As the final buzzer sounded and the Miami Heat captured their second consecutive NBA championship in the decisive Game 7 last week, strength and conditioning coach Nobuhisa Yoshida was no different from the Spurs players — he was completely devastated.
San Antonio allowed the LeBron James-led team to overcome a 3-2 deficit in the series by dropping the final two games and missed a chance to claim its fifth overall title.
"It was surreal," Yoshida, 34, said in a recent telephone interview from San Antonio. "The long season ended and the championship slid out of our hands. . . . We came so close to it."