It has been impressive. He looks to be in his absolute prime. But now come the overreactions made possible by the idiots that were considered “haters” before he had won anything.

“I’ve always thought Michael Jordan was the best player that I’ve ever seen,” USA Basketball assistant coach Jim Boeheim said on Colin Cowherd’s radio show yesterday. “I always have and I didn’t think it was close. I’m not so sure any more. And I love Michael Jordan. I’m not so sure anymore.

“This guy is 6-foot-9 and 260 pounds, and he’s getting better. He works on his game. His shooting is getting better. He’s a phenomenal, phenomenal basketball player. I love his game; I love the history of this game. I know we’ve had great, great players through the years. He’s like Magic Johnson with Michael Jordan-type skills as well.”

Where this gets really stupid is at the end and a lot of people have been doing this lately. It’s when you say LeBron is Magic-plus-M.J. Sure, LeBron is a willing passer who gets like half as many assists as Magic and he’s one of the best athletes in the NBA kind of like how M.J. was the best athlete of all-time.

The real problem here though is saying LeBron has the skills Jordan did. What are you defining as skills here? LeBron is very skilled for his size, no one is questioning that, but Jordan was one of the most skilled players in the history of the game. His handle, footwork, shot creativity and defensive fundamentals are all significantly better than what LeBron’s are.

Everything LeBron does is based on his size and speed or his high basketball IQ (probably the highest in the NBA). Those aren’t skills, they’re just physical ability. He’s so different than M.J. the way he gets stuff done on a basketball court.

“He’s a 6-9, 260-pound point guard-forward-center,” Boeheim went on to say. “He guarded the post guys. They always say a guy can guard five positions, I’ve never seen that. I’ve heard about it. This guy can guard five guys. He can guard your center, he can guard your small forward, big forward, point guard, two guard. You put him on anybody and he can guard them.”

People need to stop with this thing where you say LeBron can guard positions 1-5. I understand he is the most versatile defender in the league but it’s not like he’s shutting down Russell Westbrook or Dwight Howard. He can’t guard guys like that. He can guard 2-4 very well and at times can contend with 1’s and 5’s. There, that’s fair.

This is not a knock on LeBron though in any way. The player he is right now is fine which is obvious since he is winning everything right now (that’s part of why the MJ-comparison will always be unfair). The problem is with Boeheim and every person out there who is so obsessed with attaching themselves to greatness, making them feel warm and important inside I guess.

I get the thing where you go to London for two weeks and watch LeBron play the best he ever has and come away thinking he is the greatest thing ever. It’s like whenever you watch any documentary out there and then after think it’s the greatest thing ever. It reels you in and magnifies the importance of whatever it is.

The difference is smart people, or people who think before they talk, should be able to realize this, take a step back and assess the situation. Boeheim was not this when he joined Cowherd’s radio show.

No one should be able to watch LeBron up to this point in his career and say that he is going to become greater than Jordan, or even worse, Magic-plus-Jordan. It just doesn’t make sense to believe that.

I guess there is a scenario out there that is possible just like there is a scenario out there where the 2012 Olympic team “could” beat the 1992 Dream Team if they played. That doesn’t make them greater though.

For what it’s worth, here is how I assess LeBron so far and how I think his career will play out:

Statistically he is on a Wilt-like level so far in his career. He’s been the best player in the NBA for the last three years or so and he will probably continue to be the best for another three or so. A 6-year window of being the best player is pretty hard to do.

I would predict LeBron wins 3-4 championships in his career. That would just about meet expectations. Every time he wins, he should be the Finals MVP too, unless he gets a title or too very late in his career.

Ultimately he will be considered a top eight player of all-time at least. The players probably ahead of him will be: Jordan-Russell-Kareem-Magic-Bird-Wilt-Kobe-Duncan. He’ll be in front of Robertson-Olajuwon-West-Moses-Shaq. I think LeBron could get right around No. 5 best ever, next to Magic and Bird but I doubt we ever consider him top three.

If that makes me a hater then so be it.

The Heat won the NBA title this past season with LeBron James capturing his first championship ever. The common sentiment is that now it’s going to get easier for LeBron and the Heat to keep winning championships because the pressure will be less.

That’s just not true.

“If we learned one thing from the 2006 title, it was that you need to continue to reinvent yourself and improve as a basketball team,” Spoelstra told the Sun Sentinel. “That year we brought the exact the same team back, we thought it would be the same path and same journey. It never is.

“It’s always going to be different. And we ended up losing the first round and we were swept in four games. Another year later, we only won 15 games and we were the worst team in basketball and that’s how fragile this game can be.”

The 2012 team isn’t built the same way the 2006 team was. The 2006 Heat team was one of the worst teams to ever win a title and practically stole the title away from the Dallas Mavericks with a lot of help from the referees. Shaquille O’Neal was very much on the decline and there was not a lot of support around Dwyane Wade.

The expectations for the Heat when LeBron came to town was to win multiple titles. One title would be considered a failure. Even two will not be enough. The Heat have already been to the Finals in each of the first two seasons since acquiring LeBron but Spoelstra is right, it isn’t going to get easier.

Defending a title and repeating is one of the toughest things to do in this league. It’s really a pretty short list of teams and players that have been able to do it.

For the Heat to have a chance to repeat as the champion it would mean making a third straight Finals appearance which is no small task. They have been pretty fortunate in the first two years to make it there with the landscape of the Eastern Conference being pretty weak but that could change this season.

The Heat have gone about the reinvention process this summer by acquiring Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. It’s a move that looks great on paper but it might not have the kind of impact some are anticipating.

LeBron had possibly the best season of his career last year really carrying the team while his running mates Wade and Chris Bosh battled injury and essentially their production declined from the season before. It should not be expected for LeBron to continue playing at this level. He did so much for the team and while he shouldn’t decline in terms of talent, to keep up that kind of efficiency might be too much even for him.

The Heat will likely need bounce back seasons from Wade and Bosh to seriously be a threat to repeat. Neither are too old yet but they shouldn’t expect to have the same kind of season they did last year with the same ultimate result.

Teams will be waiting for the Heat next year, hungrier than ever to give them their best shot. The Heat beat one of the hungriest teams in the league last year in the NBA Finals in the Oklahoma City Thunder who are poised as much as anyone to get back to the Finals again.

The celebrating can stop for LeBron and the Heat and it has. They are self aware of their situation and should make a strong defense of their title. It definitely won’t be easier now though, it never is.

Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

The Los Angeles Lakers have emerged as the frontrunner to land Dwight Howard this offseason. The potential deal that would send Howard to L.A. is a 3-team trade between the Lakers, Magic and Cavaliers.

The deal has a potential snag with Cleveland wanting Andrew Bynum to say he’ll extend past next season but even so, the Lakers are the most likely destination for Howard right now.

The idea of Howard playing alongside Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol for the Lakers is scary to think about. Howard is one of, if not the most valuable player in the league with how he affects the game.

Would the Lakers surpass the Oklahoma City Thunder as the favorites to come out of the Western Conference if they land Howard? Would they become the NBA title favorites?

Not so fast. It shouldn’t be forgotten what OKC did last season making it to the NBA Finals. They deserve to be recognized as the best in the West until they are dethroned even if Howard is wearing purple and gold at the start of next season.

The Lakers have already drastically improved their team for next season by trading for Nash. The knock on L.A. the past few seasons was that they needed a point guard. With Kobe’s skills fading, the team now needed a true point to help him run the show.

Nash is more than a true point. He’s one of the best ever and while it’s hard to imagine at first how he and Kobe will mesh in the same uniform, you just kind of know they’ll figure it out.

Nash wasn’t going to solve all of their problems though. At 38, Nash is still one of the best point guards in the league offensively but struggles on defense as much as he ever has. The league and Western Conference in particular is so loaded with talented point guards these days that could become a real problem.

How do you solve Nash’s defensive woes? Howard would be that answer. The Lakers would practically be inviting players to drive past Nash with Howard waiting. No player in the NBA over the past five seasons has made the kind of defensive impact Howard has, turning a cast of mediocre defenders in Orlando to one of the premiere team defenses in the league. If there was ever going to be a way to hide Nash on defense, it would be with Howard patrolling the paint.

But this is still not quite enough to already put the Lakers ahead of the Thunder in the West. We’d definitely have to see them in action first before really knowing if they could challenge the Thunder in a playoff series but the Thunder are getting better too.

The Thunder of course have the best young roster in the NBA. Their progression in win percentage and playoff performance each season has been impressive. For next season coming off an NBA Finals appearance, there’s no reason to think they’ll take a step back.

The most talented team can always dictate how far they go in this league. The Thunder are that next to any other roster in the NBA. Team USA Basketball is comprised of 25 percent Thunder players. They are that good.

Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden are only going to get better. The rest of the Thunder team compliments their Big 3 making them tailor made to take down this Lakers team.

Thunder GM Sam Presti had the Lakers in mind when constructing this roster. That’s why they traded for Kendrick Perkins. He knows that the Lakers will always be around in the West and making sure you can take them down will in the long run always be the No. 1 priority.

Durant is going to be a mismatch problem for any team including the Lakers. Metta World Peace may very likely be out their door and the defensive options to throw on Durant will be slim for L.A.

Westbrook is the greatest problem though. We know Nash can’t stay in front of him because we found out no one could stay in front of him last season. He will continue to do whatever he wants against the Lakers and since he gets better every season, that will be even more devastating of a thing next year.

Dealing with the Lakers bigs won’t be a problem for OKC either. In fact, the Thunder would prefer that to having to go small and try and match up with LeBron James at the four. Perkins and Serge Ibaka are more than capable of slowing down a Howard and Gasol duo enough to still win a series.

Getting back to the NBA Finals will become more difficult if Howard is on the Lakers next season though. There’s no questioning that but there should also be no questioning of the Thunder, what they are capable of and what they are committed to. They will be ready for whatever challenge comes their way and have shown that it’s probably a good idea to bet on them at the end of the day.

Thunder fans don’t have to worry yet. They are safe atop the Western Conference and no one is challenging them quite yet. The Lakers have emerged as the team with the best chance especially if they land Howard but they aren’t the team to beat yet.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Kendrick Perkins got banged up this past season. Perkins has now had to have two surgeries since the season ended, the most recent being on his left wrist to repair a torn ligament, the team announced today in a press release.

Perkins’ first surgery was to repair a partially torn right groin that he injured in Game 4 of the Thunder’s first round sweep of the Dallas Mavericks. The wrist injury occurred during the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

The more you hear about Perkins’ injuries, the more it hurts Thunder fans. Perkins hurt the team much more than he helped them during the final two series of the playoffs against the Spurs and the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

The Thunder faced smaller, quicker lineups in those series and every minute Perkins was on the floor felt like survival mode for OKC. Even a healthy Perkins would have been ineffective against those teams and knowing that there was a legit reason to sit Perkins since he was injured this badly is hard to think about.

Perkins is set to make $7.8 million next season, $8.4 million in 2013-14 and $9.1 million in the final year of his contract in 2014-15. Perkins’ name has come up quite a bit with amnesty talks.

The Thunder will not amnesty Perkins this summer though because they simply can wait on this. The Thunder will be tight for cash while trying to keep James Harden and Serge Ibaka in the future and will need to clear as much cap as possible to do so. The Thunder can hang on to Perkins for next season and not have to worry about going into the luxury tax threshold even if they do extend Harden this summer.

Next summer if the Thunder are going “all-in” to keep Harden and Ibaka, and they probably will be, we can expect Perkins to get amnestied to free up more space for them.

It will be interesting to see if Perkins sees any decline in minutes this coming season in anticipation of the inevitable amnestying of him. The importance of players like rookie Perry Jones and Cole Aldrich developing will be even more important this coming season if the Thunder will part ways with Perkins.

While Perkins was not valuable against the Spurs or Heat, he still does hold plenty of value when playing a team like the Los Angeles Lakers who will be starting Andrew Bynum and maybe even Dwight Howard.

The Thunder have as good a chance as anyone to win the title next season and they will need a healthy Kendrick Perkins to make it to the NBA Finals. They just may be better off without him if they get there again.

Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant cemented himself as the second-best player in the league this past season right behind LeBron James. He finished second in the MVP voting behind LeBron then finished second as a team when the Oklahoma City Thunder lost in the NBA Finals to the Miami Heat.

Durant did beat LeBron in one sense making the cover of NBA 2K13 along with Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin. NBA 2K13 wanted to focus on the future of the league as opposed to its past like it has done with the last two installments. That is perhaps why Durant got the nod for the cover over someone like LeBron.

Durant’s overall rating was revealed during the 2K Sports NBA 2K13 live stream interview with Ronnie Singh. Durant received a 95 overall, three points higher than the 92 he got at the start of last season.

This is probably a fair number for Durant. While he is the second-best player in the NBA, you can make the case for him having this low of a number. His defensive ratings will still not be too high and his passing rating will also be a little low.

LeBron will likely receive the 98 overall he has been getting or possibly even a 99 overall rating. After the way he played this past season and especially in the playoffs, a 99 is probably deserving.

The real question is if there will be anyone rated above Durant besides LeBron. In recent years, there has been a few players rated above 95 along with LeBron. Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant have been among the players being rated that high.

Wade and Kobe should dip under that plateau for NBA 2K13 though and definitely should not be rated as highly as Durant. Chris Paul is maybe the only player that should be rated higher than Durant is.

One thing is for sure though and that is that Durant will be unstoppable to play with in the game. He already pretty much has been in past years but he’s really reaching a point now where he is becoming the ultimate video game basketball player.

His height and length is always an asset and his ability to shoot from long range makes him pretty unfair. Expect ratings in the mid-to-high 90s for his midrange jumper.

The overall rating is not always the most important thing. Last year, Dirk Nowitzki received an 85 overall rating but was still unstoppable because he had a 99 midrange rating.

Russell Westbrook and James Harden should get a lot of love from 2K Sports this year as well. Westbrook will be as quick as any player in the game and will also have a very high midrange rating which will make him unstoppable. Harden’s beard length will certainly be more accurate in NBA 2K13 and his ability to finish at the rim with the euro-step will hopefully be unstoppable as well.

Serge Ibaka should be graced with a 99 shot blocking rating after averaging more blocks per game than anyone since the 2001-02 season. Expect Perry Jones to get a nice rookie rating as well, possibly 71 or around that.

Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant is not over the Oklahoma City Thunder’s NBA Finals loss to the Miami Heat. Durant is now a teammate with his biggest rival, LeBron James, for Team USA Basketball at the 2012 London Olympics and it doesn’t sit well with him.

“It does. It does, but what can I do?” Durant told YardBarker.com when asked if it bothered him seeing LeBron every day. “He’s my teammate now. I’m a team player. I can’t let that affect this. This is bigger than that. It’s tough to lose in the Finals and play the guy you’ve been going up against for five games who beat you. So me, I’m just going to get over it, still be a great teammate, come out and play hard.”

Durant is the ultimate teammate so whatever he feels toward LeBron after losing in the NBA Finals to him will not affect his play in the Olympics for sure.

Durant and LeBron have developed a friendship too dating back to last summer when they played in a few charity basketball games together and even worked out together.

“It bothers him,” LeBron said. “I bet it bothers him and Russell (Westbrook), you know, they probably don’t want to hear about it. It would bother me, it would bother anyone that you lose to someone in the Finals, where everyone’s competing at the highest level and you want to win and then you have to team up with them not too long, not too far removed from the games.”

LeBron has really turned into a guy that says the right thing almost all of the time. If we didn’t think about The Decision and judge him by that so much, this would be how we feel about him.

It’s hard for Thunder fans to hate LeBron after they hear him say things like this and know that Durant and he are kind of close friends.

Kobe Bryant doesn’t really understand this though. Kobe is one of the last superstars remaining from the era in which you hated your rivals rather than joining them.

“Being the friends thing, I mean that’s fine,” Bryant said. “Once you start playing, I’d really, I’d have to go after him. There’s just no way.”

Durant, LeBron and Kobe will be teammates of course during the London Olympics beginning July 27. The trio is maybe as talented as we will ever see playing together on a basketball court. They are brought together for one common goal now and that’s bringing back the Gold for the United States.

David Butler II-US PRESSWIRE

Ray Allen decided last night to take his talents to South Beach and join LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in a Miami Heat uniform next season.

Allen left twice as much money on the table by choosing not to remain in Boston and rather flee to chase another championship with the defending champs.

Allen was one of the most coveted free agents especially by the Heat. The talents of Allen are ones that any team would love to have. No one’s made more threes than Allen in his career and even at 37 he is believed to be a key contributor for the Heat next season.

But how much better did Miami get by adding Allen? Are the Thunder now more worried about beating the Heat this coming season than they were last year?

Allen makes the Heat better. Just not that much better. He’ll fit in just fine, get a ton of open looks from three and every time he makes one expect to hear “That’s why Miami signed him!”

He’s obviously not the same player he was even a few seasons ago. But he isn’t expected to be either.

We saw how good the Heat can look when their role players are knocking down threes. In last year’s NBA Finals, Shane Battier made 15 threes and shot .577 percent from beyond the arc. Mike Miller made seven threes in the Game 5 clincher as the Heat tied an NBA Finals record with 14 threes made as a team.

That was the best case scenario for the Heat. Allen is a great shooter but it’s not like we can sit here and predict the Heat to repeat that kind of performance from beyond the arc in a series again.

The ways the Heat will look better next year aren’t ways that Allen will help them. If Wade and Bosh have a bounce back year, that would be a much bigger deal and even more necessary for the Heat to repeat. If LeBron somehow keeps up a 30-9-6 stat line in the playoffs then they will be a really scary title contender.

Allen will probably help the Heat more throughout the regular season and make them more of a lock to come out of the Eastern Conference. It’s true that Battier and Miller were pretty much absent before the NBA Finals.

Allen will also make defenses less likely to double on Wade or LeBron when he is in the post. That’s not a good thing for most of the league but for the Thunder, that’s actually better.

People don’t realize that the best thing about LeBron is he always makes the right basketball play. It’s more important to his success than his physical abilities. That means if you double him in the post, he’s passing out to the open man, every time.

This happened to the Thunder in the NBA Finals and it played right into the Heat’s hands and to what LeBron preferred to do. Why did the Thunder have to double LeBron in the post? If you remember, it was because James Harden had to guard him so much as the series went on.

Thunder fans will and should concede defeat to Miami if they’re going to have to live with Harden guarding LeBron.

The best part about OKC’s defense up until the Finals was that they never had to double. Against the Lakers they were able to play Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum straight up. The same thing with Dirk Nowitzki in Round 1. Against the Spurs it never made sense to double anyone.

In Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Thunder didn’t double much either. Kevin Durant was guarding LeBron and did a fantastic job on him. Durant can do a very good job on LeBron but as the series went on, Durant picked up stupid fouls and it put the Thunder in a very tough situation having to take KD off LeBron. The Heat then had a mismatch with their best player and that was all she wrote.

Ray Allen signing with the Heat doesn’t affect the thing that beat the Thunder the most in the NBA Finals. That’s why Thunder fans aren’t too scared about this signing. It’s still more about them. The Thunder have enough talent that they are in control of their destiny in becoming champions and that is comforting to think about.

May 9, 2011; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics forward Jeff Green (8) looks to pass while guarded by Miami Heat guard Mike Miller (13) during the third quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

Former Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jeff Green is close to signing a 4-year, $40 million deal with the Boston Celtics, according to Sam Amick of SI.com.

Green was traded from the Thunder in the 2010-11 season to Boston for Kendrick Perkins. Green missed the entire 2011-12 season with heart surgery.

Despite that and not having a very good run with the Celtics in the short time he was with the team (9.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in 26 games), Boston is looking to offer him $10 million per year.

Green was a very good player in Oklahoma City. Drafted the same season as Kevin Durant he was very much a big part of the team’s future before being traded. In his second and third seasons in the league, Green averaged around 16 points and six rebounds per game for OKC.

In fact, Green was very much missed by the Thunder this season. He was traded for Perkins in 2011 so that the Thunder had more size to combat the Los Angeles Lakers’ bigs, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

In the 2012 playoffs, Green would have been perfect for the series against San Antonio and Miami. The Thunder played a lot of small lineups in both of those series and Perkins was left pretty much ineffective.

Green would have brought the Thunder more versatility and could have possibly swung the title in the Thunder’s way.

One thing is for sure though, with the Thunder so concerned about saving cap to keep James Harden and Serge Ibaka in the coming years, keeping Green on the roster would only have made that tougher. At $10 million per year, there’s no way the Thunder could have kept Green for much longer.

That’s part of what the Thunder model is too. It’s about drafting well, developing talent and then also making moves via trades or free agency that make sense. That’s part of why Green was traded. Thunder management knew what they had in Harden and Ibaka and it would have become impossible to keep Green too.

That’s also why when rumors surfaced about Harden possibly being traded to the Charlotte Bobcats before the NBA Draft so that OKC could get Bradley Beal, it wasn’t that shocking. That would have been a move consistent with what the Thunder are doing in building their team. Selling high on Harden, committing to Durant-Westbrook-Ibaka and taking a chance on a rookie that GM Sam Presti liked wouldn’t have been a terrible move.

But we are where we are now. The Thunder are trying to find a way to keep Harden and Ibaka and the chances of doing so don’t look all that great, especially when you look around at the kind of contracts being handed out this summer.

Eric Gordon basically guaranteed Harden would receive a max-deal next summer. Players like Omer Asik and JaVale McGee will show why Ibaka could also be in the market for $10-plus million per season.

The most likely scenario is still for the Thunder to extend Harden this summer but Ibaka may be another story. And as much as the Thunder missed Green this year, imagine if they were trying to hang on to him as well now.

Jones attended Baylor for two seasons and averaged around 14 points and 7 rebounds per game. Jones is one of the best athletes in this draft but there is some concern with his knees.

This is without question the best possible scenario for the Thunder. Jones is certainly a risk because of injury but is also a huge reward if he pans out at all.

Jones is a perfect fit for the Thunder too as a stretch four who can rebound and defend. He’s basically a guy the Thunder could have really used in the NBA Finals against Miami.

It was amazing that Jones was on the board this late in the draft and when Miami was on the clock, it looked like they might take him. The defending champs decided to trade their pick to Philadelphia (who was projected to take Jones 15th overall in some mocks) who drafted Arnett Moultrie.

The Thunder have made great draft picks in the past but most of those came in the lottery. Making great picks later in the draft is what makes you become a dynasty.

Drafting Jones may be that first late great pick for the Thunder that propels them to another level on their way to becoming a dynasty.

The general consensus around the NBA is that Ray Allen will sign with Miami. “Barring a change, he’ll join the Heat,” said a league source.

— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) June 27, 2012

Allen, whose about to turn 37, would take less money to sign in Miami. The Heat would likely offer Allen the $3.09 million taxpayer mid-level exception for next year which would put the Heat further into the luxury tax.

Allen averaged the least amount of points in a season this year since his rookie season at 14.2 per game. Allen did shoot a career-high .453 percent from three this season despite missing 20 games in the regular season due to injury.

Allen struggled in the playoffs though averaging 10.7 points per game and shooting just .304 percent from three.

Allen was coming off the bench for Boston in the playoffs and would likely do the same in Miami. Allen underwent right ankle surgery on June 13 to have bone spurs removed.

The Boston Celtics and Danny Ainge are still optimistic that Allen may stay.

“Yeah, I think Ray’s open to coming back,” Ainge told ESPN Boston. “But, listen, I don’t know. I won’t even get into details with talking to players other than the exit interviews and Ray was getting rehab here, and we’ve talked. So I have a feel of where his head is, but I’ll know more in July.”

Allen is one of a few big names rumored to possibly be targeted by Miami this offseason. Steve Nash and Jason Terry are two others.

Nash has said that money is still a factor with who he signs with this offseason. Miami would only be able to offer him around $3 million while Nash may be able to get closer to $10 million other places.

Nash also said that signing somewhere to take less money is great to try and win a championship but that it’s not that easy to win a title and only takes one injury to hold you back.

Allen would probably be the best fit for Miami of any of these possible free agents. You can imagine a closing lineup of LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Battier and Allen being pretty tough to deal with.

In the NBA Finals we all witnessed just how many opportunities 3-point shooters can have playing with LeBron. The Heat even tied an NBA Finals record with 14 made threes in their clinching Game 5 win versus the Thunder.

Mike Miller led the way in that game with seven made threes but there is a chance he will retire because of an ailing back this offseason, making the push to go after Allen even more important for Miami.

A potential signing of Allen in Miami would be a perfect fit for the Heat and a great move but it wouldn’t swing the balance of power too drastically in their favor.

Just look at how effective Miami’s shooters were in the Finals this year. Allen is a great shooter and would help them replicate that kind of performance in a series but what Miami did in the Finals was the best case scenario for them. They wouldn’t be guaranteed to match that again even with Allen.

Miami prides themselves on defense too. Allen has certainly taken a step back in that department in the last few years. Shane Battier and Mario Chalmers’ contributions on defense were just as valuable as what they did as spot-up shooters.

It will definitely be a huge signing for the Heat either way if they get Allen. It’s the kind of move that you would expect from Miami if they are going to repeat as champions.

Durant, Rose and Griffin are three of the league’s hottest young stars which is clearly something 2K Sports is trying to sell with this year’s game.

The past two years, the NBA 2K series has focused on legends including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. That was especially convenient for last year’s game which was released while the NBA lockout was going on. Reminiscing with the legends was a perfect cure for NBA lockout withdrawals.

Focusing back on the present and the future of the league was the right step for NBA 2K13. Durant, Rose and Griffin certainly represent that to the fullest.

This is actually the second time Durant has been on the cover of an NBA video game with the first time coming for NBA Elite 11, a game that was planned to release in 2010 but delayed and later canceled by EA Sports basically because they knew NBA 2K11 would blow it out of the water.

Many people thought LeBron should have been considered for the cover but the decision was obviously made awhile ago as to who would be selected. LeBron’s recent ascension as an NBA champion was unable to influence who NBA 2K13 chose for their cover.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been getting better every year. They’ve been doing so at an alarming rate, always seeming to take the next step sooner than one would expect.

The Thunder have lost to the eventual NBA champion in the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, most recently in the NBA Finals to the Miami Heat.

The Thunder represent potential and the future look of a dynasty more than any team in the league including the Heat.

How should we look at this season though? Was it a success? Or did the Thunder fail by not winning in the Finals?

It’s harder than you think to really say what this season was. People have been picking the Thunder to make it to the Finals ever since last season. Despite being so young they have adequate talent to compete for a championship.

You could even argue that the Thunder were the more talented team than Miami this year and especially in the playoffs. How can that not be considered a failure then to lose in the Finals to a team you have more talent than?

The key is to look at how they lost. The Thunder did look great in the first three rounds of the playoffs and did look better than Miami heading into the Finals but things change in the Finals. They certainly changed for the Heat who got Chris Bosh back and made all the right moves to beat the Thunder.

The Thunder finally looked young again against the Heat. They won Game 1 but they were affected by the big stage some.

James Harden was a no-show in the series after being, at times, the best player on the floor for the Thunder during their playoff run.

That’s the kind of thing that can happen in the Finals, the kind of thing that stops happening once you’ve been in the league a little longer and accumulated enough experience.

The Thunder started playing worse in the Finals and when it was time for them to adjust and shake things up more than ever, Scott Brooks chose not to. Brooks stuck with what got the Thunder there all year long which may be a good message in the long run despite being the wrong decision in the series.

The knock on the Thunder in the past was always that it might not work well enough, the dynamic between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. A point guard shouldn’t score that much and Durant needed more touches.

Durant and Westbrook proved this season that they are capable of winning a championship together and that it’s just a matter of time until they do so. The dynamic works and when it is, they are impossible to stop.

Durant had the toughest possible task in these Finals: matching up with LeBron James. He stood toe-to-toe with the MVP of the league and one of the greats of all-time who is right smack in the middle of his prime right now.

LeBron was playing at an all-time level in the playoffs putting up stupid numbers. He and Durant were considered the two best players in the league as the series started. People who know hoops know LeBron is clearly better all-around but that it doesn’t always matter. Some thought Durant had a chance to change the conversation and prove he was top dog.

As it played out, LeBron showed why he is the better player right now. But the important thing to note is that when these two play each other, LeBron isn’t always the best player every night. In Game 1, Durant was a better player than LeBron. It’s been awhile since we’ve been able to say that about someone.

In Game 4, when Westbrook scored 43 points and the Thunder still lost, he was the best player on the floor. LeBron may have played the perfect game at that time to counter Westbrook’s prowess but it was again, another example of the Thunder giving us a glimpse into the future with their potential.

History will say that the Heat beat the Thunder in five games and beat them four straight times. That’s true but it wasn’t your average 5-game series. The Thunder had an extremely good chance to win each of the first four and simply weren’t as fortunate as they needed to be, and could have been.

That’s why this season is a success for OKC. They took the next step even if it was losing in the NBA Finals and hurt so bad. We all know they will be back and they will be better for it.

A title this year would have been nice but this wasn’t a great OKC team yet. It was a very good one but they haven’t hit that championship level yet we’re waiting on.

Next year might be that year for the Thunder. Back to the regular 82-game schedule expect the Thunder to tear through the regular season with a hunger we haven’t seen in this league in a long time.

Dynasties always begin with a huge regular season and dominance in the playoffs. If the Thunder win 65 games next year, we’ll know what’s coming in the playoffs.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

It’s been a few days now since the Oklahoma City Thunder lost Game 5 of the NBA Finals and lost the series to LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

The last few days have been about mourning, feeling sorry for this team, feeling excited about its future and feeling proud of what they accomplished.

Now we can look back at the series.

The Heat won in five games but it was a lot closer than that. Through the first four games the teams were separated by a total of five points in Miami’s favor. If five or six plays had gone OKC’s way instead of Miami’s, we could be talking about how they won the title this year instead of having to wait until next year.

LeBron James was the MVP of the Finals and deservedly so. He played at an all-time level in the playoffs and that carried straight over into the Finals. His 29-10-7 averages in the five games were one of the best ever.

LeBron adjusted to the series too with what his team needed from him, scoring more in the first few games then playing the role of distributor from the low post in the last two games. It was everything the Heat could have wanted from their MVP.

But the Thunder still could have won the series even with LeBron playing at that level. He was certainly the best player for Miami but take away a few of the X-factors in the series and the Thunder beat the Heat.

Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

The lineups

The lineups situation is probably the biggest regret for Thunder fans. Miami comes out in the series not starting Chris Bosh and going with a small lineup consisting of Shane Battier and LeBron at the forward slots.

It was unknown at first if this would benefit Miami more than hurt them but we quickly found out what would happen. The Heat started off Game 1 hitting a ton of threes led by Battier who was wide open too many times.

The Thunder did not take advantage of their size advantage and that gave Miami a crucial edge.

In a series when someone does something that works, you adjust to it. The Thunder should have done this after at least Game 2. They got out to very slow starts in each of the first three games of the series and their starting lineup was clearly not working.

The Thunder had essentially started the same five guys for a year and a half and Scott Brooks did not want to change what got the Thunder to this point. But he probably should have.

Kendrick Perkins did just about nothing in this series and after the series ended, we found out he was playing with a partially torn groin as well.

Not only should Perkins have played significantly less in this series but there was even an excuse to make that decision. If we saw the last three games with Nick Collison on the floor instead of Perkins for OKC, they might win the series.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

James Harden

The Beard was not feared in this series because it was basically nonexistent. James Harden averaged 12.4 points in the series, shot .375 percent from the field and .318 from three.

This was nowhere close to the Harden that was sometimes the most important player in the Thunder’s run to the Finals.

Miami was definitely going to be the best defense OKC had played so far in the playoffs and the slow start to the series was understandable for the 22-year old Harden but never finding his groove was unacceptable.

Harden was forced to defend LeBron way too much in the final three games of this series and this may have aided in Harden’s inability to get going on offense.

