But the real reason the Heat won this game is that Oklahoma City -- which was on a five-game winning streak -- came out absurdly flat. The Thunder had pulled off spectacular come-from-behind victories in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final and Game 1 of the NBA Final and apparently had decided that they could make up almost any margin at home. So today they spotted Miami an 18-2 lead before really starting to play, and they were still down 78-67 after three quarters.
At this point, the Thunder finally started trying for real, which means playing defense and getting the ball to Kevin Durant. He scored 32 points for the game, and was his usual amazing self in the fourth quarter. With 12 seconds to go, the Thunder were down only 98-96 and they had the ball. They called time out and set up a lovely four-foot jump shot for Durant on the baseline. He's only made about 98 percent of those shots in the playoffs so far. But this time he missed -- largely because, as Eric pointed out, he was clearly fouled by LeBron James. That foul was not called, for reasons that will no doubt spark controversy, and LeBron subsequently made two free throws (he was 12-12 from the line tonight) to clinch the game.
The next three games of the series will be in Miami, and the Heat could win the championship by sweeping the Thunder. But I don't think Miami can outshoot the Thunder three more games in a row. At some point, Miami's outside shooters will go cold, OKC will get hot, and the Thunder will win that game. In fact, if OKC decides to play all 48 minutes, they may win more than one game in Miami.
James was great last night. Had they called the foul and Durant missed one of the two free throws as James was playing for when he decided to foul on the play at the baseline, the lasting image from a Heat Game 2 win would've been James's arching, clutch banker from about a minute earlier. As it stands, however, we're going to be left with a lot of babble about what merits a "no-call" and when, what it means to "let the players decide it on the court" and David Stern's power to extend games and series like the Buffalo Wild Wings bartenders in those stupid commercials. As you said, Oklahoma City came out flat, and Miami did plenty right in this game to legitimately win it--but, of course, none of that matters now. Instead, we have this nonsense.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if part of the Michael Jordan gambling-banishment coverup holds that the Charlotte Bobcats have to trade the Anthony Davis pick to Boston for Rick Robey and a second-rounder in 2013. I guess we'll see.
This morning Magic Johnson and Stephen A. Smith were complaining about Russell Westbrook. I will say that after watching OKC for the last month, I am convinced that Westbrook has a counter in his head that keeps track of how many shots he has taken and how many shots Durant has taken -- and that he pays more attention to that score than to the score of the game. At least four times in the fourth quarter of every OKC game, there will be a point where you will want to say, "STOP SHOOTING AND JUST GIVE THE BALL TO KEVIN DURANT!!!!" But Westbrook has to have his shots, even though he seems to miss about 15 per game. This is just something that the Thunder will have to overcome.
ReplyDeleteMagic was killing Westbrook at halftime last night. Killing him. It kind of gave one a sense of the difference between being one of Magic Johnson's teammates/employees and being one of his viewers/fans.
DeleteHere are the numbers for OKC's three best players in this post-season:
DeleteKevin Durant: 165-321 from the field (51.4 percent); 36-95 from three-point range (37.9 percent); 119-138 from the line (86.2 percent)
Russell Westbrook: 145-337 from the field (43.0 percent); 17-53 from three-point range (32.1 percent); 73-93 from the line (78.5 percent)
James Hardin: 84-183 from the field (45.9 percent); 28-61 from three-point range (45.9 percent); 94-109 from the line (86.2 percent)
Given these percentages, there is simply no legitimate reason for Westbrook to be leading the team in field goal attempts. For that matter, he probably shouldn't take another three-point shot for the rest of the year.
But after watching OKC for a month, I am convinced that Westbrook would rather lose to Miami than have someone else take more shots than he does -- as he proved last night. So I think any effort to rein him in will likely backfire. OKC will have to hope that Westbrook gets hot, or that Durant and Hardin can keep making up for all of his missed shots.
All through these first two games, I keep thinking to myself, "Good for Roger Harden!"
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