Iola is a small town 4 hours away from San Antonio. Population: 401.
It's the type of town where everyone knows each other, and if you're born there, you usually stay the rest of your life.
Chris "Birdman" Andersen was raised in the middle of Iola with his mother, Linda Holubec, and his two sisters, Tammy and April.
"Typical kid, lot of energy, loved to go to school, play and go fishing," said Holubec.
That energy part should not come as a surprise. We see that from birdman on a nightly basis. Before he turned his focus to basketball, he played baseball, until he hit a major growth spurt.
The doorway of his mom's kitchen still show his annual measurements. He outgrew the doorway quickly.
There's also a basketball hoop he set up in the backyard. It's not the original, he went through a few of them. The surface is still the same though, with no driveway, no pavement and no hardwood. He just played on grass and dirt.
Birdmom share many similarities -- height, a laid back attitude and an affinity for tattoos. Holubec's legs are lined with colorful ink-filled flowers. She took her son to get his first tattoo.
"I think I paid for the first four! It was supposed to have been just one," said Holubec.
Despite Andersen's recent success in Miami, the mother and son have not spoken in years, for a reason they'll keep private.
Andersen has a past riddled with dark spots, including a two year ban from the NBA. She said if he showed up on her doorstep, she already knows what she'd say: "Where you been? Where you been? Definitely get in his face and ask him where you been? I've been right here, I haven't been nowhere."
She still watches him play.
"Yes, yes I was so glad it was on ABC and I got to watch him play," Holubec said of the finals.
Although they no longer speak, she still talks about him like most mothers talk about their sons.
Holubec said she is "very proud of him. He picked himself up, dusted himself off and got back to work."
Andersen will be right back to work in the NBA finals, and and his mom will be watching and waiting for the day when they seek each other again.