SAN ANTONIO - The San Antonio Spurs rolled past the Miami Heat, 104-87, on Sunday night to capture their fifth N.B.A. title, winning the series, four games to one.
It had been a long wait - seven years after their most recent title - and a difficult one for Coach Gregg Popovich and their aging core, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.
In the end, though, the Spurs' crisp-passing offense and depth proved too much for LeBron James, who carried the Heat to the finals for the fourth consecutive season but had little help in the series.
James was at his best early in Sunday's game, helping Miami to an early 16-point lead, but the Spurs clamped down on defense and climbed back to take a 47-40 lead at halftime.
Not long into the second half, San Antonio turned the game into a rout.
The title was the Spurs' fifth in 16 seasons in the Popovich and Duncan era. Sunday's victory also avenged a torturous defeat to the Heat in last year's finals, when San Antonio held a 3-2 series advantage and a 5-point lead in Game 6 with 30 seconds left before Miami rallied to force overtime on a late 3-pointer by Ray Allen.
The Heat won that game in overtime and won a tense Game 7 to capture their second consecutive championship.
The Spurs watched Games 6 and 7 as a group when they convened in training camp last fall, and they declared they were putting that series behind them.
It did not linger in any perceptible way in the regular season as the Spurs blazed to the best record in the N.B.A. at 62-20, one victory short of a franchise record. They dispatched Dallas in a difficult seven-game series in the first round, then eliminated Portland and Oklahoma City to set up their rematch with Miami.
When Duncan, the Spurs' longtime anchor, was interviewed on the court after the Western Conference-clinching victory at Oklahoma City, he said that he was pleased to be playing the Heat and that this time the Spurs would finish the job.
On Sunday night, they did.
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