NBA Finals - Game 1 Reaction

Game 1 of the NBA Finals to crown the 2012 Champions kicked off last night in front the extremely loud and excited OKC crowd. Let's set the stage shall we?

The 3 time MVP Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat making their second NBA Finals appearance. After a heralded Homecoming to Miami for Lebron James and Chris Bosh. Miami took all their hype and excitement to the NBA Finals last year and were defeated by the Dallas Mavericks in 6 games. This season, they seemed to be even more focused than ever to capture an NBA Title. The pressure is on for the Big 3. It's either now, or never.

Vs.

Scoring Champion Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and the young Oklahoma City Thunder who are all making their first NBA Finals appearance. The first season this group was together, they didn't even reach the playoffs and finished with a 23-59 record, the year after, they lost in the first round to the Lakers, and last season they lost in the Conference Finals to the eventual NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks in 5 games. This season, they made a statement sweeping Dallas, taking out Kobe and the Lakers,  and defeating the HEAVILY favored San Antonio Spurs.

It all begins here. Let's get to the action!

Miami came out HOT in the first quarter. Battier hit his first three shots (all three pointers). The Miami Heat, as a team, hit 83% from 3-point range in the first quarter. OKC, on the other hand, started out 1-6, had about 8 turnovers and Westbrook was 3-10. Early on, we found out what could be the bane of OKC in these NBA Finals: Westbrook's erratic shooting and the number of turnovers OKC had. OKC played a tad bit sloppy and jittery for my taste. 

Moving onto the second quarter, The Heat continued to dominate. Battier and Chalmers became the role players that Miami needed to step up. Haslem stepped in as well and gave some well needed points off the bench. Battier went into the locker room with 13 points and Chalmers had 10 points. Durant and Harden were doing most of the scoring. Fisher had a little spurt, but the Miami Heat quickly rebounded and tightened up on defense. At one point, they led by 13 points. The Thunder really looked like they were rookies out there and Miami was getting ready to run them out of the gym.

Despite scoring 51% to Miami's 58% from the field in the first half, the Thunder were lucky to be only be down by 7 heading into Halftime the way they were playing. As a Thunder fan, you can either worry that your team can't get it together or have faith that they'll shake off the jitters and play like they have been. As a Miami Heat fan, things are looking pretty good for your team. You would think they would turn up the intensity, put the game out of reach and OKC wouldn't recover. 

Right?

That is why we play two more quarters. Because the second half was an entirely different story.

OKC came out in the third quarter and hit the first three of their four shots. They started out on a 13-6 run and tied the game at 60 midway through the third quarter. The crowd was on their feet, OKC shook off those jitters and started playing more loose, defended better, made all the shots they missed in the first half and really took control of the game away from Miami.

Lebron James put Miami on his back and single handily kept them in this game. He had 9 points in the third quarter. Battier, who was RED HOT in the first half only had 2 points in the third. Wade had only one field goal and went to the line twice. The Heat indeed cooled down and the tide was beginning to change as they got outscored 26-19 in the third quarter as OKC took a one point lead into the fourth quarter.

Lebron James tried to keep the Heat in the game, but by this time OKC, more specifically Kevin Durant took command of the fourth. Durant made 6 of his 10 shots and finished with 36 points and Westbrook finished with 27 points. Wade's erratic shooting didn't help as he had 19 points on 7-19 shooting, Bosh played 34 minutes and had 12 points and Lebron couldn't do it by himself as he finished with 30 points himself. Miami had four other players in double figures, but it wasn't enough.

OKC was getting too many easy shots, easy penetration in the paint and the more Miami tried to come back, the more OKC just pulled away. Durant and Westbrook BY THEMSELVES outscored the Miami Heat team 41-40 in the second half of the game. Once OKC got their act together, they were seemingly unstoppable. Serge Ibaka was the only other Thunder player, besides Durant, in double figures.



So here's where I stand on all this:

The Miami Heat came out HOT and they couldn't finish. OKC started off sloppy and finished strong. Once AGAIN, Lebron had to carry the Heat team on his back down the line when nobody else could get it going in the second half, but it wasn't enough. But I'm sure he'll get pretty much all the blame despite the fact that he came to play and picked up the slack. This is turning into Cleveland all over again for Lebron. He does pretty much all the work, and nobody else steps up to help him. The Heat need to get their act together for Game 2. Wade needs to pick and choose his shots, Bosh needs a few more touches, switch up on defense more often and get Battier and Chalmers going. If they play like they did in the first half the whole series, then maybe Miami has a chance.

As far as the OKC Thunder go, there's really not much to say. They looked a little nervous in the beginning. Durant did most of the scoring and Westbrook was chucking shots like he always does. They were outplayed most of the time. They needed that halftime to collect themselves and get back to their game. Durant came out and scored 36 points, Sefalosha provided some great defensive prowess, Westbrook also calmed down and OKC played like the OKC Thunder that took out the San Antonio Spurs. They continue this play, they can win it all.


OKC is now 9-0 at Home in the playoffs. Miami is 4-5 on the road in these playoffs.

Game 2 will be Thursday Night from the Chesapeake Energy Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.



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By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete