MIAMI -- Before reaching the top of basketball, LeBron James was run over by the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs swept James Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2007 NBA Finals, so long ago that the winning game plan focused on exploiting James weaknesses. Those are nearly impossible to find now, and James essentially warned the Spurs that they shouldnt bother looking. The Spurs already know. "Hell be a lot more of a problem than he was in 07, thats for sure," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Wednesday. Tim Duncan told the beaten James minutes after that series that the league would someday belong to him, and he was right. The NBAs MVP guided Miami to last years championship and the leagues best record this season. Now the Spurs will try to take it back. But James is now the best player in the game, is surrounded by more talent in Miami than he ever had in Cleveland, and still carries the memory of the beating the Spurs laid on him six years ago. "I have something in me that they took in 07. Beat us on our home floor, celebrated on our home floor. I wont forget that. You shouldnt as a competitor. You should never forget that," James said. He joined the Heat in 2010, experienced more finals failure a year later, then was finals MVP last year when Miami beat Oklahoma City in five games. Another title now would put him halfway to the four that Duncan and Popovich have won together. "Thats what Im here for," James said. "Im here to win championships, and youre not always going to be on the successful side. Ive seen it twice, not being on the successful side." He was just 22 at the end of his fourth year in the league when he carried to the Cavs to their first finals appearance. But there were holes in his game, from an unreliable jump shot to an undeveloped post game, and the Spurs took advantage of every one of them. James shot 36 per cent in the series, including a ghastly 10 for 30 in Game 4, and committed 23 turnovers. "Well, LeBron is a different player than he was in 07," Popovich said. "That was like ancient history. He was basically a neophyte at the time, wondering how all this stuff worked and how its put together. We were very fortunate at that time to get him so early. But at this point hes grown." James wasnt interested in discussing much of that series, but he recalled the way the Spurs strategy kept him from getting into the paint and dared him to shoot jumpers. Theres no blueprint now that would encourage a guy who made 56.5 per cent of his shots this season to shoot the ball. "If you go under my pick-and-roll now, Im going to shoot. And Im confident Im going to make every last one of them," James said. "Im just more confident in my ability to shoot the ball. "But at the same time, I also have a lot more weapons this time around going against this team, where in 07 they loaded three guys to me a lot on the strong side of the floor. So like I said, Im a better player, and you cant dare me to do anything I dont want to do in 2013." Duncan and James probably wouldnt have thought it would take so long to see each other in the finals again after their meeting in the hallway of Clevelands Quicken Loans Arena. San Antonio had built a quiet dynasty, winning four titles in nine years, and the core of Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili would keep giving the Spurs chances. But they couldnt get out of the West even while finishing with the best record in the conference the last two years, just as Cleveland couldnt in the East during James last two seasons there. "I hoped to be back here. Whether he would he here or not, I couldnt predict that," the 37-year-old Duncan said. "Knowing the player that he was then and the trajectory he was on, I had no doubt he would be back here. I had no doubt he would be tops in this league at some point. And Im glad and honoured to be back here playing against him." The Spurs have been off since finishing a sweep of Memphis on May 27. The Heat were forced to overcome a rugged Indiana team and the struggles of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in a seven-game series that wrapped up Monday. That set up a finals between teams built in decidedly different ways but with mutual respect. While others around the league seethed, Popovich even called Pat Riley to offer congratulations after the Heat architect signed James and Bosh in 2010. It gives James a chance to pay the Spurs back for their 2007 romp, when they forced the Cavaliers into the worst offensive performance in finals history. "I believe that after that finals he probably always obviously wanted to get back again. But I think he probably always wanted to get back and play them," Wade said. "So obviously having this opportunity right now is probably something he always dreamed of, of getting back to the finals and playing the Spurs again." The Spurs Big Three didnt have to endure the same wait to win. Duncan won a title in just his second season, and Parker was only 21 when he earned his first. Yet eventually they stalled, so theyre as eager for this opportunity as James. "When I was 21 and I won my first one, it was kind of fast and we think its going to happen every year. We think its easy. But after a lot of years in the league, you realize its really hard to go to the finals," Parker said. "Now we take nothing for granted. We appreciate every moment, and well see what happens."Wholesale Custom Lakers Shirts . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Custom Lakers T-shirts . Collaros, 25, was solid last season, posting a 5-2 record as the starter while incumbent Ricky Ray was injured. 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PETERSBURG, Fla.Rory McIlroy admits he’ll need to improve on his tournament-opening performance if he’s going to make a serious challenge to defend his WGC-Dell Match Play title.The world No 3 was far from his best during his group match against Thorbjorn Olesen and found himself two holes down with five to play before being presented a late victory.After McIlroy had found the water at the 13th and handed the Dane the advantage, Olesen went on to bogey three of his final holes and shank a chip at the last to give the Northern Irishman a 1up win. McIlroy is the only player in the worlds top six yet to win in 2016 I do feel fortunate, McIlroy told Sky Sports. I wasnt up until the final hole and I feel a little bit bad for Thorbjorn. He played pretty solidly but just had a bad finish and that sort of opened the door for me.After I went two down after 13, a switch flicked on with me and I started to hit some quality shots. I was a little flat for the front nine but coming in I started playing some good golf and Im happy with that. Ill need to play a bit better than I played today if I want to get through to the weekend. The quality of that match for both of us wasnt too good.Only five of the top 10 seeds kicked off their tournament with a victory, with Jason Day appearing to suffer from a back injury during his 3&2 win over Graeme McDowell and world No 1 Jordan Spieth beating Jamie Donaldson by the same scoreline. Jordan Spieth was pleased with his 3&2 victory over Jamie Donaldson Spieth won three of the opening six holes and briefly moved four ahead, before recovering from a three-hole stutter along the back nine to seal the win with a birdie at the 16th.dddddddddddd I think in total we were a few under and on a day of gusting winds on a tricky course that was very solid playing, Spieth told Sky Sports. It was a great start but then around 11 and 12 I let it kind of slip away.Fortunately during those and 13 I only lost one stroke. I really could have potentially lost all three so held it together there and finished it off on 16.Watch the WGC-Dell Match Play throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf. Live coverage resumes on Thursday from 6pm. Also See:McIlroy handed late winWGC-Dell Match Play scoresDay strains back in victoryGolf live on Sky Sports 4 ' ' '