This Thunder team needed him though not only to score more but become their best playmaker which he was all season. The Thunder averaged just over 15 assists per game in the Finals which was much worse than their season average which was last in the NBA.

The Thunder desperately needed someone who could create offense for others and with Russell Westbrook not exactly being that guy – especially against a Heat defense that does such a good job taking away your number one options – Harden needed to step up.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Erik Spoelstra

Erik Spoelstra was taking a ton of Heat before this series started and even dating back to last season. He just seemed to be potentially holding this Heat team back or not being dominant enough of a personality to reign in LeBron and Wade.

Spoelstra was significantly outcoached last year in the NBA Finals by Rick Carlisle but that sure wasn’t the case this year.

Beginning with his decision to go small and use LeBron as a point power forward, it felt like Spoelstra made all the right moves while Brooks was kind of stick in neutral.

The Heat roster was not as talented as Oklahoma City’s this year but they were put in the better positions to succeed in these Finals.

Normally, Spoelstra’s lack of a consistent rotation was criticized but whenever he shook things up in this series, the new sub would come in on fire from three whether it was Norris Cole or Mike Miller.

This is what coaching in the NBA is though. You go with your gut on some decisions and when they work (guys make shots) you look like a genius. When they don’t (guys miss shots) you’re an idiot.

Spoelstra had the edge in this series over Brooks and maybe it was just a perfect matchup for Miami. They had the experience, they had LeBron capable of playing the four and not sacrificing anything, and they were more fortunate.

We will remember in this series a few things about the coaches. We’ll remember the moves Spoelstra made all seemingly working and we’ll remember Brooks not pulling the trigger on a couple of things that he probably should have.

So the Heat won and LeBron was the Finals MVP. But they didn’t win just because of him. A million things happened in these five games and if just three or four of them went the Thunder’s way instead of Miami’s, they win the championship.

Alright, that’s enough thinking about what could have been because what will become with this Thunder team can only make you smile.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

James Harden is eligible for a contract extension this summer with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harden fully expects to get one during the summer.

“They’ll do a pretty good job of working it out,” Harden said. “I’m focused on several other things right now. But when the time is (right), they’ll figure it out and it’ll be done.”

Harden loves it in OKC and calls the team a “family” and his teammates “brothers.” That is what this team is but Harden would likely be taking a little less money to stay in OKC.

Harden won the Sixth Man of the Year award this season and had a breakout season averaging 16.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assist per game. Harden was integral in the Thunder’s playoff run until he starting slumping in the NBA Finals.

But Harden’s poor play in the Finals represented just how important he is to this team. If he even played a little bit better, the Thunder may very well have won the NBA title this season.

The Thunder organization has created something special and Harden knows that as well as anyone.

His personality by all accounts also lends to the fact that he’s be willing to sacrifice some cash to be a part of something special. Harden already understands the idea of sacrifice as he has come off the bench for the past two seasons despite being talented enough to start.

When the Thunder made all of their great draft picks beginning with Kevin Durant in 2007, it wasn’t all based on talent. They found high character guys that would fit together and improve over time.

Sam Presti and the entire Thunder organization have continued to sell that to their players, coaching staff and fans. It will work.

That’s why even though Harden’s future technically is unclear with the Thunder as well as head coach Scott Brooks’, they aren’t going anywhere.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have the second-best odds to win at 5-1. The Miami Heat are favored to repeat as champions with odds at 5-2. The Chicago Bulls are third at 13-2 and the Los Angeles Lakers are 10-1.

The Thunder and the Heat will still be challenged and expected to get better if they are going to make another run at an NBA title.

The Thunder may have the easiest chance at getting better for next year. Not only should backup point Eric Maynor be healthy but they are so young in general you expect all four of their best players to keep improving.

It may be trickier for the Heat as they simply need to continue to surround LeBron James with the right pieces and not a lot of money to use.

It’s obviously early but it really does feel like the 2013 Finals will be Thunder-Heat again. The Thunder’s biggest competition in the West was all older teams on the way out while Miami’s biggest threat is Chicago and it still remains to be seen if they can compete with them.

Oh yeah, and the Charlotte Bobcats are 200-1 odds to win it all.

Spruce Derden-US PRESSWIRE

When you lose in the NBA Finals, you can’t help but look back at what could have been. What couple of plays or lineup changes could have turned the tide in the series?

The Oklahoma City Thunder lost in five games to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals ending last Thursday night. The Thunder may have only won one game in the series but the first four were all very close and ultimately decided by less than 10 plays.

The Thunder did not play their best basketball in this series. They reverted back to a more isolation-heavy offense and their best playmaker, James Harden, was anything but that.

The holes in the Thunder roster were evident against the Heat. Their lack of post-up scoring, assists and wings to throw at LeBron were all exploited.

You don’t have to look far to see a way the Thunder could have won the series. You can pick just one thing that could have made it so they swept the Heat.

Eric Maynor would have been that one thing.

People forget that Maynor is even on the Thunder, tearing his ACL after just nine games this season.

“It’s a different feeling just sitting there and not being ready to play,” Maynor said about watching the NBA Finals from the bench. “It’s got to be nerve-racking. I would want to live that out myself.”

Maynor was a weapon for Oklahoma City and would have been just that all season, in the playoffs and in the Finals. He only averaged around four points and three assists per game but did the job of backup point better than just about anyone in the league.

Maynor even finished a playoff game instead of Russell Westbrook last year in the only game OKC beat Dallas in the Western Conference Finals. He was that good and could have been this year.

The Thunder were dead last in the NBA in assists this season, mainly because they didn’t really have a point guard on their team. Westbrook isn’t a true point making Harden about the only guy who can consistently create for others. It was a dimension they were missing this season and they needed as many dimensions as possible to contend with the Heat.

In the Finals, the Thunder averaged 15.8 assists per game. They averaged 18.7 assists per game in the first three rounds of the playoffs and 18.5 in the regular season.

Once the Thunder realized they were playing against the best defense they had seen so far in the playoffs and Harden was out of his element, turning to Maynor would have worked.

The Thunder will get that chance next season with a healthy Maynor, who is up for a contract extension this summer along with Harden and Serge Ibaka.

“If we really want to continue,” Maynor said. “It feels like we got something special here. I feel like if guys sacrifice to get something done then everybody will be here still. I want to be here. It’s very important to me. Whatever we got to do to get it done, we need to make it happen. I enjoy being here, and I want to be here longer.”

The optimist will still say it wasn’t the Thunder’s time yet this year and that Maynor’s season-ending injury helped lend to Harden’s growth as a monster sixth man.

There will be plenty of regrets for this Thunder team with regards to the 2012 NBA Finals. Playing against the best defense in the NBA without a point guard will be one of them.

“I think we’re going to be held to a lot of expectations,” Maynor said. “Everybody is going to expect us to be back in the Finals. But it don’t come easy.”

Kevin Durant and the Thunder players know that their time will eventually come as long as they continue to work hard. But the taste of losing in the Finals isn’t one they liked either.

Below are some quotes from the players and head coach Scott Brooks. All of the quotes are courtesy of Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman and Daily Thunder editor Royce Young.

Kevin Durant

On losing in the Finals: “That was a great lesson for us. Sometimes you learn a lot from failures. That’s going to fuel us. Experience really is the best teacher and really does matter at that time. It was a great lesson for us.”

On Thunder-Heat becoming a rivalry: “I hope so. I would enjoy that. That would be fun to make that Heat-Thunder rivalry. I enjoy competing against LeBron James. I enjoy trying to kill him every time down.”

On if he and LeBron could have a Bird-Magic type rivalry: “Well I hope so. I would enjoy that.”

“We don’t have to make any major changes. We don’t have to get a whole new team in here. We just have to stick to what we’ve been doing. We wanted this one. We never accepted us being too young or us waiting our turn.”

On the Olympics: “I might pick up a ball & go hoop tomorrow…My hobby is playing basketball. The Olympics is something I’ve been dreaming about since I was a kid. I just can’t wait until it starts up.”

On Westbrook: “Russell was great this year at helping everybody out, being more vocal, controlling his emotions a little bit more and just leaving it all out there for the team. You see one of your main guys doing that you don’t have nothing to do but follow it.”

On the 4,000 fans greeting the team at the airport: “It was just amazing to see how many people supported us, especially after a loss. In most cities, that would never happen. That makes us want to get back there and try to win it for them even more.”

Scott Brooks

On Perkins: “I give him a lot of credit. Most players might have shut it down and called it a season, but he fought. We wouldn’t put our players in a position that would endanger their career, but he was able to play through a lot of pain.”

On his contract talks: “I’m sure in the next couple of days we will sit down and get together.”

On his late-game speech: “At that point, the game was over. Not that I conceded and said we can’t come back from a 25-point deficit. But there’s messages that you can send throughout the game, throughout the season. I thought that was a important message to send.”

On LeBron: “It wasn’t natural what he was doing on the court. You don’t see that often. He was at a special level that I’ve never seen before.”

James Harden

When asked if money or team success was more important: “This is something special here. A dynasty is being built here. We’re winning, we’re having fun and we’re brothers. The other stuff, you can’t buy it.”

On his contract: “I love it here. I’m just leaving it up to my agent and Sam (Presti). They’ll do a pretty good job of working it out. I’m focused on several other things right now. But when the time is (right), they’ll figure it out and it’ll be done.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder showed nothing but class as they exited the NBA Finals Thursday night, losing Game 5 in Miami 121-106.

It was an embarrassing defeat for a team that worked so hard all season and just didn’t have it when it mattered most.

Head coach Scott Brooks with time still on the clock gave his team one last speech that summed up what this team and franchise is all about.

You can argue that Brooks should have saved the speech until later, when the game was actually over and not shown the white flag to his players before time had run out even though OKC was not coming back.

But what he said cannot be questioned. It was perfect. He told his players to treat the Heat like champions when the game ended. A real class act.

There has been some news surrounding Brooks and the situation with his contract which is up at the end of June. He and the Thunder still have not reached an agreement on a possible extension.

After seeing this and really even without seeing this speech, it is so clear that Brooks is everything this franchise is about and needs to stay. He may have been outcoached in these Finals but he is so important to what the Thunder organization is trying to build.

It’s hard to separate emotion from sports, and even harder with a player as polarizing as LeBron James, but try to for a paragraph or two. Remember back to when he was in high school, remember back when Clevland won the LeBron lottery and the home town kid was sent to be a savior for the Cavs.  LeBron was  never meant to be hated. After carrying the weight of a entire city on his back to the finals in 2007, we all knew his ascent to basketball glory was going to happen. Then things started to fall apart. Maybe the Cavs weren’t good enough, maybe he didn’t want it enough, maybe his personality got in the way. No one will really know, but at one point in time everyone KNEW LeBron was going to be one of the best ever.

To me LeBron’s personality is exactly like Westbrook’s game. Both are exceptional and have unique qualities that make them great, and some make you just want to run head first into a wall. With Westbrook it’s often a pull up jumper or frustration foul. With LeBron? It’s the decision. It’s the statements he made about Cleveland. It’s caring more about his brand than loyalty. Everyone has their faults and some are more visible than other. Even with what Westbrook takes off the court with questionable decision making he brings back so much more. No different than LeBron. Some people chose to dwell on these negatives with both athletes, instead of living in awe of their greatness.  All of a sudden LeBron wins a title and it seems all is forgiven. Maybe that is all people really wanted from him? Now it feels like that greatness that we knew was going to happen happened overnight. We knew it was going to happen, just didn’t think it would take this long.

This same theme can be seen in every fiber of the Thunder’s season. No team is supposed to get this good this fast only working through the draft. The Thunder were meant to be a project, not a contender. Just three short years ago no one thought Westbrook could ever become a good point guard. No one thought Harden deserved to be the number three overall pick. No one thought Durant would be able to play physical and play defense against bigger players. No one thought a young coach in Scott Brooks could ever coach on the biggest stages.

After a remarkable season, people forgot everything we knew about the Thunder. After sweeping the defending champs and dismissing the Lakers in five games everyone forgot the doubts about the Thunder personal.

Once again the Thunder faced a mountain no one thought they could climb, the Spurs. No one thought the Thunder would be able to play the style of offense needs to beat the stellar Spurs defense.  People said the Thunder role players would crumble under pressure.  Then the exact opposite happened. It was the Thunder’s role players stepping up. It was the Thunder flying around on defense forcing the very technical Spurs offense into countless mistakes and fast break opportunities. After the Thunder won four games in a row, everyone forgot what we knew about the Thunder being too young, being too inexperienced.

Going into the finals, majority of people were picking the Thunder. Everyone thought both teams were the exception to the rule. Everyone thought the Thunder didn’t need to go through the growing pains that every championship team goes through. Everyone forgot that LeBron was built for championship basketball and could only remember last year’s blunders. Game one only magnified these thoughts. It seemed as if the torch had been passed by LeBron to Durant without ever being lit.

Then everything that was supposed to happen all happened at once. Suddenly the Thunder role players that had played so well started to freeze up. Scott Brooks was out coached by Spolstra after just out coaching arguably the best coach in the NBA in Gregg Popavich. Thunder’s offense regressed back into the ISO offense everyone thought was a thing of the past. Everything that people thought would happen, only a round later than it was supposed to.

At the same time, everything happened for LeBron. For years everyone said if LeBron stopped taking jumpers he would be unstoppable, then he did. LeBron was able to do everything in the series from scoring to passing to rebounding to defense. This was the total dominance that everyone knew LeBron was capable of. Then people started to remember how they used to view LeBron from five years ago, and how Durant was too skinny to play in the NBA. The heat role players that were brought in to make big shots starting hitting shots at a rate everyone forgot they could.  Before we could even catch our breath it was over.

This series seemed to surprise everyone, but if you woke up from a five year coma and this was the only thing you watched on TV you wouldn’t be surprised one bit. A bunch of young kids playing against the best player of his generation came up short and played scared? What is surprising about that? Everything that happened in this series was meant to happen. Thunder are meant to be a finals team, just not near this soon. LeBron was meant to win MVP’s and championships, just not this late in his career. In a few years we will all look back and remember how everything we thought we happen in the NBA happened, just not when we expected it to.

The Thunder returned home today from Miami after losing the NBA Finals last night and were greeted by more than 4,000 fans at the airport.

4,000.

via Instagram

This Thunder team was special and their fans knew it better than anyone. Oh, how they were dying to get to see them play one last time in Chesapeake Arena but that wasn’t in the cards this year.

It was a frustrating and tough loss to go out the way they did but they showed incredible grace in defeat.

Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden stood together through the final moments of Game 5 cheering on their teammates despite being down by 20. They stood watching the Heat players celebrate hoping to one day feel the same way.

Then it was an incredible scene as they left the floor with the entire Thunder organization waiting for them in the tunnel, embracing each player as they came through.

It culminated as it should have with Durant and his mom. They hugged and cried together and Thunder fans everywhere did so too.

The knowledge that it wasn’t their time was in the back of all our heads but it still hurt coming this close and losing.

They will be back. Next season promises to be the best yet for the Thunder as they have improved and taken the next steps every year it seems.

Losing in the Finals this year is part of their path to becoming a champion. A truth that’s hard to take but necessary nonetheless.

4,000.

Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

Kendrick Perkins has been a valuable asset for the Thunder all season. He gave them toughness, set great screens, got under the opponents’ skin.

In the NBA Finals, Perkins was not a factor. Actually, he was a factor only in the negative sense for Oklahoma City.

The Miami Heat and their small ball lineup was not the ideal matchup for Perkins. He clogged up the spacing on offense as the Thunder basically played four on five and on defense he also struggled keeping up with Miami’s pick-and-roll.

All series Thunder fans were calling for more Nick Collison or more small lineup without Perkins. Scott Brooks stuck with him and it might have cost the Thunder the championship.

Now we are learning that Perkins, who injured his groin in Game 4 of the first round against Dallas, was playing the final three rounds of the playoffs with a partially torn groin, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

What could be more frustrating for Thunder fans? As if it wasn’t enough that Perkins was actually playing and hurting the Thunder while doing so. He was also hurt (and thinking back on the series it kind of showed) and the excuse to play him less and possibly take him out of the starting lineup would have been something totally rational.

