NBA Finals games are supposed to have a certain level of intensity, but the Heat and Thunder seemed to ratchet it up a couple notches last night. Desperately not wanting to go down 3-1, OKC started off the game at warp speed, jumping out to an early 17 point lead only to let Miami answer with their own 16-0 run, and the Heat survived a Russell Westbrook explosion and some 4th quarter cramp-age by LeBron James to gut this 1 out.
Westbrook was unstoppable last night, but most people will only remember his role in 1 critical play.
Oddly enough, it’s Miami that looks like the more physical, more grind-it-out, and more clutch team right now, which is saying something given their criticisms over the last 2 seasons. On the other hand, as 1 of my favorite sayings goes, OKC looks just good enough to lose at the moment. You can’t say the Thunder haven’t played well (they have only been outscored by a total of 5 points for the series), but Miami seems to be using their experience to their advantage.
James, Dwayne Wade, and Mario Chalmers were the ones making the big plays at the end of last night’s game. Westbrook was fantastic, but had a Chris Webber “lite” moment at the end of the game (his foul on Chalmers that pretty much iced the game), Kevin Durant faded late (only 3 shot attempts and 2 turnovers in the 4th quarter), and James Harden had another nightmare game (2 for 10 from the floor, 4 turnovers, and a shankapotomus layup attempt on a fast break in the 4th to boot).
An unlikely hero: with LeBron suffering from severe leg cramps, Mario Chalmers came to the rescue.
It looks like Miami simply out-toughed OKC too…the Thunder have a definitive size advantage, as Miami has continued to go small with Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem manning the center position for most of the series while James and Shane Battier share power forward duties. Still, the Heat have outrebounded the Thunder the past 3 games, and LeBron and Dwyane Wade are living in the paint. Meanwhile, OKC is built around their perimeter play and their ability to make jumpers, and if 1 of their big 3 is off (it’s been Harden for most of this series), it can be difficult to overcome.
Also speaking to toughness, OKC seemed too concerned with the refs in game 4. 1st, it’s a given that the Heat are the darlings of the NBA right now, so the “tie goes to the runner” theory should be assumed when you’re playing against Miami (especially in Miami). 2nd, you’re simply not going to get as many calls when you’re a jumpshooting team like the Thunder are. 3rd, it was pretty clear early on last night that the refs were going to let just about anything go away from the ball. Being the more physical team, this favored Miami, but the game was officiated that way all night. 4th, there seemed to be at least close to an equal number of missed calls or phantom calls on both sides last night…the ones working against OKC just seemed to come at more inopportune times. 5th, if I’m a ref, I’m not bailing out Westbrook with a foul every time he goes into hyperdrive and flies towards the rim in a semi-out-of-control fashion just because he gets bumped a tad. And 6th, if you check last night’s box score, the Thunder actually benefitted from more whistles than the Heat. Miami was called for 19 personal fouls for the game to OKC’s 16, and the Thunder took 9 more free throw attempts.
So, less sideways glances at the refs, more made baskets, please. If not, South Beach may be the party location of the century Thursday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment