NBA Finals Thread - Oklahoma City Thunder V Miami Heat

Paully D

Schedule:

Game 1: Tuesday @ OKC 2am GMT
Game 2: Thursday @ OKC 2am GMT
Game 3: Sunday @ MIA 1am GMT
Game 4: Tuesday @ MIA 2am GMT
Game 5: Thursday @ MIA 2am GMT
Game 6: Sunday @ OKC 1am GMT
Game 7: Tuesday @ OKC 2am GMT

Paully D

This looks set to be a great series with the main focus sure to be on the match-up between Kevin Durant and Lebron James.

How do we all think this will go then? What do you think are the keys to victory etc?

Personally I think OKC's depth will help them to take this. I'm going to go for OKC 4-2 Miami.

PizzamanIRL

4-2 OKC too.

For Forks Sake

OKC 4-2, they have far more option than Miami and a bench to go to.

mc_grens

OKC in 6.

GoldFour4

Gonna go against the grain here and say miami in 5 or 6.

WHIP IT!

Was pulling for the Celtics and thought they had it at 3-2 up

Although I just couldn't see em beating OKC anyway... and I can't see Miami beating them either... So I'm gonna say OKC in 6... first of many rings for the best player in the world, Kevin Durant...

Andy Magic

As much as I dread saying it, I think the Heat will win it this season.. 4:3

Chalmers and Battier are going to be the keys to the Heat winning

leggo

OKC in 6. Just too strong.

Nuri Sahin

It'll go the distance I feel, OKC hopefully winning it.

yomtea98

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Was pulling for the Celtics and thought they had it at 3-2 up

Although I just couldn't see em beating OKC anyway... and I can't see Miami beating them either... So I'm gonna say OKC in 6... first of many rings for the best player in the world, Kevin Durant...

Lebron is better to be fair.

Borisss

Will go against the grain here and say Miami in 6. Even though I'm becoming a massive closet Thunder fan.

D.Wade is bound to light up these finals, given how he played vs Boston. Its written for him to be finals MVP, so that Lebron will have yet another reason to get slated.

Infact if he ups his game even slightly, it will ease the burden on LBJ incredibly.

Should be a fantastic series, and one most of us here predicted at the start of the season if I remember correctly.

Let us NBA!!

NEDDURC

I think Miami will win quiet comfortably in 5. LeBron will dominate the final to make sure he gets the win.

UCD AFC

I'm gonna be an optimist and hope for a 7 game series - OKC to edge it

Paully D

It's a pity Durant and LeBron seem to get along very well. It would be much more entertaining if they hated each other :pac:

GoldFour4

Gonna be wrecked in the morning but I'm staying up for this certainly, gonna be interesting to see how OKC reacts to being in the finals, its only one step further then they were last year but its a huge step.

Scorpion Sting

I really want Oklahoma to win this series. Durant has played out of his skin to get the Thunder to their first Finals. I think if he has a great series it will be a massive help to his team. In my opinion the Thunder have a better team overall and a deeper bench and for that reason I think the Thunder will win this championship. I think it will go the distance though with both teams winning their home games.

spiralism

It feels a bit odd saying this but i hope the Heat win...Lebron has waited long enough imo and deserves his first ring by now..OKC are very young yet and have a long time yet to win a few titles, Lebron has been so close the last few years that its getting cruel

Paully D

OKC need to do something about the Heat shooting 3's. It's gone beyond a joke already and we're only 5 minutes in.

spiralism

Paully D wrote: »

OKC need to do something about the Heat shooting 3's. It's gone beyond a joke already and we're only 5 minutes in.

The last one was a joke... completely uncontested like...heat in general shooting very well...this is what having finals experience can do. can't remember the last time a team went into their first finals and did well actually...slightly delayed prediction of heat in 6 as a result

kryogen

I'm not gonna give up on Thunder just yet, but they need a big 3rd quarter, need to keep Heat scoring down, at least outscore them by 5 in this one

padraig_f

Paully D wrote: »

OKC need to do something about the Heat shooting 3's. It's gone beyond a joke already and we're only 5 minutes in.

Yeah some lapses there with the switches, but Miami have their own defensive problems in transition. The Heat had transition-defense problems against the Celtics but the Thunder run a lot more than the Celtics do.

Paully D

OKC are doing much better now but Westbrook needs to stop taking so many shots and look for Durant.

Decent game this, love the intensity from OKC since the start of the 3rd. They love hitting teams with a sucker punch after half time.

Soby

Great stuff

GoldFour4

Lebron needs to take over here, wade has fired up some stupid shots. Its frustrating to watch. Westbrook has more points then KD which usually isn't a great sign.

It'll be a tight finish. That for sure

Paully D

Huge 4th quarter coming up.

For most of that 3rd OKC got level or close to leveling and the Heat managed to get a couple of baskets to go up 3 or 4 points, seemed OKC just couldn't get over the line. However, HUGE play by Westbrook at the end of the quarter to finally put OKC up 1.

I just wonder if the break at the end of the quarter came at the wrong time for the Thunder, just as they had got in the lead and momentum was with them. Hopefully not though. The crowd should see that that doesn't happen although I can see LeBron taking over.

Come on Thunder!

spiralism

You wonder how Miami don't get it done on the biggest stage but then you see tonight and learn why..game not over by any means obviously but there's no reason to trust lebron and the heat in the 4th up to this point so why should anyone now?

Soby

Need a -5 or least -1.5 victory please

Recognition Scene

Briefly considered driving up after work for this, but then saw the ticket prices online! Some atmosphere in that building, c'mon Thunder!

spiralism

cant see anything other than OKC riding this momentum to a win now...Heat choking again, quelle surprise

Paully D

Recognition Scene wrote: »

Briefly considered driving up after work for this, but then saw the ticket prices online! Some atmosphere in that building, c'mon Thunder!

What sort of price would it take to get in the building tonight mate?

Paully D

2 poor decisions in the last couple of minutes by the officials to give Miami 4 free throws. I would say I'm surprised but it's been a feature of close games involving the Heat for the whole season.

Recognition Scene

Paully D wrote: »

What sort of price would it take to get in the building tonight mate?

Most common price I saw quoted was around $800. I did see some in the $250 range closer to tip off.

Soby

Inspector Gadget arms Durant as he is being called on twitter atm :P

padraig_f

Happy days. Bad news for the Heat: they shot 8/19 from 3, Thunder started tentatively and didn't really play well in the first half. Harden only scored 5 points, and still the Thunder won by double digits.

Paully D

So OKC get off to a good start. They struggled in the first half falling behind by 13 but really rallied in the 2nd half, great defensive effort and Westbrook proved me wrong by saying he was shooting too much.

Most damning statistics of the night for me:

2nd half points - Durant + Westbrook 41 points, Miami Heat 40 points

4th quarter points - Durant 17 points, LeBron not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, but 7 points

Roll on game 2!

SoulGuy

That Durant/Westbrook combo really is something else. After Durant had that crazy run in the 4th, Battier started playing some pretty good ball denial on him and you got some stale possessions where Westbrook had the ball with about 8 seconds on the shot clock and they had nothing going on. At that point you have another guy that can create something out of nothing in Westbrook. Not a damn thing you can do about it either.

The scary thing about it is that it wasn't even the Thunder's best shot. They missed several wide open 3's and finished 5-17 from distance. They were also below par from the FT line and yet they still won by double digits. A bit worrisome for Miami.

leggo

I didn't get a lot of people insisting that Miami were now reformed and a clutch side after the Celtics series. That was two games, in a series they should've won anyway, against an ageing (if determined) team. Last night was the Miami we all know and love (to see lose). Even the experts who were backing them were backing them for all the wrong reasons: surely LeBron can't lose again! If that's your best reason for backing someone, you're going to lose that bet. I've done it myself all too many times.

That said, it's only game 1 and Miami would've written that off from the get-go, though a win would've been huge for them. We learned a lot from it and I think the confidence knock of blowing it will kill their chances on Thursday. But there's still a lot of ball to be played once it gets back to Miami.

Top Dog

Paully D wrote: »

Most damning statistics of the night for me:

Didn't OKC only have something like 2 turnovers in the 4th too?

Lafortezza

Top Dog wrote: »

Didn't OKC only have something like 2 turnovers in the 4th too?

Also, fastbreak points! Miami take alot of long 2-pters, which lets OKC out on the break. I'm looking at you DWade.

Paully D

Anyone else think, regardless of whatever happens in these finals, that we're looking at the next dynasty team in OKC? So many key player 23 or under, it's hard to imagine them not winning a large number of championships over the years.

yomtea98

D.wade is not doing enough for Miami to win this series

PizzamanIRL

Lafortezza wrote: »

Also, fastbreak points! Miami take alot of long 2-pters, which lets OKC out on the break. I'm looking at you DWade.

What site do you get that info at, looks good.

NufcNavan

yomtea98 wrote: »

D.wade is not doing enough for Miami to win this series

D Wade hasn't done enough throughout the playoffs full stop.

Barring the last 3 games against the Pacers, He hasn't been anywhere near the guy who had four consecutive 30-point games in the 2006 NBA Finals against Dallas, or the guy who was brilliant in the 2011 NBA Finals, also against Dallas, as he tried to make up for James' poor play.

Zero-Cool

Haven't watched the NBA in ages (and don't know most of best players in PaullyD's thread on 5 best in each position ) but I want to get into it again so will start with these finals. I watched the 1st half last night, will watch 2nd half tonight but when did they start making the crowd where the same colour? As effective as it would be to intimidate the away team, it's awful to look at. Is this just a finals thing?

Going for the Thunder simply because they're my team in NBA 2K12.

GoldFour4

sheehy83 wrote: »

Haven't watched the NBA in ages (and don't know most of best players in PaullyD's thread on 5 best in each position ) but I want to get into it again so will start with these finals. I watched the 1st half last night, will watch 2nd half tonight but when did they start making the crowd where the same colour? As effective as it would be to intimidate the away team, it's awful to look at. Is this just a finals thing?

Going for the Thunder simply because they're my team in NBA 2K12.

I think the colour thing is awesome, creates a cool atmosphere around the crowd. Encourages them to cheer on the team even more too.

Lafortezza

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

What site do you get that info at, looks good.

Not sure where the original stats are from, reddit.com/r/nba is where I saw it.

GoldFour4

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

What site do you get that info at, looks good.

They're on espn I think.

padraig_f

malachyscott wrote: »

I think the colour thing is awesome, creates a cool atmosphere around the crowd. Encourages them to cheer on the team even more too.

Yeah I like it, they only really do it for the playoffs. Bill Simmons' column yesterday was about the Thunder-Sonics issue, and gave a good idea of what it was like to attend a Finals game in OKC: Thunder Family Values.

In general, it's a fan experience unlike any other. You know that sea of goofy blue T-shirts that stand out in HD so splendidly? Everyone wears them. Everyone. They have the highest "goofy T-shirt per fan" percentage ever. Even local ladies have no problem throwing them over a cocktail dress. And they never stop cheering and yelling. When their boys were trailing by 10 in the first half, you would have thought the game was tied. Whenever a referee's call goes against them, they flip out like a drunk movie producer being wait-listed at a Sundance party. How could you do that? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? YOU'RE THE WORST!!!!!! If their team makes a run, they cheer through the ensuing timeout like it's nothing. Throw in the artificial noise (constant) and it's just an unsettling place to play.

SoulGuy

Tonight's game is unnecessarily important. I hate the 2-3-2 format. I have a hard time envisioning OKC losing 3 games in a row in Miami, and I have a hard time envisioning Miami taking 2 in a row in OKC.

ButtersSuki

Paully D wrote: »

Anyone else think, regardless of whatever happens in these finals, that we're looking at the next dynasty team in OKC? So many key player 23 or under, it's hard to imagine them not winning a large number of championships over the years.

Yes, if they can keep the team together. They have some big contract decisions to make in the summer with Harden and Ibaka in particular. Either could walk for mega bucks elsewhere so the job will be to keep them together and motivated for less than they can earn elsewhere. Thunder already have big commitments on Durant and Westbrook and therefore not much room to spare.