You can’t blame Perkins for this. Of course he wanted to play and he’s not one to let on about an injury. He played hard and had his moments. The series just wasn’t for him.

He played 23.4 minutes per game in the Finals, scored 4.8 points per game and grabbed 6.8 rebounds per game.

Nick Collison played 15.8 minutes per game, scored 3.6 points per game and averaged 4.2 rebounds per game.

Playing Collison instead of Perkins could have easily shifted the momentum in OKC’s favor enough for them to pull out the series.

The Thunder traded for Perkins last year to help them get by the Los Angeles Lakers. I guess he helped with that some but there’s no question he did more harm than good in the final two rounds of the playoffs for the Thunder.

He has been a great guy to have on the team. He has value on a basketball court. But right now for this Thunder team, tying his name to the word “amnesty” doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

Head coach Scott Brooks and the Thunder were close but just didn’t have quite enough to get over the hump and beat the Heat.

Now that the season is over, some of the focus will shift to Brooks and his current contract situation. Right now, his contract will be up at the end of June. Brooks and the Thunder have been working on a deal but they have yet to come to an agreement yet.

The Thunder’s deep run into the playoffs has delayed our knowing of the outcome of this situation. We know that Brooks earlier had said no to a contract extension.

ESPN’s Marc Stein is reporting that Brooks would like four years guaranteed while the Thunder would prefer just two or three.

Brooks has been as much a part of this team’s growth as anyone. The players love him and he has been instrumental in the team’s progress over the years.

The Thunder organization certainly would prefer not to part ways with Brooks but the NBA is a business and as shocking as it may seem now, it could be a possibility.

Adding to the situation is the fact that Brooks was outcoached in the NBA Finals. There has been criticism of Brooks and his coaching in the past, mostly concerning the stagnant offensive sets OKC runs but that kind of went away this year.

Brooks’ woes resurfaced some in the NBA Finals. Many will give him a pass which is fair too but it is hard not to think that what seemed like an obvious lineup change could have put the Thunder in position to win the title this year.

After coming so close this season, there aren’t a whole lot of people that are thinking about changing this Thunder core, including their head coach.

There have been a few names rumored as potential targets for the Thunder if they are unable to reach an agreement with Brooks. Phil Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy are among the names but they are nothing more than rumors at this point.

In the upcoming week or so, we will continue to learn more about what is going with Brooks’ contract. Odds are, he will be with the Thunder next year but it wouldn’t be totally surprising if he’s not.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

So LeBron James has now won a championship. Now what?

It feels like for the past five years or so, so much of the energy we put into watching the NBA was all whether or not LeBron was going to win a title.

LeBron received more heat for not winning until this season than he probably deserved. He was criticized for The Decision and then mocked at after choking in the 2011 NBA Finals.

The haters are supposed to go away now that he has won. The stupid LeBron criticism is over. Now it’s time to take a step back and look at what this really means for his legacy.

Well, it doesn’t mean anything yet. Winning one title was never LeBron’s destiny. He doesn’t now deserve a crown. This was simply inevitable and it happened right around the time it should have, maybe a year too late.

He played his ninth season this year and is 27 years old. Michael Jordan got his first ring in his seventh season and was 28 years old. So it’s not like he took that long to win a title.

When he came to Miami to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, it was to start a dynasty. They talked about it in their introduction party. They don’t want to win just one.

Two years in, they’ve been to two NBA Finals already. The fact that they have accomplished that so soon isn’t a surprise though or a testament to how great they are.

They should have done what they have so far. The balance of star power in the NBA right now is perfect for LeBron to start winning titles.

Who is his greatest competition? It’s 23-year old Kevin Durant and despite the Thunder already making it to the Finals, no one really expects them to start winning titles just yet.

Other than Durant, Kobe is on the way out, Dwight Howard is a mess and Derrick Rose is in the same boat as Durant.

This is how the NBA works. For the most part, you have to wait until it’s your time. So rarely does a team as young as the Thunder win a title when someone like LeBron is in the league, in his prime.

If the Heat just win this one title, in a lockout season, in a season where Derrick Rose tore his ACL, they and LeBron would be considered a failure and rightfully so.

How much do they need to win to not be considered a failure? Two might be enough, three probably should and four would truly silence any possible critics. Four out of seven seems about right.

The window is smaller than people may think for the Heat to become a dynasty. If anything, after watching their first two seasons and the way the team has looked, it doesn’t feel like they will be a dynasty capable of winning four titles.

Rose and the Bulls are right on their heels in the East, although it remains to be seen if they could beat the Heat in a series. Durant and the Thunder have frightening amounts or potential.

LeBron may only be 27 now but Wade is already 30 and considering the way he plays and how injury prone he looks, the window for him playing at this level isn’t much longer.

The Heat have some time though to figure some things out. They will need to improve next year to potentially repeat and protect their title. No one repeats without getting better. The second straight title is always the toughest.

Improving means getting some better pieces to surround LeBron. It worked well this year considering the matchups Miami had but this core is far from complete. They know it though and if they are fortunate (and every champion is) they will find the pieces.

So for now, LeBron’s legacy is closest to Moses Malone, a top 15 player ever most likely. If he gets only one more, he’ll be compared to Wilt. A third and he will be right next to Kobe and Duncan.

If LeBron gets four, he will approach Magic and Bird. And he’s not touching Kareem, Russell, MJ.

Remember, Magic and Bird needed each other to reach their greatness. If we’re lucky, the same will be said one day about LeBron and Durant.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

LeBron James has now won his first NBA championship. The Miami Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-106 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to win the series.

LeBron had a triple-double scoring 26 points to go with 13 assists and 11 rebounds and was without question named the Finals MVP. He helped orchestrate Miami’s barrage of threes as they set an NBA Finals record with 14 made 3-pointers.

LeBron joins Larry Bird in 1986 and James Worthy in 1988 as players who closed out an NBA Finals series with a triple-double. LeBron averaged 28.6 points, 7.4 assists and 10.2 rebounds per game in the series.

LeBron has finally accomplished the inevitable winning a title. A player of his stature was bound to get a ring eventually and it seemed like it took awhile, not coming until his ninth season, but he is still just 27 years old which is a year younger than Michael Jordan was when he won his first title in 1991.

Mike Miller, who didn’t make a 3-pointer in the series before Game 5, led Miami with seven threes and scored 23 points in 23 minutes.

The game had a feel from the start that Miami would win. Every 50-50 ball, every bounce just seemed to go in the Heat’s favor while OKC frantically searched for some kind of answer.

Kevin Durant scored 32 and had 11 rebounds for the Thunder but the night simply did not belong to OKC. It just isn’t their time yet.

Russell Westbrook coming off his epic 43-point performance in Game 4 was not the same assassin in Game 5. He attacked relentlessly shooting 13 free throws but was just 4-for-20 from the field and scored 19 points.

A key stretch came in the second quarter with the Thunder down by seven, Kendrick Perkins checked into the game and OKC quickly fell behind by 17.

Perkins was simply not made for this series as the Heat played small ball and destroyed any impact Perkins could have made. He wasn’t quick enough to defend Miami’s pick-and-rolls and only clogged up the Thunder’s offense on the other end.

James Harden, who came into this game averaging just 10.8 points per game in the series, once again did not have his best stuff. He finished with 19 points but some of those came in garbage time.

Harden’s job all season was bringing the Thunder back from their slow starts and that was a key ingredient that went missing in this series.

The Thunder are so young and you can easily point to inexperience as to why they did not beat the Heat in this series. But they were still talented enough to do so and that’s why it is so frustrating for Thunder fans.

The Thunder will be back though. This series was another learning lesson for them. They never really lose, they just learn how to win.

Coming into the NBA Finals, the Thunder were favored to win a rightfully so. They had home court and were playing the better basketball in the playoffs.

But things change in the NBA Finals. They always do. Some players rise to the occasion and some wilt.

Things changed for both the Thunder and the Heat in this series. Here’s a look at some of those changes:

Isolation plays

The Thunder were the best isolation team in the NBA this season and they carried that over into the playoffs. OKC’s isolation-heavy offense was always one of the knocks against them but it didn’t matter until now.

The Heat are the best defense the Thunder have faced so far in the playoffs and it is most evident in the isolation numbers. The Thunder are being forced into more isolation plays in this series and they have become less efficient.

The same can be said for Miami’s offense although their drop in efficiency isn’t as drastic.

Kevin Durant and James Harden have significantly become less efficient in isolation plays in this series.

Durant has been isolating more often which really isn’t a good idea and it has played right into Miami’s hands. Harden’s isolations are usually not planned and come after switches but he has been unable to take advantage of that in this series.

Dwyane Wade is the only player to have improved in this department in the Finals. Wade has come through with some big shots in the past few games in the fourth quarter on iso plays.

The pick-and-roll

The Thunder relied on their pick-and-roll game more than anything else and anyone else before this series. Miami’s defense has limited these opportunities in the Finals.

The Thunder are getting much fewer scoring opportunities in the pick-and-roll in this series and reverting to more isolation. This has happened because Miami has focused on taking the ball out of the pick-and-roll ball handler’s hands and forcing the Thunder to their second and third options.

The Thunder are actually more efficient scoring in the pick-and-roll in this series. If we see OKC come out and get looks within the pick-and-roll, it will really improve their chances at extending this series.

Miami has been largely the same with their pick-and-roll game. Oklahoma City isn’t the best in the league at defending it and it has really cost them in this series.

We see that Durant and Westbrook have been great when they get looks in the pick-and-roll, mainly Durant. The Thunder need to go to their Durant-Westbrook pick-and-roll more in Game 5 instead of simply isolating Durant so much.

Harden has really struggled in this department. He isn’t creating as many assists in the pick-and-roll or scoring. This was a huge weapon for the Thunder all season and suddenly not having it in this series has made it extremely difficult for them to win.

Once again, we see Wade has improved in this series in the pick-and-roll game. Wade hasn’t been extremely effective in this series but taking a closer look it is clear that he is coming through in some important situations for Miami.

In the post

Both teams have posted up slightly more in this series. The Thunder still rarely do it and haven’t been too effective when they have.

The Heat were scoring in the post before this series but the Thunder have actually contained them pretty well in this series.

The Heat have scored a lot from offensive rebounds and cuts in the paint in this series which isn’t represented in this chart.

There has been a lot of attention surrounding LeBron James’ improved post game in the Finals and in this season in general but as you can see, he’s still not dominant there.

In Game 4, the Thunder went to double LeBron a lot while he was in the post and he made them pay by finding open shooters for threes. The Thunder really don’t need to do that as much however much they feel the need to.

One thing that changed as this series went on is Durant guarding LeBron less. Scott Brooks took Durant off LeBron at the start of Game 4 to avoid foul trouble and LeBron responded by taking the smaller defenders into the post.

Durant may need to guard LeBron more in Game 5 for the Thunder to extend this series. A lot of the fouls Durant picked up came in transition and on bad decisions to reach. In one-on-one situations in the post, Durant has been fine defending LeBron.

Amazingly, Wade has not scored on a post-up all series.

Spot-up shooting

You guessed it, the Heat have been better than OKC in this department. The Heat really improved in this series at hitting spot-up shots while the Thunder got worse.

This has certainly been one of the X-factors and if the Thunder are to come back, having an advantage here will be crucial.

Shane Battier is literally off the charts this series as a spot-up shooter and it’s no surprise to anyone. He scored 17 points in each of the first two games and helped change this series in Miami’s favor.

Durant has also been fantastic as a spot-up shooter and always is. But Harden’s drop off from “off the charts” to completely ineffective has also hurt the Thunder.

Harden who makes a living from being an efficient player, has been so inefficient in this series in every way. If there’s one thing that needs to change in Game 5, it’s him having a big game for the Thunder.

Conclusion

The Heat are up 3-1 in this series but every game has been very close. The consensus is that the Heat have shown more poise down the stretch and come up big when they have needed to.

The Heat have effectively taken the Thunder out of their comfort zones on offense and exploited their weaknesses on defense.

Give Erik Spoelstra a ton of credit this series. Using Battier in the starting lineup and attacking Durant as a helper on defense has really been big for the Heat.

The Thunder can still win this series though and at least take it back to OKC. If they can find offense earlier in the shot clock and on their first options, they will be in good shape.

But if Game 5 looks like the last few with a little too much isolation for OKC and them not getting the looks they want, we could be talking about LeBron winning his first title tomorrow.

Durant received some other news today that he is being sued by 1980s hair metal guitarist Mark Durante. Durante played with The Aliens, Public Enemy, The Next Big Thing and Slammin Watusis.

Durante is suing Durant over the nickname “Durantula” that Durante says he trademarked in 1993.

According to the suit, filed Wednesday in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois, Durante has repeatedly demanded that the Oklahoma City Thunder three-time NBA All Star stop using the nickname. He’s also suing Nike, which he says has begun using superhero version of Durant named “Durantula” as part of a shoe campaign, and Panini Authentic, which is selling photographs and basketballs with the Durantula inscription.

In letters, Durant’s representatives repeatedly told the 80s rocker that “Kevin does not use the term as a nickname and has no intention of doing so,” according to the suit.

But Durante, of McHenry, says Durant’s merchandise and Twitter account — where a screenshot shows Durant using the name as a hashtag — say otherwise.

via Chicago Tribune

Durant is not a player that is bothered by things that aren’t happening on the basketball court and in the long run, this probably won’t be too big of a deal for him.

Durant is only worried about one thing today and that is getting this series back to Oklahoma City for a Game 6.

Durant has struggled in the past two games of this series in Miami and is due for a big game. The Thunder certainly need it from him tonight.

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The Miami Heat have won the last three games of this series after the Thunder took Game 1. They haven’t blown OKC out in any of those games they’ve just shown more poise down the stretch.

The Thunder finally avoided a slow start in Game 4 and actually jumped out to a pretty nice lead themselves, going up 33-16 in the first quarter.

The Thunder know what they need to fix and it’s just a matter of executing it and staying alive to get back home for Game 6.

Let’s start with…

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant – 30.3 PPG, 2.0 APG, 4.8 RPG, .550 FG%, .370 3PT%, .821 FT%

Kevin Durant was amazing in the first two games of this series, especially in the fourth quarters. But since the series has shifted to Miami, he really hasn’t played that well at all by his standards.

Durant is still scoring 26.5 points per game in Miami and shooting efficiently but the rest of his game is suffering. His rebounding is way down and his defense in general has been suspect.

Playing with a sense of desperation in Game 5 should hopefully cure these things for Durant. It’s really just a matter of being locked in and focused and flying all over the court. Durant has been caught in no man’s land just watching too often on defense.

Perhaps it has to do with how hard he has had to work just to get the ball. Miami is mostly fronting Durant and he isn’t strong enough to make that an easy catch. This has been going on for two games now and it has really hurt the Thunder offense so it will be interesting to see if they can adjust.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

LeBron James – 29.3 PPG, 6.0 APG, 10.0 RPG, .472 FG%, .231 3PT%, .811 FT%

LeBron had one of his best games in Game 4 against the Thunder. He dominated the game from the low block, picking apart the Thunder defense on kick outs.

LeBron’s greatest strength in recent years has been reading the situation and taking what’s given. The Thunder defense did not defend him well in the post and LeBron made them pay with 26 points and 12 assists.

LeBron then capped off the night by hitting a huge three despite battling cramps and the Heat escaped with the win.

Other than that LeBron wasn’t too dominant. His jump shot hasn’t been deadly in this series and even when he shoots in the post it is worse than it feels.

LeBron didn’t play much of a distributor in the first three games of this series but he became that in Game 4 when Miami needed him too. Letting LeBron play that role and get the role players involved is not a good idea for the Thunder.

The Thunder do not need to double him too much in the post and need to be more concerned with taking away the spot-up shooters.

Durant barely guarded LeBron in Game 4 to avoid any potential foul trouble. If Durant was able to match up with him in the post, the Thunder could play him more straight up. If Game 5 is close and Durant isn’t in foul trouble, we’ll see if Scott Brooks puts him on LeBron in the fourth.

