NBA Playoffs Blog – Page 74 – NBA Blog

LeBron scores 29, Heat take 2-1 NBA Finals lead

Halfway to a title, LeBron James shows no sign of letting this one get away.

James had 29 points and 14 rebounds, and the Miami Heat took a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals with a 91-85 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night.

Dwyane Wade had 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Heat, who were in this same position through three games last year, then didn’t win again against the Dallas Mavericks.

James’ poor performance was part of the problem then, but he seems on top of his game this time. His 3-pointer sent the Heat to the fourth quarter with the lead, and he scored five straight Miami points when the Heat were building just enough cushion to hold off another late flurry by the Thunder.

Game 4 is Tuesday night.

Kevin Durant had 25 points for the Thunder, but picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter and had to go to the bench when they had seemed to have control of the game. Russell Westbrook finished with 19 points.

The Heat survived their own fourth-quarter sloppiness by getting enough big plays from their Big Three…

Chris Bosh had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, who can win a second title by winning the next two games at home…

Oklahoma City started to take control with a 14-2 run early in the third. Durant had the first four points, Westbrook fooled the Heat with a fake behind the back pass before in for a layup, then Durant leaped over James for a follow dunk before nailing a jumper for a 60-51 lead with 6:55 left in the period.

But it was barely a minute later when he drew his fourth foul, though he appeared to make little or no contract on Wade’s baseline drive, and had to go to the bench.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Raise your hand if you still believe Kendrick Perkins (10 points, 12 rebounds in Game 3) has no place in this series. Perk was only the Thunder’s most effective player with the ball in his hands. Granted, that says something about what else was going on, but still.

Perk was good in Game 3. He belongs, OK? So does the Thunder.

But can OKC win it all? Its 91-85 loss to the Heat Sunday night stirred some doubt, had to. And they wouldn’t be human if the men in Thunder uniforms didn’t at least wonder themselves.

“We put ourselves in position to win,” Durant said several times in the postgame, without a ton of conviction.

For the first time in this exhilarating four-year run from 23 wins to the NBA Finals, we saw signs that The Moment may actually be bigger than the Thunder. We saw it in its play, and in the players’ eyes.

— Reported by Mike Sherman of the Oklahoman

Heat know what to expect from Thunder in Game 3

At this point a year ago, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were using words like urgency and desperation.

And that’s exactly what the Miami Heat expect the Oklahoma City Thunder to bring into Game 3 of this year’s NBA Finals.

So far, this championship series has followed the same script as a year ago, with the home team winning the opening matchup, then falling in Game 2 to lose the home-court edge. Miami took the sting of that into Dallas last year and used it as fuel to win Game 3 — and the Heat will look to ensure that trend doesn’t repeat itself when the title matchup resumes on their home floor Sunday night.

“You’ve got the two best teams in the league right now going against each other,” Wade said Saturday, when practices resumed after a day off for both clubs. “So it’s going to be a very tough game, but we have to find a way to win it. And it’s about taking, like I said, one possession at a time, one second, one minute at a time to make sure we reach our goal — and that’s to win the game.”

A Game 3 victory assures nothing, a lesson the Heat learned the hard way last year. That win in Dallas was Miami’s final victory of the season.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

Thunder must stop slow starts in Finals

The Thunder had to overcome first-half deficits of 13 and 17 points in the series which is knotted at one game each.

“We just have to play harder to start the games,” said Durant during Saturday’s practice. “We are doing it a little too late. We watched film — the first 10 minutes of the game and we kind of relaxed. I don’t know why.

“It was tough to watch … you look at it and say ‘wow, did I really just do that?’

“It falls back on me as a leader. I have to start the games with a lot of intensity. No matter if I am making shots or missing shots or if I make a bad defensive rotation. I just have got to start off with a lot of energy.”

The Thunder rallied from a 13-point first-half deficit to win game one 105-94. They dug themselves an even deeper hole in the first quarter of game two by falling behind by 17 points. But this time they couldn’t climb out of it, losing 100-96.

— Reported by Greg Heakes of the Associated Press

Shane Battier continues 3-pointer party in Game 2

Shane Battier has done most of the damage for the Heat from three-point range this series; the 33-year old forward out of Duke has gone 9 of 12 from downtown in the first two games of the series.

During the regular season, Miami finished ninth in three-point field-goal percentage at 35 percent, but that number dropped a bit to 33 percent in the playoffs. But in Miami’s playoff wins this season, its has averaged 41 percent from three-point range compared to just 24 percent in its losses.

Battier, who was a acquired in free agency last summer after playing the last season for the Memphis Grizzlies, struggled from long range during the regular season, hitting his second worst percentage of his career at .339 percent.

But the veteran has turned it on in the playoffs; hitting 50 percent combined against the Celtics and the Thunder.

— Reported by Adam Kemp, special to the Miami Herald

Chris Bosh starts and delivers double-double in Finals Game 2

Chris Bosh hadn’t started a game since May 13 and hadn’t recorded a double-double since April 16. By the end of the first half on Thursday night, those uncharacteristically long streaks had ended.

Heat coach Erik Spoelsta, stubbornly keeping his lineup secret pregame, finally pulled the expected trigger, inserting the seven-time All-Star into the starting lineup.

Bosh rewarded that trust, grabbing 10 points and 10 rebounds in the first half, en route to a 16-point, 15-rebound effort.

“I kind of put it in my mind that I knew that I had to really give the effort that I had been giving before, whether I was ready or not,” Bosh said. “Fortunately things went well for us, it went well for me individually.”

— Reported by Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman

Heat survive Thunder rally for 100-96 win, tie NBA Finals 1-1

LeBron James needed some help, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh provided it.

The Miami Heat finally rediscovered the formula to winning in the NBA Finals – barely.

James had another finals career high with scored 32 points, Wade rebounded from a poor opener to add 24 and the Heat built a huge early lead before holding off a furious fourth-quarter rally behind their three All-Stars to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 100-96 on Thursday night, tying the series at one game apiece.

Bosh had 16 points and 15 rebounds in his return to the starting lineup for the Heat, who snapped a four-game finals losing streak with their first victory since Game 3 against Dallas last year…

Kevin Durant scored 32 points for the Thunder, but missed a shot after appearing to be bumped with James that would have tied a game the Thunder trailed the entire way. Russell Westbrook finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but shot 10 of 25 from the field.

James Harden tried to keep the Thunder in it early and finished with 21 points, but this time the Thunder couldn’t come back from a double-digit deficit after spotting Miami a 17-point advantage during their worst first half of the season…

Durant nailed a 3-pointer and drove into the lane to throw down a dunk over Battier that cut it to 82-74 with 8:22 remaining. His 3-pointer from the wing trimmed it to 90-86, and the Thunder got it all the way to 94-91 when Westbrook dunked Durant’s miss with 1:48 to go.

James answered by banking in a jumper for his first basket of the final period, as the Big Three combined for all but one of Miami’s seven field goals in the fourth quarter.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

The Heat outscored the Thunder 48-32 in the paint and seemingly executed every adjustment it wanted to make after its collapse in Game 1 but still, somehow, Miami watched it nearly all unravel in the final seconds. The Heat led 98-91 with less than 50 seconds to play when Russell Westbrook cut it to a two-possession game with a driving layup. The Heat then fumbled away the ball bringing it up the court, and Kevin Durant scooped it up for an easy three-pointer with 37.5 seconds. It cut the Heat’s lead to 98-96.

Suddenly, after so much had gone right for the Heat, it was dangerously close to going down 2-0 in the series. Durant, who finished with 32 points, had the ball in his hands with less than 10 seconds to play but missed a seven-foot bank shot. James desperately grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled immediately by Westbrook. James made his final free throws of the night to seal the victory.

“Well, that’s competition, and that’s what it’s about,” Spoelstra said.

Dwyane Wade, critiqued for looking a little past his prime in Game 1, responded with 24 points, including 13 in the first half. Wade was 10 of 20 from the field and 4 of 6 from the free-throw line.

Starting his first game since the Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Chris Bosh had 16 points and 15 rebounds, including seven offensive boards. He breathed life into the Heat’s half-court offense from the beginning of the game and settled the defense on the other end.

— Reported by Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald

The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t just get out to a slow start in Game 2. They got punched in the mouth. Then when they didn’t punch back right away, they got punched again.

