NBA Finals Thread - Oklahoma City Thunder V Miami Heat

leggo

Harden has become one of my favourite players this season. I liked him last year but that was more beard-related than anything else. What other 6th man could single-handedly keep his team in a Finals game? Hero.

Paully D

LeBron absolutely hates Haslem :pac:

Nuri Sahin

Stepping up is Harden.

leggo

It feels a bit redundant analysing that considering we all know that OKC can come back and Heat can choke. Or maybe they won't. So we're pretty much at the exact same stage as we were when the game started. But it's been fun so far anyway.

Paully D

**** off refs, shocking calls.

Foul on Durant there at the end as well, it's gone beyond a joke at this stage. FFS.

leggo

Wow. The Heat just got out of jail with that no call at the end. Great finish though.

Paully D

leggo wrote: »

Wow. The Heat just got out of jail with that call at the end...

It's a staple of Miami Heat games since they got the ''big 3'' together. They always get the vast majority of debatable calls in their favour. Refs are intimidated by them. Sickening.

Paully D

So anyway, horrendous calls aside, it's 1-1 in games with 3 to come in Miami.

I'd expect Miami to win 2 and lose 1 of those. I now think we'll have a situation where Miami are 3-2 up coming back to OKC, which would be very interesting. Could OKC win 2 vital games back-to-back, knowing if they lose one they've blown it? If I was betting I'd have to put my money on Miami winning 1, that leaves Miami to take it 4-3? :mad: All hypothetical of course and really anything could happen :pac:

One thing is for sure though, OKC need to sort out the slow starts. If it was a one time thing then fair enough, but they're giving themselves far too much to do and it has become a problem now. 18-2 at one stage during the 1st quarter, just not good enough.

On a similar note I'm not a fan of the 2-3-2 format, I'd rather see 2-2-1-1-1.

O.P.H

Paully D wrote: »

It's a staple of Miami Heat games since they got the ''big 3'' together. They always get the vast majority of debatable calls in their favour. Refs are intimidated by them. Sickening.

Will ya stop your nonsense, that's such typical rubbish Heat hater talk, the NBA refs are top class and to say they are influenced by the big 3 is skip bayless esq pish posh, and the majority of the calls tonight were spot on, granted the last call was wrong but it wasn't shocking by any means, it was one of those that could go either way.

Heat deserved it, Durant was out of this world with big time shots tonight, one of the best games I've seen in along time

SoulGuy

Wow that was some game. If that game was a minute longer I think OKC takes it. I thought Miami made a ton of ballsy plays down the stretch to help themselves hold on. OKC is relentless. I really hope this series goes 7, because this is a lot of fun.

OKC should be ashamed of themselves for not playing their hardest for large portions of that game. There was one play in the 3rd quarter where it was Bosh & 4 OKC players, and Bosh ended up getting the offensive rebound despite not having position. I thought that was pretty indicative of the game up until that point.

Also, while I'm not sure who the best player in the league is, or really what that means anymore, I can say for sure that Durant has taken the "most terrifying player in the league if you're a fan of the opposing team" title that Kobe held for years. Holy crap is that guy an assassin

Masked Man

Disclaimer: I haven't seen the game yet.

Paully D wrote: »

**** off refs, shocking calls.

Foul on Durant there at the end as well, it's gone beyond a joke at this stage. FFS.

leggo wrote: »

Wow. The Heat just got out of jail with that no call at the end. Great finish though.

The call didn't look that horrendous. I think if that happens some time in the 2nd people don't really say too much about it.

Also going on **** people are saying Durant could've been fouled out at the start of the 4th for a debatable charge on Battier. I haven't seen it yet though.

Paully D wrote: »

It's a staple of Miami Heat games since they got the ''big 3'' together. They always get the vast majority of debatable calls in their favour. Refs are intimidated by them. Sickening.

I don't really agree, but this is kinda interesting.

Paully D wrote: »

Those glasses that the players are wearing these days are absolutely horrendous.

This cannot be said enough.

leggo

Maybe, but that's the thing: it's still the wrong call and it completely affected the dynamic of the game. If that foul isn't committed and the jumper goes in (and it probably would have given who was holding the ball), it's 99-98 OKC with 7.1 on the clock. OKC would have used their last timeout to put pressure on the Heat and, all of a sudden, we're dealing with a last second buzzer beater, likely in the hands of LeBron. Fair enough, he made his two free-throw shots but there's a big difference in trying to create a shot to win a Finals game and sinking it.

The call was ultimately wrong and it changed the dynamic of the final seconds completely. That's why it's a disgrace: a Finals game has essentially been decided by poor officiating.

