdown against the San Antonio Spurs that will open on Thursday at Miami.

Dwyane Wade had 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds for Miami while James, who hit 8-of-17 from the field, grabbed eight rebounds and Chris Bosh contributed nine points and eight rebounds for the Heat.

The Indiana Pacers exploded in the second half en route to a 91-77 victory over Miami on Saturday to force a deciding seventh game in their NBA Eastern Conference final series.

Paul George led the Pacers with 28 points, Roy Hibbert added 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Indiana held off the reigning NBA champion Heat in the fourth quarter to knot the series at three games apiece. The Pacers still face a tough task if they want to deny the Heat a return to the NBA finals, with Miami having the luxury of hosting game seven on Monday (Tuesday morningin Manila).

LeBron James scored 16 of his 30 points in a pivotal third quarter on Thursday to lead the Miami Heat to a 90-79 victory over Indiana and to within one win of returning to the NBA finals.

The reigning NBA champion Heat took a 3-2 lead over the Pacers in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. The winner of the series will face Western Conference champion San Antonio in the league’s title series beginning June 6.

Center Roy Hibbert scored 23 points as the Indiana Pacers went on a 13-3 run to close the game and beat the Miami Heat 99-92 in game four of their NBA semifinal round series on Tuesday.

The Pacers were blown out of game three by the Heat but they rebounded mightily at home on Tuesday against the defending NBA champion Heat to level the series at 2-2. After scoring a franchise record 70 points in the first half of game three, Miami struggled on offense in game four and had just 72 points midway through the final quarter.

The NBA champions Miami Heat bounced back with a vengeance Sunday, racing to an early lead and rolling to a 114-96 victory over Indiana in game three of the Eastern Conference finals.

Miami, stung by a game-two defeat on their home floor on Friday, struck back to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James led the Heat with 22 points. He scored 18 in the first half as Miami, connecting on 63 percent of their shots from the floor, jumped into a 70-56 lead at the break.

The Indiana Pacers bounced back from a heart-breaking game one defeat to edge LeBron James and the Miami Heat 97-93 on Friday and level the NBA Eastern Conference finals at one game apiece.

With the win in Miami, the Pacers seized home court advantage in the best-of-seven series from the reigning league champions, and they will try to maintain the momentum when they host game three on Sunday.

The winner of the series advances to the NBA finals to take on the Western Conference champions for the league crown. San Antonio lead Memphis 2-0 in the Western finals.

The NBA made it official Sunday, announcing Miami Heat superstar LeBron James was a near-unanimous choice as Most Valuable Player, earning the award for a second straight year and fourth time overall.

James’s victory in the voting had been widely reported since Friday, although when asked about it the player himself had urged reporters not to “jinx” him by jumping the gun.

He needn’t have worried.

James garnered 120 first-place votes from a possible 121 which included a 120-member media panel and a fan poll conducted on NBA.com that counted for one vote.

Watch the 2012 - 2013 NBA Finals online live streaming below. Playoffs schedules are listed below for your reference. Scores and results will be updated here also.

San Antonio won three NBA titles between 2003 and 2007, but haven't been to the NBA Finals for the past five years. Miami had the better record throughout the regular season and has home-court advantage throughout the Finals. The schedule for the NBA Finals is as follows:

Game 1: SPURS WON (CLICKHERE TO WATCH GAME 1 REPLAY)

Game 2: MIAMI WON  (CLICKHERE TO WATCH GAME 2 REPLAY)

This 2013 NBA All Star Slamdunk Contest was supposed to have a real high level, and started very good with the first three East dunks. Later Kenneth Faried and Eric Bledsoe needed a lot of attempts to finish easy dunks, and in their second dunks both James White and Gerald Green (two of the favorites) wasted 90+ seconds without any success.

Terrence Ross deserved to be the winner (thanks to fan voting) with four slam dunks full of athletic exhibition. Jeremy Evans is a deserving finalist who almost repeated champion title.

The NBA is coming to Manila this year, not to hold an exhibition game but no less than a regular season match.

Mall of Asia general manager Arnel Gonzales confirmed the news to Spin.ph on Thursday, saying the regular season game might feature the Indiana Pacers led by Danny Granger and the Houston Rockets of James Harden and Asian-American star Jeremy Lin.

Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown has been fired after a 1-4 start to the season, the 16-time National Basketball Association (NBA) champions said on Friday.

Assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff will take over as interim head coach for Friday’s game against the Golden State Warriors and a search for a new head coach will begin immediately, general manager Mitch Kupchak said.

“This was a difficult and painful decision to make,” Kupchak said in a statement posted on the team’s website.

WASHINGTON – LeBron James had yet to claim an NBA championship when he arrived in Miami two years ago, boldly predicting multiple title runs with Heat teammates Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

Now, as the NBA prepares to open its 67th season on Tuesday, “King” James is coming off a crowning achievement, having won his first NBA title with the Heat last June and then guiding the US Olympic team to London gold in August.