As game 4 fast approaches, the Thunder and Heat stand on two different grounds. The Heat were here last year, up 2-1, and heavily favored over the Dallas Mavericks. A sensitive topic when speaking to anybody on the Heat roster and a lingering shadow for Lebron James. Lebron who had a very disappointing 2011 NBA finals has said that he did not make game changing plays as his team was accustomed of him doing, and vowed to change that this time and so far has delivered. Dwyane Wade, after a rocky first game to these finals, has had two great games (25 points 7 assists and 7 rebounds in the game 3 victory), his energy on both sides of the ball has been great, and he continues to be the designated offense initiator down the stretch. While Bosh continues his dominance of the boards and providing enough offense by picking his spots. We also cannot undermine the HUGE contributions of Shane Battier who continues to shoot lights out for the Heat.
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| photo from bettor.com |
The Oklahoma City Thunder, managed to not fall behind to begin the game (although they started off trailing 10-4 and turning the ball over several times) and Durant despite being guarded a lot more by Lebron James, continues to be unstoppable. The Thunder opened up a 10 point lead midway through the third but Durant picked up his fourth foul after a Dwyane Wade pump fake that seemed to have little or no contact. Brooks also decided to sit Westbrook, which allowed the Heat to go on a run and take the lead back. Durant for the second straight game found himself in foul trouble and the superstar has said he´s been frustrated with the issue (ironically Paul Pierce found himself in the same dilemma last series). The Thunder have outscored the Heat 286 to 285 so far and still trail the series 2 games to 1. The thunder gave the game away when Durant sat out in the third quarter and Brooks inexplicably sat Westbrook out as well. Another factor to consider is free throw shooting, The heat went an impressive 31-35 from the line while Oklahoma went 15-24.
The problem with Oklahoma is that they live and die by the jumpshot, and the lack of assists on their points. Okc is essentially an isolation team, their points come off isolation plays and the most pick and roll basketball you see is when James Harden is on the floor. On a night in which both teams played abismal, the Heat escaped because of their free throw shooting, and because they managed to contain Durant from midway through the third quarter all the way to the end. If Oklahoma is making their jumpshots, they are practically unbeatable, However, last night they shot 4-18 from the three point line and Durant had an abysmal 4th quarter. The Heat look poised to take this championship, but a few plays there and a few calls here, and Oklahoma could have easily been up 2-1. After all, the home team has only won all three games of the 2-3-2 format just twice, so there´s no reason to panic if your Oklahoma, the last team to win all three home games it? The Miami Heat in 2006
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