Nuri Sahin

leggo wrote: »

Maybe, but that's the thing: it's still the wrong call and it completely affected the dynamic of the game. If that foul isn't committed and the jumper goes in (and it probably would have given who was holding the ball), it's 99-98 OKC with 7.1 on the clock. OKC would have used their last timeout to put pressure on the Heat and, all of a sudden, we're dealing with a last second buzzer beater, likely in the hands of LeBron. Fair enough, he made his two free-throw shots but there's a big difference in trying to create a shot to win a Finals game and sinking it.

The call was ultimately wrong and it changed the dynamic of the final seconds completely. That's why it's a disgrace: a Finals game has essentially been decided by poor officiating.

Amen to that.

Fell asleep in the third quarter but just rewatched that second half. Horrible officiating at times, and no doubt a game changer. Further sickener for those who had Over 196 points for Game 2 as their bet as well...

Masked Man

Like I said I haven't seen the game, but it sounds like the Heat weren't completely undeserving of the win. I don't think it's possible to say that one bad call decided a game. Game is 48 minutes long.

Assuming Durant shoulda been fouled out, and Miami ended up losing would you be complaining so much about poor officiating.

leggo

Oh don't get me wrong, OKC weren't blameless in their own demise. Durant and Westbrook were just sloppy and careless racking up fouls in the 1st, and poor turnovers played right into Miami's hands. Were it not for James Harden in the 1st half, it would have been a blowout, simple as.

So if Miami had won completely fairly there could be no complaints. Had they lost to a similar call, I'd likely mention it as a shame but wouldn't be too fussed about it, fair point. And it's worth noting that Durant played incredibly well not to be fouled out, while also remaining their go-to guy on offence in the clutch.

But the way it worked out is like if Spain outplayed Ireland last night, leading 1-0 then Ireland having a goal disallowed for no reason. Whether Spain would've been the better team or not, they weren't getting it done and needed a bad call to get the result. Ireland would still be hard done by, poor performance or not.

But whatever the case, it sets up a much more interesting picture now going back to Miami. I still think OKC will figure them out like the Mavs did last year as the series progresses, but think this is going to 7 now.

Paully D

Masked Man wrote: »

Assuming Durant shoulda been fouled out, and Miami ended up losing would you be complaining so much about poor officiating.

To be honest I don't feel that Durant should have been fouled out. Battier's left foot was still sliding when Durant was well in the air, Battier wasn't set at all and he just flopped to the ground after the slightest bit of contact. I'd be hard pressed to even call that one debatable.

It's not just that no call on LeBron either that went against OKC. Miami were given 2 points for goal-tending that never was, and there were a couple of offensive fouls for charges whilst OKC were building up a head of steam that were very debatable.

Disappointing, but unsurprising.

spiralism

No call or not, it's hard to argue that the better team didnt win last night. Heat ran that game from start to finish, late wobble aside. They need two wins on the road to win the series imo, so halfway there.

BQQ

Paully D wrote: »

To be honest I don't feel that Durant should have been fouled out. Battier's left foot was still sliding when Durant was well in the air, Battier wasn't set at all and he just flopped to the ground after the slightest bit of contact. I'd be hard pressed to even call that one debatable.

It's not just that no call on LeBron either that went against OKC. Miami were given 2 points for goal-tending that never was, and there were a couple of offensive fouls for charges whilst OKC were building up a head of steam that were very debatable.

Disappointing, but unsurprising.

There are loads of debatable calls in any game of basketball / football etc.
And fans of both teams always claim the ref robbed them and have numerous examples to back it up.

It's like when you watch boxing, you only see the punches your guy lands, conveniently forgetting all the jabs he was eating.

The Durant no-call is obviously focused on as it happened in the dying seconds with the game on the line.
Like someone else said, If it was in the 2nd quarter, nobody would be talking about it.

insanity50

Reckon we'll see a 2-1 split in Miami, with the heating taking a 3-2 lead back to oklahoma for the final 2 games.

Was working all week so only got to see the highlights.

On the absolute batter tonight as well so not sure if i'll be home in time for two am, wanna watch the chavez fight as well.

PizzamanIRL

insanity50 wrote: »

Reckon we'll see a 2-1 split in Miami, with the heating taking a 3-2 lead back to oklahoma for the final 2 games.

Was working all week so only got to see the highlights.

On the absolute batter tonight as well so not sure if i'll be home in time for two am, wanna watch the chavez fight as well.

Its not on tonight, its on tomorrow night, 1am.