Mike Ehrmann/Pool Photo via US PRESSWIRE

Russell Westbrook – 29.0 PPG, 6.8 APG, 7.0 RPG, .480 FG%, .176 3PT%, .810 FT%

Russell Westbrook is coming off the game of his life in Game 4 scoring 43 points on 20-of-32 shooting.

Westbrook was completely unstoppable as his jump shot was falling as well as his shots at the rim when he attacked at will.

The Thunder probably won’t get 43 points from him again in this series but for the first time he didn’t start the game off missing his first three shots which was a great sign.

Westbrook will now not receive any criticism for his play. He showed in Game 4 he has nights where he is better than Durant and while the Thunder didn’t win, they very easily could have.

Westbrook’s confidence has to be at an all-time high even for him now and that should lead to him becoming a playmaker and opening up even more offense for the Thunder which they desperately need.

Larry W. Smith/Pool Photo via US PRESSWIRE

Dwyane Wade – 23.3 PPG, 5.8 APG, 5.5 RPG, .413 FG%, .400 3PT%, .806 FT%

The Thunder have continued to do a good enough job on Dwyane Wade in this series. Wade did not kill the Thunder as a passer in Game 4 like he did in Game 3 but he still made some big shots.

The Thunder have to live with what Wade has been doing. The one area he has been hurting them lately is getting to the free throw line. Wade attempted 20 free throws in the last two games which is a number the Thunder can cut down.

Whenever Wade finds space, he hurts you. Westbrook has done a good job using his athleticism to guard Wade and he should see him some more in Game 5 too.

Wade is simply not the biggest concern for the Thunder right now.

James Harden – 10.8 PPG, 3.3 APG, 5.0 RPG, .351 FG%, .286 3PT%, .722 FT%

James Harden has still yet to play like himself in the Finals and that’s probably the biggest reason why the Thunder find themselves down 3-1.

If Harden is able to get it going just a little, it could be enough for the Thunder to win. His numbers are far below his normal averages all across the board.

We knew Miami would defend him the best of anyone in the playoffs but it is also in Harden’s head now why he’s not producing.

All it will take is a couple of drives to the basket where he gets fouled or finishes strong and that could get the momentum going for him.

If he doesn’t get his act together though, it’s hard to imagine the Thunder coming back in this series.

Larry W. Smith/Pool Photo via US PRESSWIRE

Chris Bosh – 12.3 PPG, 10.0 RPG, .396 FG%, .250 3PT%, .833 FT%

Chris Bosh isn’t hurting the Thunder in the ways you would have expected in this series. He’s not scoring very much or doing a ton on offense to make things difficult for OKC.

Bosh is hurting the Thunder with his effort, energy and ability to get to those 50-50 balls. Who would have known?

Bosh’s ability to affect the series that way speaks more to the Thunder’s not matching Miami’s intensity in these last few games.

If you don’t notice Bosh in Game 5, the Thunder will win. If he’s a factor, this series might be over.

The Bigs

The play of the bigs for OKC was much less of an issue in Game 4 than the previous two. The Thunder avoided a slow start with their starting lineup and even got some nice production from Nick Collison when he checked in the first quarter.

The Thunder still have yet to really abuse Miami with their big men. They only got eight offensive rebounds in Game 4 and it feels like they need to be closer to 15 to really take advantage of this mismatch.

Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka combined for just eight points and 10 rebounds in Game 4. They’ve had games this postseason where they’ve both been terrific and the Thunder may need that kind of performance to extend this series.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Spot-up shooters

Shane Battier is no long the sniper he was in Oklahoma City but in Game 4 it was Chalmers who stepped up scoring 25 points.

Miami made 10 threes in the game thanks a lot to LeBron’s work in the post drawing doubles and kicking.

The Heat got too many open looks in the game for the Thunder to be comfortable with their defense and if they are hitting them again in Game 5, things will be very difficult for the Thunder.

The Thunder went just 3-for-16 from three in Game 4. Derek Fisher didn’t attempt any threes and Thabo Sefolosha went 1-for-3.

The Thunder are going to need someone other than Durant and Westbrook to step up in Game 5 if they are going to take this series back to Oklahoma City. Hitting some more threes would be nice.

Prediction

The Thunder have their backs against the wall as much as possible now. They’ve been here before though down two games in a series and responded by winning the next four games against the best team in basketball.

The Thunder know they just need to get this series back to Oklahoma City and they will have a great chance to win it. Game 5 will be their best effort of the season, it has to be.

If the Thunder play their best, there will be nothing the Heat can do to stop them too. It’s all up to them.

They haven’t lost four games in a row all season and I don’t think they start now. This series is still going seven. If they win Game 5, they’re not losing Game 6 and then in a Game 7, anything can happen.

This team doesn’t get down on themselves and they know they can beat this team. They’ve taken the next step so many times this season and it’s no time to take another step and win Game 5 in Miami.

LeBron James played a little bit better in Game 4 of the 2012 NBA Finals than Game 4 of the 2011 NBA Finals.

The Miami Heat led the series both times 2-1. In 2011, LeBron played one of the worst games of his career in Game 4 and last night he played one of his best, topped off with a dramatic three.

“I was just trying to make a play,” James said. “If I was out on the floor, I wanted to try to make a play with the limited mobility I had at that time, and I was happy I was able to come through.”
Erik Spoelstra would have to take LeBron out for the final minutes saying that he was too much of a liability on defense.

LeBron started cramping after a drive to the basket and was forced to leave the floor with 5:15 to play in the game. The Thunder took advantage going up 94-92 with 4:20 left in the game.

When LeBron checked back in the Heat went on a 7-0 run and closed the game 12-4.

LeBron scored 26 points in the game to go with 12 assists and nine rebounds. His assists accounted for 29 points giving him a total of 55 created points which only five players have done in an NBA Finals game since 1997.

LeBron says he will be fine for Game 5 which will be Thursday night at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder are now down 3-1 in the NBA Finals to the Miami Heat after losing Game 4 on the road 104-98.

The Thunder are now in a very tough position. Being down 3-1 in the NBA Finals is nothing short of a death sentence. Never has a team come back from down 3-1 in the NBA Finals to win the series and since the format changed to 2-3-2 in 1985, no team down 3-1 has even come back to force a Game 7.

Only eight teams in the history of the NBA Playoffs have come back from down 3-1 to win the series, most recently in the first round of 2006 when the Phoenix Suns came back to beat the Los Angeles Lakers.

It has to happen eventually though right? And aren’t the Thunder a perfect candidate to be the first to do it?

There are a few reasons to remain optimistic about the Thunder’s chances.

The Thunder have yet to play their best basketball

If the Thunder were playing great basketball and still losing, it would feel like they have less of a chance to come back and win the series. But the fact of the matter is that the Thunder have not played all that well yet in this series.

Sure, that has a lot to do with the Miami Heat but the Thunder are beating themselves a lot too. With the games still being so close, if the Thunder can just correct some of their own unforced errors and hit a few more shots, they could very well come back and win the series.

There were some good signs in Game 4 for the Thunder too. For the first time in the series, the Thunder did not get off to a bad start. They went up 33-16 in the first quarter and played with great intensity from the start.

Russell Westbrook finally had an efficient shooting night as he scored 43 points on 20-for-32 shooting.

Kevin Durant didn’t get in foul trouble like he did in Games 2 and 3 partly because he started out matched up with Mario Chalmers on defense. The Thunder shouldn’t have to worry about him sitting because of fouls the rest of the series.

James Harden, who is the key to this team becoming great, is only averaging 10.8 points per game in the series and shooting 35 percent from the floor. He has still yet to find any rhythm at all on offense and if he finally can, it could really turn the tide in the series.

The Thunder came back from 0-2 to beat the Spurs

The Thunder already know what it feels like to be down by two games in a series and to rally back and win. They beat the best team in the NBA four straight times in the Western Conference Finals.

Their series with the Spurs looked even more unlikely for them to win after Game 2 in San Antonio. The Thunder have at least been in every game with the Heat.

Part of the Thunder coming back against the Spurs was that they learned on the fly how to beat them. They can do the same against Miami and if they do learn how to beat them in Game 5, they have enough talent to keep replicating that for the rest of the series.

The Thunder get Games 6 and 7 at home

The Thunder have lost just once at home so far in the playoffs in Game 2 of this series. They started the game off terrible falling behind 18-2 before roaring back and could have easily won if LeBron didn’t get away with hacking Durant at the end.

The Thunder have the best home court advantage in the league. There is no reason to believe they would lose two home games in a series even to the Heat.

If they can get back home it will feel like a new series for the Thunder.

The NBA doesn’t want this series to end

The Thunder and Heat meeting in the NBA Finals was a dream come true for the NBA. They want this series to go seven games just like everyone else in the world should.

If any of the conspiracy theories are true at all then the referees should tweak how they call this series just a little bit for Game 5 and we should see the Thunder getting to the line a little more often than they have been.

Miami’s recent advantage in getting to the line more has been crucial in them winning. If OKC can gain the upper hand in that department then there’s no reason to believe they won’t win Game 5.

We will get to see the Thunder playing with the most desperation possible in Game 5. They have risen to the challenge in every instance so far in these playoffs and it would be very fitting for them to do so again in Game 5.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

The Miami Heat went into Game 4 with a 2-1 series lead and chance to really put the Oklahoma City Thunder in a hole with a victory. They fell behind early, 33-16, battled back and showed poise in the final minutes to accomplish just that.

The Thunder’s chances at winning a title now look the bleakest since they went down 0-2 in the Western Conference Finals. They still haven’t played perfect or their best basketball but they’ve been in every game and had chances to win in each.

LeBron James nearly had a triple-double in Game 4 scoring 26 points to go with 12 assists and nine rebounds. He’ll be the Finals MVP if the Heat win and he’ll silence many of his critics.

Kevin Durant got off to a great start in these Finals. He scored 36 points in a Game 1 victory and averaged 16.5 fourth quarter points through the first two games.

Things changes in Miami for Durant. His weaknesses were exploited on defense and he got into uncharacteristic foul trouble.

It’s easy to live in the moment in life and sports. Most people do. But the NBA is all about its history and legacies.

It’s time to take a step back…

What are we really seeing?

We’re watching an NBA Finals loaded with stars, some in their primes and some still in their cribs.

The Heat are supposed to win the title right about now. LeBron, Wade and Bosh are each in the ninth season in the NBA. Doesn’t that sound about right for them winning?

The Thunder’s best years are far ahead of them. It was impressive enough for them to even make it to the NBA Finals this year at such a young age. Their talent has given us glimpses of what the future of the league is going to look like for years.

Durant and Westbrook are 23 and Harden and Ibaka are 22. They don’t have to win a title yet. No one really expected them too. The only thing that made us believe they could is that they were better than the Heat this season and they are more talented. But in this series, not enough things have gone their way and here they are down 3-1.

A time will come when everything seems to go the Thunder’s way. They’ll get all of the calls, make all of the important shots and watch their opponent make all of the big mistakes. That’s what happens in this league. Rarely can you cheat your time for winning a title.

In three years, we’ll look back and say…

Watching this Thunder team in this NBA Finals is frustrating. It’s so hard to watch them and not think about their potential and seeing them not hit it is downright annoying.

No matter what happens the rest of this series, a few years from now we’ll look back on these games and chuckle at what the Thunder were, so young and so talented, not totally understanding how to harness and use it in the best way.

Here’s what Thunder fans will say three years from now:

• There was a time where Durant struggled this much to get open. They couldn’t get him the ball sometimes? Why is he isolating at the 3-point line and not in the post? He’s so much better at defense now.
• How is Russell not getting more calls? What are these insane 3-pointers he takes 2-3 times per game? I can’t remember the last time I saw someone score on Russell. How come the Heat defense actually freezes in time when he drives to the rim?
• Look at Harden’s beard! It’s so short!
• I don’t miss the days when Serge didn’t have a post game. Why isn’t Serge playing 40-plus minutes and why does he ever sit the fourth? I can’t imagine anyone scoring in the paint against us anymore.

But it’s still not over

These aren’t excuses for the Thunder being down 3-1 and potentially losing this series. It’s just the big picture of things. Athletes can’t look at it this way and diehard fans can’t either but it is the reality of the situation.

The Thunder can still win this series. The odds are against them now more than ever. Since 1985, when the NBA Finals went to the 2-3-2 format, no team down 3-1 has ever come back to win the series let alone force a Game 7.

The Thunder are one win away from going back home to the best crowd in the NBA. They are looking at this like now like that too. They just need to win one, Game 5.

Watching OKC all year it’s hard to ever imagine them losing four in a row. They haven’t all season. Since they’ll never give up or stop playing hard, I wouldn’t bet against them in Game 5. It’s a game made for the resiliency of this team.

The Heat know this too and they surely don’t want to go back to Oklahoma City. We’re not going to see one of those “Heat didn’t show up games.” We’ll see another close game just like the first four. The last three have gone Miami’s way, the next three could just as easily go OKC’s way.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The Miami Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-98 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals to take a 3-1 series lead.

LeBron James nearly had a triple-double with 26 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds but did miss much of the final minutes as he was sidelined with cramps.

Russell Westbrook was the best player on the floor tonight though. He scored 43 points on 20-for-32 shooting to go with five assists and seven rebounds.

Westbrook didn’t get enough help though even from Kevin Durant who continues to struggle on defense and rebounding. Durant had 28 points but just two rebounds and continues to have lapses on the defensive end boxing out or reaching when he shouldn’t.

James Harden still hasn’t found his rhythm and scored just eight points on 2-of-10 shooting. Harden just can’t get loose in this series and his jump shot hasn’t been helping him either.

The Thunder jumped out to a 33-16 lead in this game but then the Heat went on a 30-16 run to come back.

Mario Chalmers was instrumental in Miami winning this one scoring 25 points in the game.

The Heat made 10 threes in the game while the Thunder went 3-for-16 from three. The Thunder also only got to the line.

The Thunder are now down 3-1 in the series and since the Finals went to a 2-3-2 format, no team down 3-1 has ever even reached a Game 7.

Game 5 is no do or die for the Thunder. If they win, they get to go back home for Game 6 and to the best crowd in the NBA.

Game 5 will be Thursday night at 9 p.m. EST on ABC in Miami.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

LeBron James has responded to Serge Ibaka’s comments from yesterday when he said LeBron isn’t a “good defender” and couldn’t guard Kevin Durant.

“I don’t really care what he says, he’s stupid,” LeBron said. “Everyone says something to me every series, then (the media) tries to get a quote. It’s stupid.”

LeBron is right that this whole thing is stupid but it’s a little shocking him calling Ibaka stupid.

Just like when reading Ibaka’s comments they sounded worse than if you would imagine him saying it, the same is probably true with what LeBron said today.

Here is what Ibaka said yesterday:

“LeBron is not a good defender. He can play defense for two to three minutes but not 48 minutes. LeBron can’t play (Durant) one-on-one.”

To be fair, Ibaka saying LeBron is not a good defender is kind of stupid but LeBron saying Ibaka himself is stupid isn’t very fair. Whether LeBron meant it or not, he should not have allowed that to slip out in those exact words.

This is what LeBron was talking about though. We’re even taking his quotes about the media blowing up quotes and blowing it up.

Game 4 of the NBA Finals will be tonight at 9 p.m. EST on ABC in Miami. LeBron has been great all series while Ibaka has been up and down, most recently he did not play the fourth quarter in Game 3.

The Thunder lost Game 3 in Miami 91-85 and really didn’t play a good game at all. The Heat shot very poorly from outside the paint and the Thunder were in great position to steal one on the road.

The Thunder led by 10 points in the third quarter but foul trouble for Kevin Durant helped allow the Heat to come back and close this one out.

Looking ahead to Game 4, the Thunder are going to need to play a lot better starting with…

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant – 31.0 PPG, 1.7 APG, 5.7 RPG, .574 FG%, .409 3PT%, .737 FT%

Durant may have had his worst game of the playoffs in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. He scored 25 points and went 11-of-19 from the field but he picked up his fourth foul with 5:41 left in the third quarter and was a mess on defense all night.

The Thunder allowed Miami to get 14 offensive rebounds in the game and Durant was a big reason why. Too many times when a shot went up he showed no interest in boxing out or anything.

Durant is only averaging 5.7 rebounds per game in this series and that is something he really needs to improve upon. With the Thunder playing small so much, Durant needs to be super active on defense and rebounding.

Durant isn’t at his best when he is put in this position as an interior help defender but that’s what we have here in the NBA Finals. He needs to step up in that department or the Thunder are going to have a hard time coming back and winning this series.

Durant may be a little drained from defending LeBron James and having to work so hard to get open on offense. In Game 3, the Thunder tried to isolate Durant a little too much and it became very reminiscent of how the New York Knicks were using Carmelo Anthony against the Heat in the first round.

Durant would work so hard just to get an isolation opportunity against the best defender in basketball and it wore him down. And after working so hard to get the ball, you know you’re going to want to shoot every time and it resulted in stagnant offense for the Thunder.

Durant didn’t have any assists in his 39 minutes of action and that’s never a good sign for the Thunder. You really don’t expect the Thunder to win when Durant has this kind of game but the loss still hurts because they had a great chance to anyway.

Durant was unable to muster up any heroics in the fourth this time though. He scored just four points in the period and had two turnovers. He looked like he lost his rhythm after coming out of the game with his fourth foul.

Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

LeBron James – 30.3 PPG, 4.0 APG, 10.3 RPG, .464 FG%, .222 3PT%, .862 FT%

LeBron had another quiet LeBron game in Game 3. He had 29 points and 14 rebounds and it seemed not too spectacular. That’s LeBron for you.

He came out very aggressive again like Game 2 scoring inside and working hard for offensive rebounds. This was something the Thunder could have prevented simply by matching his intensity but they just didn’t have it that night.

LeBron was probably most important defending Durant. He made him work so hard just to get the ball that it took Durant out of the rest of the game in a way.

It is still amazing how Durant can score one-on-one against LeBron so much. You just never expect anyone to do it that way on LeBron and it just goes to show how talented Durant is.

LeBron again had a few transition buckets where the Thunder didn’t pick him up quickly enough down the floor. LeBron does such a good job of taking what’s given to him and it resulted in a lot of easy buckets for him in Game 3 since the Thunder weren’t playing their best.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Russell Westbrook – 24.3 PPG, 7.3 APG, 7.0 RPG, .412 FG%, .214 3PT%, .778 FT%

Westbrook isn’t going to get the same blame for the Thunder losing Game 2 but he didn’t even play any better.

One of the things that will stick out from Game 3 is Scott Brooks taking Westbrook out at the end of the third and closing the quarter without Westbrook or Durant.

It’s understandable taking Durant out because he had four fouls but that should have meant Westbrook was staying in. The Heat closed out the third 15-3 with the two on the bench and that may very well have lost OKC the game.

Westbrook didn’t end up shooting as much as he did in the first two games and that was unfortunate because the Thunder really could have used him stepping up and having a 30-point game.

Westbrook continues to struggle finishing at the rim and making the best decisions when he is penetrating. He again missed his first three shots of the game which he has done in each game so far in the series.

The Thunder are always at their best when he is aggressive and taking 20-plus shots. He and Durant were both under 20 attempts in Game 3 and it’s hard to imagine them beating the Heat when that is the case.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Dwyane Wade – 22.7 PPG, 6.7 APG, 5.7 RPG, .410 FG%, .000 3PT%, .818 FT%

Wade was very aggressively trying to get his shot in Game 3. He took 22 shots and 11 free throws and didn’t hit a high percentage from the field.

It doesn’t feel like he is a huge concern for the Thunder to contain. He doesn’t feel like the same Wade that could go for 40 on any given night like the past.

Westbrook actually did a pretty good job defending him too which is a good sign for the Thunder going forward in the series.

Wade was most effective as a passer in the pick-and-rolls in the game. He did an excellent job finding the roller to the basket a ton and that really hurt the Thunder.

The Thunder seemed to be playing for the pick-and-pop instead of the roll and the Heat took advantage. We’ll see if the Thunder adjust to this as the series goes on.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

James Harden – 11.7 PPG, 3.7 APG, 3.3 RPG, .407 FG%, .333 3PT%, .714 FT%

We’ve seen three games of the NBA Finals and we’re still waiting for James Harden to show up. Harden is far from himself so far against the Heat and that is making things very difficult for the Thunder.

It feels like he hasn’t been able to find where he fits in yet in the series. If he figures it out and starts being himself again it will be great news for the Thunder.

It’s all about getting him going early in the shot clock before the defense is set. He hasn’t gotten a lot of transition opportunities either in the series and that could also help him get going.

Harden has had to guard LeBron a lot in the past two games as well which makes him work that much harder on defense which could also be contributing to his offensive struggles.

He has shown in these playoffs the ability to take over games and the Thunder could really use a game or two like that soon from him.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Chris Bosh – 12.0 PPG, 10.3 RPG, .361 FG%, .250 3PT%, .818 FT%

Bosh has been great for the Heat in these past two games. The energy he has played with and relentless effort getting to loose balls and rebounds has been crucial in the Heat winning.

In Game 3, Bosh was used rolling to the rim a lot more in the pick-and-rolls than just popping and the Thunder had a hard time stopping it.

Bosh will continue to be an important X-factor for the Heat and while at home should produce decently.

The Bigs

One of the biggest issues of this series so far has been the substitution patterns for the Thunder. They are sticking with their main starting five featuring Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka and they continually are getting off to slow starts.

Perkins played well for him in Game 3 and it resulted in him getting 34 minutes while Ibaka played just 22 and sat out the entire fourth.

The Thunder need Ibaka to be their fourth best player to win a title and he’s not that while on the bench in a fourth quarter.

Nick Collison has also lessened his impact on the series since Game 1. He got into foul trouble in Game 3 and needs to avoid that a little more as the series goes on.

The Heat essentially aren’t playing any bigs other than Bosh and Udonis Haslem and it has been working for them. This means the Thunder have an advantage on the offensive glass that they aren’t really taking advantage of.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Spot-up shooters

Shane Battier finally stopped scoring 17 points per game but still had a decent game for Miami in Game 3.

The Thunder clearly made it a point of emphasis to take away the spot-up shooters in Game 3 and it probably contributed to them giving up so many shots inside the paint.

The Heat are making the Thunder scramble to adjust thanks to great outside shooting and it’s really helping them win this series right now.

Miami shot poorly overall from the outside in Game 3 and that’s part of why they didn’t blow the Thunder out.

OKC is getting some production from Derek Fisher as a spot-up shooter but that’s about it. You can count on Fisher to take and sometimes make the big shot but his minutes should be lessened.

Scott Brooks loves playing him big minutes especially when he hits a shot or two. Fisher should be taken out soon after making a few shots because you know once he’s done that, he’ll start missing. It’s not like he’s going to go off for 20 points while you ride the hot hand.

Prediction

This is a must-win for the Thunder while not so much for the Heat. In these playoffs, the Thunder have always come through in these situations while the Heat have not.

Only twice has the home team in the NBA Finals since 1985 won Games 3, 4 and 5. The Thunder are hardly a candidate for a team to be victim to that.

Game 4 is the one the Thunder will win. This series has seven games written all over it and OKC tying the series at 2-2 is the next step in making that happen.

The Thunder did not play very well in Game 3 and it could give the Heat some false confidence with how they played being enough to give them another win.

The Thunder should play better and if they do, the Heat might not know what hit them.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka hasn’t been very impressed with LeBron James in the NBA Finals.

The runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year this season doesn’t think LeBron can guard Kevin Durant.

“LeBron is not a good defender,” Ibaka said Monday. “He can play defense for two to three minutes but not 48 minutes. LeBron can’t play (Durant) one-on-one.”

No player in the NBA received more All-Defensive First Team votes than LeBron James. He has really come a long way as a defender committing on that side of the ball.

Durant is the best offensive player in the world though and Ibaka is kind of right about LeBron not being able to guard him.

Durant is averaging 31.0 points per game and shooting .574 percent from the field in the NBA Finals. Durant is shooting 58 percent when Shane Battier is guarding him and only 43 percent when LeBron is.

But in one-on-one situations, Durant has proved the ability to score on LeBron, sometime with what looks like very little effort at all.

While LeBron may not be able to completely shut down Durant, he is a “good” defender.

Reading Ibaka say something like this sounds worse than hearing him actually say it. If you are familiar with how he talks you can imagine him saying this in a harmless way, not in a “calling out” sort of way.

Ibaka and LeBron are two of the best athletes in the game today and gave us this amazing moment in Game 2 of the Finals.

Here’s to hoping for more of that in this series.

World Peace of course elbowed Harden at the end of the regular season in what was one of the dirtiest plays in the NBA this season. He never really apologized for the act claiming it was an accident.

During Game 3 of the NBA Finals last night, World Peace Tweeted this about Harden.

No brain All beard

— Metta WorldPeace (@MettaWorldPeace) June 18, 2012

It was right after Harden tried to draw an offensive foul on LeBron James late in the fourth quarter.

World Peace has been critical of Harden as a flopper ever since the elbowing incident. He even suggested that Harden may have flopped some from his elbow.

So we know World Peace is crazy and has something against Harden but saying “no brain” is a little mean. It’s probably harmless because in the end that’s who World Peace is but he just comes off as stupid Tweeting something like that.

Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder lost Game 3 of the NBA Finals to the Miami Heat 91-85 Sunday night to fall behind 2-1 in the series.

The Thunder continue to leave a lot on the table in this series and have yet to play their best basketball.

Kevin Durant scored 25 points on 11-of-19 shooting in 39 minutes but for the second straight game found himself in foul trouble.

Durant left the game with 5:41 to play in the fourth quarter and OKC leading 60-54. The Thunder would be outscored 15-7 the rest of the quarter.

“Not foul,” Durant said when asked about getting into foul trouble. “I mean, I don’t know. I’m just trying to play aggressive on both ends, and unfortunately I’m getting some fouls called on me, but I’ve got to play through it. Two games in a row, man, so I’ve just got to play smarter next game, and hopefully I don’t get no fouls called.”

Durant came back to start the fourth and would only score four points in the final 12 minutes. He clearly had lost any rhythm he found up to that point.

The referees aren’t totally to blame for the Thunder losing the last two games of this series but it’s hard not to notice them, and that is never a good thing.

In Game 2, Durant had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds when a blatant shooting foul by LeBron James was ignored. In Game 3, Durant did not deserve all four of the fouls called on him.

Durant doesn’t totally help his case though for picking up four fouls. He was actually pretty out of this game in the first half. He wasn’t giving enough effort on defense rotating or boxing out and picked up another stupid foul reaching at LeBron James in transition.

It’s not the whole series but the calls have definitely been an advantage for the Heat thus far.

Scott Brooks did not help his team in Game 3 when Durant got into foul trouble. He took Durant out after his fourth and then took Russell Westbrook out shortly later claiming that is when Westbrook normally gets his rest and he had a few bad possessions.

This was unacceptable. The Thunder were playing without Westbrook and Durant for over four minutes to end the third while the Heat had LeBron and Dwyane Wade on the floor during most of that time.

Westbrook had to be in during that stretch especially with James Harden struggling for most of the night (9 points, 2-for-10 from the field).

It’s the NBA Finals and Brooks is still stuck on trusting “what they’ve done all year” when there’s no time for little mistakes like this. It’s the same thing with him continuing to start Kendrick Perkins.

Perkins played better in Game 3 but it’s still an issue having him in the starting lineup. It eventually was probably a bad thing too that he played so well because it caused Brooks to play him over Serge Ibaka in the fourth quarter.

How is it possible that we are watching a team in the NBA Finals and thinking that two of the five players on the court shouldn’t be there? Shouldn’t this be clear enough already?

That’s what we have with the Thunder. Perkins and Derek Fisher are in the game midway through the fourth quarter while Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha are sitting on the bench. There is no excuse for this. There is no time for rest.

The Thunder have a good enough team to beat the Heat. They could very easily be up 3-0 in this series right now. Instead they’re down 2-1 and the chances of them winning suddenly seem very bleak.

One thing the Thunder have done in every playoff series so far this year is improve the further they have gone on. The Thunder will have to continue this trend to come back and beat the Heat and did show some signs of that in Game 3.

The home team for Games 3, 4 and 5 has won all three of those games just twice since 1985. The Heat would have to become the third team to do so to avoid going back to Oklahoma City.

The Heat were up 2-1 in the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks last year before losing the next three games of the series.

All hope is far from lost for the Thunder.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The Miami Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 91-85 in game 3 of the NBA Finals to take a 2-1 series lead.

Kevin Durant scored 25 points but for the second straight game had to leave the floor in the third quarter because of foul trouble. When Durant picked up his fourth foul with 5:41 left in the third, the Thunder would be outscored 15-7 to end the period.

The Thunder actually led the game 64-54 with 4:33 left in the third quarter. Durant and Russell Westbrook did not play the rest of the quarter after that point and the Heat took advantage.

LeBron James scored 29 points to go with 14 rebounds and three assists in the game. He was most effective in the first half with his activity and work on the offensive glass.

The Thunder did not get out to their usual slow start although still trailed for most of the game. Kendrick Perkins played a better game with 10 points and 12 rebounds but played 34 minutes to Serge Ibaka’s 22.

Nick Collison only played 13 minutes partly due to picking up three quick fouls in the first half.

None of the Thunder’s Big Three played 40-plus minutes in the game while LeBron played 44 minutes and Dwyane Wade played 44. It felt like the Heat simply had their best guys on the floor longer than the Thunder did.

The Thunder are to blame for this too though because of the stupid fouls they committed. They didn’t trail by as much in the first half but arguably played their worst first half of the series. The intensity was nonexistent and the help defense on pick-and-rolls absent.

The deficit was not much thanks to poor shooting from the perimeter by the Heat. The Heat still led though because they got a ton of looks from inside the paint in the first half.

The game was one the Thunder surely could have one but a lot of things did not go in their favor. That sometimes happens when you’re on the road but the series is long from over for them.

The Thunder are a team that gets better as the series progresses because they are still learning how to win. They have enough talent to beat the Heat every night and really just need to get one of the next two to get the series back to OKC.

Only two teams since 1985 have won three straight home games in Games 3, 4 and 5 in the NBA Finals. The Heat would have to do that to end the series before it goes back out West.

Game 4 will be Tuesday night at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.

Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder have a decision to make, or at least they should. Their starting lineup has not gotten off to good starts in the first two games of the NBA Finals.

The Thunder fell behind 20-10 in the first quarter of Game 1 and 18-2 in the first quarter of Game 2.

Should the Thunder change their starting lineup? Absolutely. Will they? Nope.

“My mind is not racing that I’m going to throw everything out that we’ve worked on all year that we’ve got to this point with,” head coach Scott Brooks said. “I just want to do things better, and I think that’s always been our battle cry. Every time we have a tough stretch of the season, just get back to what we do and let’s just do it better, and I think that’s what we’re going to do into (Sunday) night’s game.”

Kendrick Perkins is the problem with their starting lineup. He has basically done nothing for the Thunder so far in this series. It’s just not a good matchup for him.

Perkins does three things well on a basketball court: defend the post, set screens and be annoyingly physical. That’s it. He’s been unable make an impact doing those things so far against the Heat and instead has been exploited by the Miami starting five.

Many are calling for the Thunder to change their starting lineup to a smaller one to match the Heat. This would mean inserting James Harden for Perkins and sliding Kevin Durant down to the four.

Starting Harden would not be the answer either. It might help at the beginning of the game but bringing Harden off the bench is one of the Thunder’s greatest strengths.

Nick Collison would make a much better option starting for the Thunder. Collison has the best plus-minus of any Thunder player so far in this series while playing less than 20 minutes per game.

Collison is versatile enough too to match up with Shane Battier spotting up or defend Chris Bosh in the pick-and-roll. He and Serge Ibaka are also the Thunder’s two best offensive rebounders so they’d still be able to hopefully take advantage of that as well.

