Claim: LeBron James is in the NBA as a player.

The 2012 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2011 -- 12 season of the National Basketball Association -LRB- NBA -RRB- , and the conclusion of the season 's playoffs . The Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat defeated the Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder 4 games to 1 to win their second NBA title . Heat forward LeBron James was named the Finals MVP .   This marked the fourth time in franchise history that the Oklahoma City Thunder appeared in the NBA Finals , and the first time since the Seattle SuperSonics relocated from Seattle , Washington to Oklahoma City , Oklahoma in 2008 . The franchise had previously appeared as the SuperSonics in 1996 . It also marked the Miami Heat 's third appearance in the NBA Finals . The Heat previously appeared in 2006 and 2011 , both times against the Dallas Mavericks .   It was the first NBA Finals in 13 seasons that was not held in either the states of California or Texas ; the 3 teams that won the previous 12 Western Conference titles the Dallas Mavericks , the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs were eliminated by this season 's Western Conference champion , the Oklahoma City Thunder , in that order .   The series began on June 12 , five days later than its originally planned June 7 start . This delay was due to the lockout that pushed the start of the season to late December and shortened the regular season to 66 games . The series then ended on June 21 . Under the 2 -- 3 -- 2 rotation , the Thunder had home-court advantage , since they had a better regular season record than the Heat , and thus hosted the first two games . The Heat also became the first team since the 2008 -- 09 Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA title after losing the previous year , and the first Eastern Conference team to do so since the 1988 -- 89 Detroit Pistons .