Last year's finals were a true clash of styles - the hard-running individual brilliance of the Miami Heat versus the incredibly slick team basketball of the San Antonio Spurs. Ultimately, to the delight of Spurs fans (and most neutrals), they were able to prevail in five games to grant legendary coach Gregg Popovic his fifth championship ring. Although old guards Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili made huge contributions to their team's 4-1 victory, the most consistently impressive player was young gun Kawhi Leonard, who scored and rebounded with tenacity throughout the series, and - most crucially - helped contain the Heat's intimidating firepower with elite-level defensive performances. The clash was made all the more tasty by the fact that it was tinged with a sense of vengeance. Having lost an excruciatingly close finals series to the Heat in 2013, the Spurs were eager to get even and deny LeBron James a third successive championship ring.