GoldFour4

This two day wait is so annoying ! On the plus side its going to be a lot easier to stay up for the game tomorrow night with the earlier start

padraig_f

Really enjoying this finals, two thrilling games so far. On the foul at the end of game 2, yeah it was a foul, but I don't get too upset about it. It's not soccer where a wrong call can have huge consequences, one wrong call in basketball is a small factor.

OKC lost the game for bigger reasons than that foul:
- They lost because they dug themselves an 18-2 hole early, which was still a 17-point deficit in the 2nd half.
- They lost because something is breaking down in their defensive rotations which is giving Battier is getting wide open 3s.
- They lost because Durant and Westbrook got into foul trouble, some of it unnecessary (biting on Wade's pump-fakes, when he's been shooting jump-shots so badly in this playoffs). Also Durant needs to let Lebron go more when he drives, he has one of the best help-defenders in the league on his team in Ibaka, he should let him go at times, and trust his help.

The good news for OKC: with all these problems, they had a shot to win or tie it at the end.

On the bad start, this has happened twice now, and seems to be linked to Perkins place in the starting line-up. They need to think about starting with a small line-up because the Miami starting line-up is small (Bosh C, Lebron PF).

It's not easy to change your starting line-up mid-way through a finals series, but this time last year Rick Carlisle did it, when he replaced DeShawn Stevenson for JJ Barea in the starting line-up, and it was one of the things that turned the series.

I'm not sure Scott Brooks is an adventurous enough coach to that, and his post-game comments suggested that he wouldn't. But the Perkins-Ibaka lineup was -18 pts in game 2, that's a huge deficit to make up.

I still like OKC's chances. Miami again shot well above their playoff averages in game 2: 43% from 3 (playoff average: 33%), 88% from the line (playoff average: 73%), you expect these to regress to the mean. Meanwhile I don't feel like OKC has put it together for a full game yet. They need to do it at least once in the next 3.

insanity50

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

Its not on tonight, its on tomorrow night, 1am.

bollox skipped a house party and all cause of this just saw ur post now.cheers anyway. fcuk sake.

leggo

padraig_f wrote: »

- They lost because something is breaking down in their defensive rotations which is giving Battier is getting wide open 3s.

Great post. I think the quoted point is just (foolish) disrespect on their part, as Battier said in Game 1: "They're not covering me." I have a feeling OKC went into the series, like the rest of us, focused only on the big 3 and it's turned out Miami have stepped up on all fronts. And I think it was the same deal in Game 2: Battier has NEVER scored 4x3-pointers in consecutive games so they just assumed that lightning wouldn't strike twice.

So I agree that big changes in strategy and attitude are needed, they're going to have to tighten up on both offence and defence going back to Miami. They know they can close better so just go slow and steady early on, stop the rot, and don't make silly errors. If they do that, they win at this rate, simple as. Miami at their majestic best in this series still can't keep up with their offence when it's on fire.

But, while I agree that OKC are the architects of their own demise, I still feel the call was pivotal. Yes, bad calls mean less in basketball, but at that stage of the game when any shot could be so decisive you make sure you get it 100% right. Especially with the criticism NBA officials have come in for in these play-offs. And they didn't.

ButtersSuki

.....and the elephant in the room - Westbrook going back to a shoot first pg in this series, a la what he did in the playoffs last year. Seems to me like he always wants to be the star, but he has to realise that his best chance of winning it all is not him scoring 40; it's Durant scoring 35-ish and him throwing in about 20 and 8 (assists). Magic Johnson said at half-time during game 2 that Westbrook's display was the worst he had ever seen from a starting PG in the Finals. That's pretty strong criticism, especially from Magic, who most of the time talks up everything like he's a Sky Sports soccer pundit :rolleyes:

It's fine in high scoring games and your shots are dropping, but in tight games if those shots are not going in, you'll always be in trouble.

Hate saying it (I'm still a little down on Lebron after the whole Decision nonsense) but his playing incredibly well during the playoffs, especially game 6 against the Celtics. Still hope the Thunder win it all, but not so sure now after they've lost home court advantage.

GoldFour4

Only an hour to go now ! Love the early start. Should be another good one ! Hopefully OKC won't let Miami have a double digit lead again or I fear Miami would run away with it !

GoldFour4

Love these mini movies they play before the tip !

insanity50

Durant is a fucking beast

#BeastMode

Wade seriously needs to step up his performances, if we win the rings it'll be simply because Lebron is dragging us by the scruff of the neck.

Nuri Sahin

Lads, watching the golf and only keeping up with the odd glance during the ads.

Does anyone know how many points KD has got so far? <---- for betting reason.

GoldFour4

I think he has 13. He doesn't have less anyway.