Ironically it wasn’t until Kevin Durant, the Thunder’s go-to scorer and Russell Westbrook, their other go-to scorer had to sit down with two early fouls each that the Thunder started to cut into the deficit.

Not so ironically, it was the same duo that would bring the Thunder back getting them all the way back to within two, but that was as close as they would get as Miami held on for a 100-96 win and a split of the series.

The Heat, desperate as they might be, are still a team capable of having their way with anyone and even after the Thunder seemed to be on the way to righting the ship, Miami found the strength to hold them off.

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra set the desperate tone for the night when he put Chris Bosh back in the starting lineup alongside Shane Battier in the frontcourt.

— Reported by Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun

Heat contained James Harden in Finals Game 1

The Heat’s defense is hounding Harden. Miami is making things tough by blowing up ball screens and aggressively attacking Harden in the pick-and-roll, preventing him from either turning the corner or resorting to his preferred method of splitting the screen and driving into the paint. The Heat’s aggression has taken Harden completely out of the offense.

“The three times we’ve played them, they’ve done a good job with James; of really attacking his dribble and trapping his pick-and-rolls,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks following his team’s shootaround Thursday morning. “But he has to figure that out by moving it quickly and attacking the outside foot of the bigs. I expect him to do that much better tonight.”

Miami’s small lineup is causing Harden most of his problems. With LeBron James, Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem serving as the Heat’s “bigs,” Harden is being met by athletic wings in James and Battier, and an agile power forward in Haslem, after using the screen. They’re effectively cutting off his space and forcing Harden to give up the ball.

“That’s the Heat’s DNA, they always do a great job on pick-and-roll situations,” said Kevin Durant.

— Reported by Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman (Blog)

Kevin Durant discusses an annoying Shane Battier defensive habit

Shane Battier began the practice of sticking his hand in an opposing shooter’s face midway through his career and, by now, is known for it around the league. Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant said he “hates” it, the first time Battier says any player has acknowledged it.

“Kobe would never say that,” Battier said. “He’d swear up and down on all his championship trophies it doesn’t bother him. He wouldn’t give you anything.”

Battier said he respects Durant as much as anyone in the game for how he carries himself and plays the game. The public talk of Battier’s defense surprised the Heat player, though.

Asked if anyone else in the league face–guards opponents like he does, Battier said: “A couple of guys do it to me just to piss me off. But their technique needs work. It wasn’t effective.”

— Reported by Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Dwyane Wade plans on being more aggressive against Thunder

Wade has already passed the symbolic baton of team leader and go-to scorer to James. In the East finals, simply getting out of the way and allowing James to dominate was enough. But the Thunder is a far a more superior offensive team than the Celtics. For all the talk of defensive adjustments, figuring out the Thunder might boil down to one simple truth: Wade needs to score more points. He will get his chance Thursday in Game 2 at Oklahoma City.

“I mean, I want to score more points,” Wade said. “I don’t deal with the pressure of that. That’s when you start thinking too much, too many questions start coming up in your mind, you start overanalyzing things.

“I want to score more points, I want to get my team more to give us an opportunity to win the series.”

So, what’s the plan?

“I’ll be more aggressive,” Wade said.

The Thunder’s young duo of Durant and Westbrook outscored the Heat’s entire team 41-40 in the second half. Want to talk about aggression? Oklahoma City had 24 points in transition. The Heat had four. Oklahoma City had 56 points in the paint. The Heat had 40.

— Reported by Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald

Kevin Durant rocks the 4th in Finals Game 1

Kevin Durant showed LeBron James how to play the fourth quarter in the NBA Finals.

Durant scored 17 of his 36 points in another nightmarish final period for James and his team, leading a Thunder storm that overwhelmed the Heat and gave Oklahoma City a 105-94 victory over Miami in Game 1 on Tuesday night.

Teaming with Russell Westbrook to outscore the Heat in the second half by themselves, Durant struck first in his head-to-head matchup with James, who had seven points in the final quarter and was helpless to stop the league’s three-time scoring champion.

“They didn’t make many mistakes in the fourth quarter,” James said.

Westbrook turned around a poor shooting start to finish with 27 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for the Thunder, keying a strong finish to the third period that gave the Thunder the lead for good.

— Reported by the San Antonio Express-News