Last night’s opening game of the 2012 NBA Finals provided some great theater and, as always with the Miami Heat, some Monday morning quarterback material as well. Here’s a fact though: if it wasn’t already clear, the Miami Heat are not the favorite in this series. That distinction is held by the Oklahoma City Thunder, as they erased what was a 13 point deficit in the 1st half to pull away in the 4th quarter and win by 11. The culture shock that Miami experienced in the 2nd half of last night’s game was somewhat predictable. OKC is younger, faster, and more explosive on offense than any of the teams the Heat faced from the more physical Eastern Conference. Whereas they were often better served to try to speed the game up against the likes of Indy and Boston, a more deliberate pace might improve their chances in this series. The Heat built a healthy-sized 1st half lead mostly due to the lights-out shooting of Shane Battier and Mario Chalmers. That’s going to have to be a constant in this series if Miami is going to have a chance. In the 2nd half those guys didn’t shoot nearly as well, and we all saw the result.
It’s still always interesting to see the fallout of any Heat loss on LeBron James though. From the opening tip, it was clear that James didn’t have his outside shooting touch on this particular night. Still, LeBron muscled his way to 30 points on 11 for 24 shooting over the course of 46 minutes. ESPN graded LeBron’s game as a B+, noting that he and Battier were the only 2 Heat players to really show up. And yet James got killed in some circles for “failing to deliver” in the 4th quarter again. It’s an easy (and some would say lazy) argument to make given that LBJ’s opposite number shined in the 4th. Durant notched 17 of his game-high 36 in the final period, while James went 2 for 6 from the floor for 7 “meaningless” points during the same stretch…nevermind that LeBron was the only thing keeping Miami from getting their doors blown off in the 3rd quarter, when he scored 9 of Miami’s 19 in that period…or that Wade and Bosh combined to shoot 11 for 30 for the game on mostly unassertive perimeter jumpers (completely negating the nice offensive games by Battier and Chalmers). But when this is brought up, haters will counter that these arguments are served only to give James a pass, and that James’ stat-stuffing numbers only mask his weakness in closing out games…superhuman, unstoppable, cyborg baller that he’s supposed to be and all. How quickly everyone forgot James’ last 2 games to close out Boston though.
Jeff Van Gundy has smartly pointed out that James continues to be held to an unattainable standard that no other player has ever had to live up to (even Jordan). This is partly James’ own doing, as he’s so talented that no matter what he does we always feel like he can do more. If you want to argue that KD outplayed LeBron in game 1, that’s fine…in fact, it’s true. If you’re killing LeBron, it makes me wonder whether or not you actually paid attention to the game at all. Most of Durant’s 36 points seemed to come so easy, as the Thunder’s offense seemed to get him open look after open look in the 2nd half…whereas every James bucket seemed to have to be some kind of tough, double-clutch shot in traffic. That’s not to take anything away from Durant, but just as it’s undeniable that KD got the better of LeBron in this game, it’s also undeniable that he was getting easier looks at the basket too.
It will be interesting to see what adjustments are made for game 2. The Thunder will likely continue to try to do what they did in the 2nd half: force Miami to shoot long jumpers, and collect a lot of long rebounds to start semi-fastbreak opportunities. There’s been talk of Chris Bosh being reinserted into the starting lineup and Miami’s need to try to get in the paint and get to the free line more often. This specifically pertains to Wade, especially when both teams go small, as that eliminates the Thunder’s shotblocking. Also, Miami may need to go a little deeper into its bench, but that’s a tricky proposition considering how the Heat’s subs compare to OKC’s. I also think Miami needs to play more straight-up man-to-man than they showed in game 1. The Heat’s gimmicky switch-all-screens defense when they play James, Wade, Haslem, and Battier together worked against the methodical Celtics, but Westbrook and Durant are too good of 1-on-1 players to have anyone but James (on KD) and Wade (on Westbrook) on them the majority of the time. Their switching led to far too many breakdowns off of Westbrook’s pick-and-roll play, bad matchups from cross-matching in transition, and easy baskets off of miscommunications on defensive rotations too. It’s easy to overreact and overanalyze 1 game, especially in the Finals, but the adjustments both teams make leading up to game 2 should be interesting.
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