Thunder-Heat, Game 5: The Champ Is Here

It’s no secret that I somewhat try to emulate Bill Simmons’ writing style in these posts. Last night I planned on ripping him off completely by blogging an in-game diary of game 5 of the NBA Finals…so much for that idea. I think I wrote 1 snarky comment about Matthew McConaughey’s straight-away 3-point bank shot on Jimmy Kimmel’s pregame show, and then I wrote something about the turnover that led to LeBron’s breakaway dunk that gave Miami a 2-0 lead being a bad sign for OKC. But after that, I just couldn’t keep up with it. I was just too into the game to stop and try to quickly think of something funny, smart, and relevant to write every 5 minutes…experiment failed.

With that being said, game 5 was pretty much drama-free from the 2nd quarter on. I was curious as to whether Miami would seize the moment and put their foot on OKC’s neck, or would they let a desperate Thunder team send this series back to their homecourt, possibly allowing the seeds of doubt to seep into the collective psyche of this Heat team once again. It turned out to be the former.

"It's about damn time."

OKC trimmed a 17 point 2nd quarter lead to 10 by halftime, but it seemed like they were down more (they only managed to keep it that close by being awarded a very generous amount of free throws early on). The Thunder got it as close as 5 thanks to a quick spurt a minute into the 3rd…but from that point on, it was all Miami. When Mike Miller made 3’s on the 1st 2 possessions of the 4th, the Heat lead had swelled to 27. With the outcome of the game no longer in doubt, the final 10 minutes or so served as a Miami coronation (for the record, the final score was 121-106).

LeBron will get the lion’s share of the credit and pub, and he is deserved of it, but let’s delve a little deeper. For many reasons over the past 2 seasons, it just seemed like this Miami experiment wasn’t going to work. LeBron wasn’t mentally strong enough. While great talents separately, the individual pieces of the Heat’s big 3 didn’t seem to fit together. And their supporting cast just plain wasn’t as good as they were supposed to be.

Mike Miller was unconscious last night, but he and the rest of the Miami role players finally played like Pat Riley had always hoped they would.

Ironically enough, it took until the closeout game of the Finals for the Heat to be exactly what Pat Riley envisioned 2 years ago. James stuffing the stat sheet with a triple double...Dwyane Wade living in the paint to the tune of 20 points…Chris Bosh settling comfortably into his role as the 3rd banana, scoring a quiet 24 points…and those 3 drawing so much defensive attention that Miami’s “others” were getting wide open looks from 3-point land. Miller and Shane Battier had been mostly disappointments since their arrivals in Miami, but the 2 combined to go 10 for 15 from downtown last night, including Miller’s near-historic 7 for 8…all that being accompanied by stifling team defense is a recipe for a championship.

As for the young Thunder, it was clear as this series went on that they may have gotten to this point a year ahead of schedule and weren’t quite ready for this stage just yet. Pending any big moves in the offseason by the Lakers or Mavericks (maybe even including them), they will be the clear cut favorites to win the Western Conference again next season. As currently constructed, this group has improved every season. There’s no reason that the upward trend won’t continue next year. They have the league’s best scorer in Durant and another top 10 player in Westbrook. If they stay healthy, add 1 or 2 complimentary players, and use this loss to fuel their desire to win a title, there’s no telling how good OKC could be.

It's safe to say we haven't seen the last of these 2.

But last night belonged to LeBron James and the Miami Heat. The monkey that had been on James’ back since his postseason failures in Cleveland are gone, and with that so is the 1 that the Miami franchise had collectively carried around ever since “The Decision.” Frankly, it will be interesting to see how the court of public opinion views the Heat going into next season. In year 1 of the big 3, LeBron and Miami were widely hated. This year those feelings seemed to die down a little, but you still didn’t have to look too hard to find Heat-haters across the sports universe. Now, will LeBron, Wade, and company be universally loved again (as they were prior to their coming together)? Or are haters still gonna hate?

Realistically, probably some combination of the 2…whatever you want to say, the Heat actually got it done this year. If you look at it in a different way, they were actually 2 games from having 2 championships in their 1st 2 years, but that’s an argument for a different day. No doubt, some people still won’t forget the Heat’s original arrogance though and LeBron’s infamous “not 5, not 6, not 7” line. He has 1 ring, but now I fully expect people to chime in with “Kobe’s got 5” and “MJ’s got 6” too. After all, no matter what LeBron had accomplished up to this point in his career, it seems like we always expected more. It’s unlikely that we will be satisfied no matter how many records, MVPs, or rings he winds up with whenever his career finally ends. To those that love basketball though, let’s try to appreciate him while he’s here.