“When we don’t play well, we usually don’t point to lineups, play-calling, things like that,” Collison said. “Usually it’s because of our effort or our focus. We just watched film of the first quarter (in Game 2), and the mistakes we made had nothing to do with lineups or anything else. It was between our ears and how mentally focused we need to play better. Those are the things we worry about more.”

Starting Collison is an extremely necessary move for the Thunder. If they don’t, and they probably won’t, they will continue to struggle at the start of games which isn’t ok at all.

It almost feels like it would be better for the Thunder to get out to another horrible start in Game 3 just so that Brooks has no choice but to change the starters for the rest of the series.

Championship chances don’t come around every year, even for a team as young as the Thunder you never know when you’ll be back. The time is now to adjust and if the Thunder don’t, they will be wasting a prime chance at a title.

The Thunder took Game 1 then fell in too big a hole in Game 2 to complete the comeback. Slow starts have been a big issue for the Thunder so far in this series and Miami’s small starting lineups are a big reason why they’ve jumped out to early leads.

The Thunder have actually been pretty impressive in that they’ve even been able to come back against the Heat who are such a good team playing with the lead. Being at home aided in that ability and the Thunder will not have that luxury for the next three games.

The winner of Game 3 in 1-1 NBA Finals series go on to win the series 85 percent of the time. So this is an important game and both teams know it.

Let’s start with …

Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant – 34.0 PPG, 2.5 APG, 5.5 RPG, .571 FG%, .444 3PT%, .800 FT%

Durant has played great so far for the Thunder, especially in the fourth quarters. He scored 17 then 16 points in each fourth quarter which is the most by any player in the first two games of the Finals since the merger.

Durant was great all-around in Game 1 defending LeBron well also but in Game 2 took a step back in that department. Too often he and the Thunder defense gave LeBron space in semi-transition looks basically enticing LeBron to drive.

Durant will likely continue to still guard LeBron a lot and will have to be more locked in than he was in Game 2 if he’s going to do a good job.

In the first half of Game 2, Durant got into foul trouble and only scored six points. The Thunder are going to need a lot more from him on the road if they’re going to win any more games. The Thunder starting lineup has been atrocious on offense and if they don’t change it, Durant is the only one who can cure it on his own.

Durant is getting his 34 points per game on 21 shots per game. A lot of people would like to see him shoot more.

The real key would be if Durant could get to the line a little more and put more pressure on the Heat defense. He is attempting just 7.5 free throws per game and only averaging 2.5 assists per game. If both of those numbers go up, the Thunder will start winning with more ease.

Jim Young/Pool Photo via US PRESSWIRE

LeBron James – 31.0 PPG, 4.5 APG, 8.5 RPG, .457 FG%, .200 3PT%, .905 FT%

LeBron has quietly gotten his so far in these Finals and maybe that is a good thing. The spotlight is coming off him some and more towards the Thunder for their struggles.

Meanwhile, LeBron is getting his 31-9-5 and the Heat successfully stole a game on the road already in this series. What more do you want? Maybe we don’t need to want more but the Heat might need more at some point and LeBron will have to be ready to step up.

It does feel like LeBron could explode a little more in this matchup. It would come by getting to the line a ton kind of like what he did in Game 2 going 12-for-12 from the stripe.

The Heat have gotten great production from their role players so far on the road in this series, something that usually is reserved for home games. If that production drops at all, eyes will shift to LeBron to pick up the slack.

The Heat are at their best right now with LeBron doing everything for them and he’s been able to stick to his all-around attack so far in the series. He hasn’t had to completely focus on a one-on-one matchup with Durant and that is a good thing.

The Heat would like to avoid that and let LeBron keep doing his thing where he does a little bit of everything. That will require players like Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to play like they did in Game 2 though.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Russell Westbrook – 27.0 PPG, 9.0 APG, 8.0 RPG, .400 FG%, .200 FT%, .750 FT%

So the Thunder lose a game and guess who gets the heat? Of course it’s Westbrook.

While looking at his 27-9-8 line is extremely impressive, Westbrook does have some areas where he can improve and that’s part of being as talented as he is. We’re not comparing your numbers against NBA history. We’re looking at them within the series you are playing in.

Westbrook can and may need to have a gigantic series for the Thunder to win. We have pretty much seen that the Heat can’t matchup with his athleticism so now it’s just up to Westbrook to figure out the best way to hurt the Heat. Two days off from Game 2 should help him.

He is attempting four more shots per game than Durant so far and has even taken more free throws. It would be nice if the Thunder could find a balance where Durant gets more shots but that’s not what this team has been about all year.

Westbrook will continue in this matchup to get a lot of shot attempts and he just needs to start making a few more of them. After two games, he should have a better feel for what works and what doesn’t. The Heat will always be on their heels when covering him and in the long run, that has to be a good thing for the Thunder.

Best case scenario for the Thunder would actually be Westbrook going off while Durant remains an efficient scorer. Westbrook really has the potential for a 40-point game or two in this series and he’s the kind of guy with an attitude made for an “Eff-you” road game.

As long as he starts being more efficient than 40-20-75, the Thunder should be in good shape.

Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Dwyane Wade – 21.5 PPG, 6.5 APG, 5.0 RPG, .436 FG%, .000 3PT%, .818 FT%

Wade was bad in Game 1 then much better in Game 2. His great start was integral for the Heat winning.

The good news for the Thunder is that they’ve contained him pretty well in the first two games. The bad news is that if he has one of those Wade games where he really goes off, the Thunder might not be able to overcome it.

Like a lot of players, when Wade is hitting his jump shot, he becomes really tough to defend. It feels like he can get his jumper any time too so it’s kind of up to him.

The Thunder really just need to play disciplined defense against him and not go for his shot fakes. This is a focus thing that is harder on the road and the whistles are more likely to go Wade’s way in South Beach.

LeBron asked for Wade’s help in Game 2 and got it. If he’s expecting it for the rest of the series and the Thunder can contain him, they can win a game or two in Miami.

Once again, LeBron-Durant is the key matchup for headlines but the winner of Wade-Westbrook has won each game so far this series.

Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE

James Harden – 13.0 PPG, 2.5 APG, 2.0 RPG, .529 FG%, .600 3PT%, .714 FT%

Harden has been pretty quiet so far in this series. His 5-point Game 1 where he got in foul trouble was avoided because of a great effort from Thabo Sefolosha.

Harden came in Game 2 and brought the Thunder back but disappeared some in the second half.

Harden is always the key for the Thunder becoming great and he is the one player of their Big Three with the biggest room for improvement from his current Finals numbers to his usual averages.

We knew the Heat would defend him better than anyone yet, but Harden improved in Game 2 and that is a good sign. The same thing happened for him in the San Antonio series, having a bad Game 1 then figuring them out and bouncing back.

Harden needs to do the same against the Heat. The role players will fade away even more than they have on the road and the Thunder Big Three will have to carry the load even more than usual.

When Harden gets it rolling, he’s like a snowball rolling down a hill. Not even the Heat will be able to stop him. The two games off to watch film are something that Harden can really benefit from.

He has been shooting the ball well and that is great, but it’s when he’s getting to the line that he makes the Thunder the best possible team they can be. He’s averaging just 3.5 free throw attempts per game in the series and he’s capable of going double-digits any night.

He has to attack earlier to hurt this Heat defense. When they are set up, it’s very hard to get into the lane against them. But if Harden can get going early in the shot clock and get into the paint easier, his game could really explode especially because the Heat don’t have any great shot blockers.

Jeff Robertson/Pool Photo via US PRESSWIRE

Chris Bosh – 13.0 PPG, 10.0 RPG, .417 FG%, .250 3PT%, .714 FT%

Bosh came off the bench in Game 1 then started Game 2. Consider the Thunder lucky he didn’t start both.

The Heat are obviously better when he starts and he had a pretty big Game 2 with 16 points and 15 rebounds. The big rebound total was more from the Thunder missing a ton than him being dominant but nonetheless, he is by far the Heat’s best big man and played well.

The Thunder shouldn’t have to worry too much about Bosh going off or anything. They can defend him well enough but they just can’t allow him anything easy. If he stays on the perimeter shooting jump shots and isn’t getting to the line, the Thunder have to live with that.

Whoever gets the better of Harden-Bosh, might start to really become a big difference maker here in Miami. The Thunder desperately need Harden to play much better than Bosh to win games. If Bosh is putting up better numbers than Harden, the Thunder probably won’t be winning.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

The Bigs

The Heat have done a great job making “The Bigs” become less of a factor in this series. If they weren’t playing so many small lineups and starting Joel Anthony or Ronny Turiaf alongside Bosh, the Thunder would probably be up 2-0 in this series.

The lineup with Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins for OKC is not working out. The floor spacing isn’t good enough and they aren’t capitalizing on their ability to get offensive rebounds.

Scott Brooks will likely not change his starting lineup unless it becomes extremely obvious that he must after Game 3, which means the Thunder will have to survive when their starters are out there. That doesn’t sound good does it?

This puts more pressure on Ibaka making his jump shot. That is really the only thing that is consistently open against the Heat when the starters are in. He needs to either be making that shot or attacking the glass on offense, he can’t be doing neither.

Nick Collison is one of the keys for Oklahoma City. The more minutes he gets, the better for them. He played 21 minutes in Game 1, scored eight points to go with 10 rebounds (5 offensive). In Game 2, he played just 15 minutes, didn’t score and had just three rebounds.

If Collison and Perkins switched their minutes, the Thunder won’t lose any more in this series. It’s that simple.

Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

Spot-up shooters

Shane Battier is averaging 17 points per game in this series and shooting .692 percent from the 3-point line. Those numbers have to go down somewhat but it’s not as if he hasn’t earned those points by spacing the floor great and getting wide open looks.

The problem is it was supposed to be in Miami when Battier had those games, not in Oklahoma City. Even if he’s not 17 PPG for the rest of this series, he could still be a big factor for the Heat if he keeps playing this way.

The more the Thunder have to think about Battier, the worse. Taking him out of the game starts on offense, making more shots and not giving up so many transition opportunities for the Heat where they can take advantage of switches on defense.

The Thunder could also use more from Thabo Sefolosha and Derek Fisher in terms of making some shots. They were 2-for-10 and 1-for-7 from three combined in Game 2. That’s no help.

Anything they give the Thunder is icing especially on the road and the Thunder may need them to win one or two of these next three.

Prediction

If there was ever a game to pick against the Thunder in this series, this one kind of seems like it. The Heat did their job winning one of the first two and now get to go back home where they should play a little better and the Thunder could be worse.

The Thunder have been one of the most resilient teams in the NBA this season and it’s not easy to beat them twice in a row. They are the more talented team too and if they correct a few of the things they did wrong, should be able to win no matter where the game is played.

The one thing that isn’t happening tonight is the Thunder aren’t blowing the Heat out. You could see the Heat maybe running away with this game or it will be a very close one. If the Thunder keep it close, they have the best fourth quarter player in the league and they won’t be disappointed having to live with what he does late.

The game will tip at 8 p.m. EST on ABC. The Miami fans will show up at 9 p.m. EST.

Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder failed to totally protect their home court in the first two games of the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, resulting in a 1-1 split with the next three games all being in South Beach.

Russell Westbrook, despite averaging 27-9-8 so far in the series, has received the bulk of criticism for the Thunder’s struggles.

Westbrook is also shooting 40 percent from the field and shooting more than Kevin Durant who has been fantastic so far.

Westbrook is used to this criticism though and simply does not care what people say.

“I’m not making no adjustments, regardless of what anybody says,” Westbrook said. “I’m going to play my game regardless of what happens.”

Westbrook is not the problem. He is playing the way he has all season long and that way has gotten the Thunder this far.

He is not a true point and therefore ends up taking more shots. He takes shots when he is in the point guard role for the Thunder and then he also takes shots when he is in the scoring guard role. He kind of plays two positions for OKC and that has a lot to do with why he shoots a lot.

“We need Russell to score. I know some (people) don’t like that,” Brooks said. “He got off to a bad start but he came back. Him and Kevin are both terrific players, they both have to score points for us to be successful. I don’t look at who gets more, who doesn’t get more. I look at the quality of the shots. Could Russell have taken two or three better shots? Absolutely. Going into (Game 3), hopefully that’s the case.”

The lack of efficient offensive execution also has a lot to do with it. When the shot clock runs down after the first option hasn’t worked for the Thunder, Westbrook often is the one forced to hoist a one-on-one shot.

Against a good defense like Miami, that has happened a lot for the Thunder. They need to figure out a better way to run better offense against this defense so they aren’t in that position as much.

Westbrook is willing to do whatever it takes to win. He doesn’t care about getting a lot of shots. If the opportunity appears for him to be more of a playmaker, he is fully capable of doing that as he showed in Game 1 with 11 assists and in the San Antonio series some.

If the Heat are able to continue to disrupt the Thunder offense so much that Westbrook turns into a volume shooter then the Thunder will be in some trouble.

The Thunder have the tools and have played before in a way to not let that happen. With two days off from Game 2 and 3, the Thunder should adjust some in this way and look better offensively.

If that happens and the Thunder are back to playing Thunder basketball, no team in the league can beat them.

Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE

The Thunder and Heat split the first two games of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City and now the series goes to Miami for three straight games.

It’s disappointing from a Thunder perspective to lose one at home but the series is by no means over. They need to beware though because they will go 10 days between playing at home if the series goes to a Game 6. Momentum and the entire feel of a series can change in that amount of time especially with all of the games on the road.

The Thunder had the same problem in Games 1 and 2 getting off to slow starts against the Heat. The Heat are starting a small lineup with LeBron James at the four and it has helped them spread the floor to get open 3-point shooters and also render Kendrick Perkins useless.

Perkins was matched up with Chris Bosh to start Game 2 at center which isn’t a great matchup for him. Perkins’ value comes in defending the post, setting screens and annoying opponents with physical contact that can help get some offensive rebounds.

Perkins played 20 minutes in Game 2 and scored four points to go with eight rebounds, four of which were offensive. The Thunder were minus-16 in those 20 minutes.

It seems there is no place for Perkins in this series and the Thunder should seriously consider removing him from the starting lineup, although that will probably not happen.

If Perkins continues to start, the Thunder will likely continue to deal with slow starts from their offense and possible defense too. These are holes you never want to be in, especially on the road against the best front-running team in the league.

Russell Westbrook has been the Thunder player most noticeable in these slow starts as well. Westbrook has gone just 5-for-20 from the field in the first halves of Games 1 and 2 and in both games missed at least his first four shots.

Westbrook plays his best in space and Perkins minimizes that for the Thunder offense. That’s why we’ve seen Westbrook struggling to get clean looks and appear to be forcing a lot.

The other problem for the Thunder early on is the offensive sets they run. They aren’t exactly the same sets they run all game.

The most common one is when they set a cross screen to try and get Kevin Durant a post-up. With LeBron guarding him in Game 2, they never successfully got this look from this set and it led to Westbrook having to create with nothing in front of him a few times.

LeBron can obviously out-physical Durant some and the other Heat defenders can help a ton against this set especially when Perkins is in and the floor spacing is worse.

Getting your best player post touches early in the first quarter is a common thing for a lot of teams but given the Thunder’s matchup with the Heat, it isn’t a great idea.

If Perkins continues to start, the best bet for the Thunder will be getting either Westbrook or Durant on the move and in pick-and-rolls with Serge Ibaka.

The Thunder often run a version of the Spurs’ weak set that does just this for Westbrook. They haven’t been doing it enough early in the game with this lineup but it may be one of the only sets that could be effective to start out the game and might get Westbrook into some rhythm.

It is frustrating watching this series so far for the Thunder. It was great that they were able to win Game 1 and almost came back in Game 2 but it doesn’t have to be this way. Perkins simply needs to be benched and it doesn’t even have to be for James Harden.

If the Thunder used Nick Collison instead of Perkins, it would make a world of difference. Collison would have no trouble matching up with Shane Battier on defense and always makes the Thunder defense better with his great understanding of rotations.

It’s ok to make drastic starting lineup changes in the NBA Finals too. The Dallas Mavericks did it last year inserting J.J. Barea for DeShawn Stevenson in the middle of the series and it became a very crucial decision that helped them beat the Heat.

One of the only good things about losing a game in a series is that you have the luxury of being able to adjust for the next game and possible catch your opponent back on their heels.

The winner of Game 3 in NBA Finals tied 1-1 goes on to win the series 85 percent of the time. It may be now or never for the Thunder to adjust. Another slow start could cost them a championship.

Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

Russell Westbrook has given us gem after gem with his wardrobe choices in this year’s NBA Playoffs. After the Thunder’s 100-96 Game 2 loss to the Heat Thursday, he toned it down a little bit.

We’ve seen teddy bears and we’ve seen the Urkel glasses but this almost looks like something a normal person would wear.

You can’t blame Westbrook for not going too crazy after a loss. It was a tough game for the Thunder and embarrassing from the start as they fell behind 18-2 in the first quarter.

Westbrook struggled from the field, ending up going 10-for-26 with 27 points and received a lot of criticism again for shooting more than Kevin Durant.

Westbrook will always be Westbrook and nowhere is that more evident than what he chooses to wear. The story is now getting away from his shirts though as this series just got serious now 1-1.

Kevin Durant caught the inbound on the left baseline with LeBron James guarding him and tried to go for a quick score to catch LeBron off guard. LeBron fouled Durant but it wasn’t called. Heat win.

“On the last play, I figured they were going to go to him,” LeBron said. “He got a small step on me. I just wanted to try to keep a body on him, make him take a tough shot, and he’s made tough shots all year, all series, and just that one he missed. KD is an unbelievable talent. I think we all know that. We all see that. He can make every shot on the floor. Just try to keep a body on him, take contested shots. He got away from me a couple times, got a couple of 3s that I am not too happy about.”

It would have been nice to see the Thunder get a better look maybe with Durant at the top of the key but it was an opportunistic decision to go for that shot. Durant had an angle and didn’t get the call.

“You know, I think I shot a good shot,” Durant said. “That’s a shot I shoot all the time. I just missed. I was just worrying about the shot. I really couldn’t tell you. I’ve got to watch the film, I guess. I missed the shot man.”

No one will look at Durant and blame him for the Game 2 100-96 loss and nor should they. He scored 32 points (16 in the fourth) and was 12-for-22 from the field.

Russell Westbrook is the one taking all of the heat.

Westbrook scored 27 points on 10-of-26 shooting to go along with seven assists and eight rebounds. He shot a lot. He shot more than Durant. So it’s all his fault.

Westbrook has been criticized a ton over the past few seasons. Whenever the Thunder lose, people look at him as to why. He takes too many shots or needs to pass to Durant more. He never gets any credit when the Thunder win though. All of that is for Durant.

Westbrook is averaging 27-9-8 right now in the Finals but is shooting only 40 percent from the field and has attempted 50 shots in two games to Durant’s 42.

That doesn’t sound like a point guard and that’s because Westbrook really isn’t one. He is a playmaker. He is dynamic. He is the second best player on a team three wins away from an NBA title. He is Westbrook.

Scott Brooks and the Thunder don’t ask him to be a point guard either. They ask him to shoot and to play with his instinct and play harder than any player in the league for 48 minutes. That works for this team.

The problems with Durant not getting enough shots or Westbrook taking too many aren’t because of Westbrook. It’s the design of the offense and when it breaks down, it’s usually Westbrook who shoots.

The Heat came out more aggressive in Game 2 especially on defense and that’s why the Thunder fell behind 18-2. They need to match Miami’s intensity from the tip in Game 3 to avoid falling behind again.

When it comes to having to play with intensity, who would you rather have than Westbrook?

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

The Miami Heat did what they set out to do. They took one of the first two games in Oklahoma City and now get three in a row at home.

The Heat got out to a great start leading by as many as 17 in the first half and the Thunder were unable to ever fully come back.

LeBron James led the Heat with 32 points, eight rebounds and five assists and went 12-for-12 from the free throw line.

Kevin Durant scored 32 points for the Thunder with 26 of those points coming in the second half. He was in foul trouble for much of the game picking up two in the first quarter and playing with five for most of the fourth.

The Heat led by 12 at halftime and 11 after three but the Thunder came back in the fourth cutting the deficit to as little as two at one point.

After the terrible start for the Thunder, they got their act together once James Harden checked in. Harden scored 10 of his 21 points in the first quarter after just a five-point Game 1.

Dwyane Wade was the catalyst for the Heat to start the game after a tough Game 1. He finished with 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting.

Chris Bosh started the game for the first time since Game 1 of the Pacers series for the Heat. He scored 16 points and had 15 rebounds for Miami.

Durant had a chance to tie the game with nine seconds left in the game but didn’t get the call on a shot he took from the left baseline with LeBron guarding him. There was contact but the referees swallowed their whistles and it allowed for the Heat to finish off the game with the win.

The Thunder need to correct their slow starts to properly compete for the rest of this series. The next three games will be in Miami which will be a challenge for the Thunder now tied 1-1 in the series.

Game 3 will be Sunday at 8 p.m. EST in Miami on ABC.

Bosh played 34 minutes off the bench in Game 1 and scored 10 points to go with five rebounds.

“How we use Chris might be a little bit more like how we used him during the regular season,” Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Bosh will replace Udonis Haslem and start at center which means the Heat will remain with their small starting lineup consisting of Shane Battier and LeBron James at the forward positions.

That small lineup allowed the Heat a lot of open spot-up looks in Game 1 which helped them get out to an early lead.

Bosh has not been exactly the same since returning from injury in the Boston series. He’s been more of a spot-up shooter with less offense running through him.

The Heat are going to need him to return to All-Star form if they’re going to have a chance at beating the Thunder.

Kendrick Perkins will likely start out on Bosh with Serge Ibaka guarding Battier.

The Thunder did not take advantage much of their size advantage in Game 1 and had just two offensive rebounds in the first half.

The Thunder started hitting the glass when Nick Collison checked in. Collison had 10 rebounds in the game with five of them coming on the offensive side.

The Thunder might match up better with the Heat starters starting Collison instead of Perkins but that will unlikely not happen.

The only real way Perkins can affect the game against the Heat starters is by hitting the glass and if he doesn’t then the Heat may have the upper hand.

Westbrook was taking one-handed shots with his right hand after reporters were allowed in to see the end of the session. He then pulled the wrap back and tried a couple with both hands.

Brooks says “obviously there’s a little pain but nothing to prevent him from playing the way he can play.”

via ESPN

Westbrook is not a player that will ever miss a game. He even seems like the type that could thrive off an injury let alone simply be able to play with one.

Westbrook scored 27 points in Game 1 to go with 11 assists and eight rebounds. The Heat could not guard him or even stay in front of him in a lot of cases.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade even switched onto Westbrook a few times and Westbrook went right ahead and drove right by them. The more attention that Westbrook can take on himself, the better it will be for the Thunder and Kevin Durant.

With James Harden scoring just five points, Westbrook was very much needed to show up in the way that he did.

We’ll see tonight if Harden can get his act together but if he doesn’t, Westbrook will once again have to have a big night.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

LeBron James has been doing it all for the Miami Heat this season and in the playoffs and now he wants some help.

Dwyane Wade hasn’t been entirely himself in the playoffs and in Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City he struggled with 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting.

Here’s what LeBron said of Wade:

“A lot of times I try to let him figure it out on his own, but sometimes I go to him and tell him I need one of those games from him, I need one of those performances from him because he still has it,” LeBron said. “He knows he still has it, too, but every player needs a little kick every now and then, no matter how time-tested they are.”

Here we go again with LeBron and Wade trying to figure out playing together. How is LeBron not totally comfortable alongside Wade yet?

LeBron should never be letting anyone do anything on a basketball court. He’s the best player in the NBA and should be taking what he wants.

It’s not that easy for LeBron though. His personality isn’t that and it could cost him another shot at a championship as his Miami Heat are down 0-1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder right now.

In Game 1, LeBron was not the best player. Kevin Durant was. This Heat team isn’t good enough to win games when LeBron isn’t the best player in the game.

LeBron should be guarding Durant more in Game 2. That doesn’t mean Durant will get shutdown but he should make things harder for him.

LeBron has been asked to do so much for the Heat and he will once again be asked to do more in stopping Durant.

The Heat better figure things out soon because coming back from down 0-2 isn’t easy for anyone.

Flopping has been a big talking point this year in the NBA and particularly in the playoffs.

Serge Ibaka was asked about flopping and who the biggest floppers were in the NBA Finals. He initially mentioned Mario Chalmers and Derek Fisher casually. Then when Shane Battier’s name was brought up he called him the biggest flopper of them all.

With players like Battier and Fisher, flopping could play a big role in the NBA Finals. Even LeBron, Wade, Durant and Harden do their fair share of flopping trying to get calls.

It is becoming a big deal though even for NBA commissioner David Stern.

“Flopping almost doesn’t do it justice,” Stern said Tuesday. “Trickery. Deceit designed to cause the game to be decided other than on its merits. We’ll be looking at that.

“We’ll be looking at a number of things that make it easier for us to say to our fans what we all know to be true: Our referees want to get everything right.”

The goal with flopping and tweaking officiating in anyway should be to get the referees out of the spotlight in as much as possible. The worst thing about watching a game is feeling that the referees affected the outcome afterwards.

Flopping puts referees in the limelight. There won’t be a perfect fix to immediately get rid of flopping but the fact that Stern is talking about it is a good sign for the NBA.

The Thunder won what was an extremely important game for them. Being in their first NBA Finals you expected them to come out and maybe not play their best with all of the excitement.

That’s kind of what happened with the Heat getting out to an early lead too.

In the second half the Thunder really got their act together led by their two stars: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

Let’s start with…

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant

All eyes in the NBA Finals are going to be on Kevin Durant and LeBron James. In Game 1, Durant got the best of LeBron as the Thunder win.

Durant guarded LeBron for most of the first three quarters and did a nice job on him.

Durant carried the Thunder on offense to start the game and then finished strong for them with 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Durant went 12-for-20 in the game and got his points pretty easily. LeBron didn’t guard him much in the game either which may have contributed to that some.

The Thunder needed that kind of game from Durant to win Game 1 and they will hope for him to get more help the rest of the series.

Durant does not need to make a lot of adjustments for Game 2. It would be nice if he could continue shooting the ball this well.

Durant can expect better defense from the Heat in Game 2 and expect more pressure. He turned the ball over only twice in Game 1 and will need to keep that number low if the Thunder are going to keep winning games.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

LeBron James

LeBron wasn’t bad in Game 1 for Miami scoring 30 points to go with nine rebounds and four assists. Durant was just better.

While Durant scored 17 in the fourth, LeBron only scored seven points.

LeBron is going to have to outplay Durant by a significant margin for the Heat to ever beat the Thunder. That’s going to start with LeBron defending Durant more in Game 2.

LeBron started out defending Kendrick Perkins in Game 1 with Shane Battier matched up with Durant. The Heat need LeBron to do a lot of things for them on defense but it looks like now the most important thing will be guarding Durant more.

LeBron was very disruptive against the Thunder pick-and-rolls in Game 1 and if he is guarding Durant more in Game 2, the Heat will sacrifice that defense some.

This should open up more for Russell Westbrook and James Harden to attack and the Thunder need to be ready to take advantage of it.

Offensively, LeBron will simply need to continue scoring 30 or more every game. He is capable of it but it will be interesting to see if defending Durant more tires him out any on the offensive end.

LeBron shot nine free throws in Game 1 so the aggressiveness was there somewhat. He still appears to only attack when he has a definitive advantage and never forces things which is good in some ways but it often feels like he should try and force more.

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Russell Westbrook

Westbrook was maybe the biggest reason why the Thunder won Game 1. Durant was great but the help he got from Westbrook was more important.

Westbrook scored 27 points with 18 coming in the second half after he got out to a slow shooting start. Westbrook also dished out 11 assists which is a fantastic number for him.

If Westbrook can keep putting up better numbers than Wade then the Thunder should keep winning. He looked very confident in the second half and needs to carry that over to Game 2.

Dwyane Wade

Wade needs to give the Heat a lot more to beat the Thunder. He scored just 19 points in Game 1 on 19 shots. That wasn’t even close to enough.

LeBron has said that he knows Wade still has some great games left in him and the Heat could sure use one on the road for Game 2 tonight.

Wade didn’t get any easy buckets in Game 1 and shot a lot of jumpers instead. He should come out more in attack mode for Game 2 and if he is getting calls, it will be huge for Miami.

Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

James Harden

Harden only scored five points in Game 1 and it kind of went unnoticed because the Thunder still won. He’s definitely going to need more than five for the Thunder to keep winning games in this series.

There wasn’t a lot for Harden to work with in the pick-and-rolls in Game 1 and he will need to adjust his plan of attack tonight. The Heat try and take the ball out of Harden’s hands in the pick-and-roll and it worked well in Game 1.

Harden needs to try and attack earlier in the shot clock and in transition to get going in this series. Harden got off to a similar slow start in the Spurs series and adjusted fine after Game 1. He should do the same against the Heat.

Chris Bosh

Bosh didn’t start Game 1 and played 34 minutes and scored 10 points to go with five boards. It wasn’t nearly enough for the Heat to win.

It is still uncertain whether he will start Game 2 or not but either way he needs to make a much larger impact if the Heat are going to win.

Bosh seems to only give the Heat spot-up shooting right now and he needs to find other ways to score and be effective.

His real value needs to come on defense. The Thunder scored 56 points in the paint in Game 1 and with Joel Anthony getting little run, Bosh is the only real rim protector for the Heat and needs to do a better job tonight.

Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

The Bigs

The Thunder still have a big advantage in this department in the series even though they didn’t take advantage too much of it in Game 1.

The Thunder had 10 offensive rebounds in Game 1 but are capable of much more with the Heat playing so many small lineups.

Nick Collison had a great first game with eight points and 10 rebounds (five offensive) and the more minutes he gets, the better for OKC.

Perkins does not seem to have much effect against the Heat because he struggles against the pick-and-roll on defense and it allowed for a lot of open threes for Miami.

Serge Ibaka didn’t block a shot for the first time in 45 games for the Thunder. He played well on offense though attacking the rim especially and scored 10 points.

Other than Bosh, Haslem was the only real big to play for Miami and didn’t do much. If somehow he can have a solid night, the Thunder could be in trouble because they should dominate these positions.

Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Spot-up shooters

Miami started out Game 1 great with the production of their spot-up shooters. Battier in particular made his first three 3-pointers in the game and finished with four on the night and 17 points.

The Thunder struggled with Perkins on the floor to get out on Miami’s shooters. The Heat did a nice job too of finding them in semi-transition opportunities after Thunder misses.

Derek Fisher and Thabo Sefolosha stepped up nicely for the Thunder when they needed them. They combined for 15 points.

Sefolosha was key on defense guarding LeBron for most of the fourth and containing him nicely. It will be interesting to see if Sefolosha guards LeBron more tonight.

The Thunder always feel like they’re better with Sefolosha closing out games which will be the case if he guards LeBron in the fourth again.

The best Thunder lineup is usually Westbrook-Harden-Thabo-Durant-Ibaka/Collison. They will get the chance to play this lineup a lot with the Heat going small so much.

Prediction

Before the series started, I predicted the Thunder would win the first two games with Game 1 being the toughest. They overcame a halftime deficit to win that one and I think they have an easier time winning tonight.

At home, it’s always hard to imagine the Thunder losing especially because they have been able to come back so many times.

They have blown out a team at least once in each series this year in the playoffs and I think Game 2 could be one of those games for them.

This game is so important too because all the Heat really have to do is win once on the road to get home court advantage and with the next three games being in Miami, the Thunder can’t afford to lose any momentum.

Players other than Durant will need to play well for the Thunder to win and I think they will. We shouldn’t see another slow start for the Thunder and expect a better performance from Harden and the bigs offensive rebounding.

Miami’s best chances will be 40-plus point nights from either LeBron or Wade. It could happen but it seems less likely than the Thunder playing a more complete game.

Even with a win tonight and going up 2-0, the Thunder’s work will be far from over.