Miami Heat Blog – Page 97 – NBA Blog

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)

Dwyane Wade enjoyed the Dream Team NBA TV special

Wade, who was part of the 2008 “Redeem Team” and is a possible — though not certain — participant in the 2012 Games in London, was just 10 at the time. As a viewer, he was most amused by John Stockton getting off the bus and shooting video of fans who didn’t recognize the 6-foot-1, average-looking Jazz point guard.

He was most intrigued by the interactions.

“I didn’t know the relationships that them guys had or didn’t have,” Wade said. “I think the biggest thing that surprised me was probably Michael Jordan and (late Detroit and U.S. coach) Chuck Daly. I know the rivalry between Chicago and Detroit, and for those guys to go out and golf and have the relationship they had, I found that very shocking…. But you understand it, especially playing on the Olympic game, with all these great players and different personalities, and knowing how our team came together.”

— Reported by Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post (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

Nick Collison clutch in Finals Game 1

Only Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Thabo Sefolosha played more minutes that Collison in the second half, when the Thunder outscored Miami 58-40.

“We came out, I think we were a little tight,” Collison said. “They took away some of our energy. It didn’t seem like us in the first half defensively.

“Second half, we just relaxed and played. We were more physical, more aggressive. We started getting into ball handlers. We didn’t have as many breakdowns either. I just think we calmed down and were more comfortable in the second half.”

Ask any Thunder fan: Collison can have that effect on you, on a game. He played all but 29 seconds of a fourth quarter the Thunder led all the way, and the results were spectacular.

Twice he came up with key offensive rebounds on tips — the kind of tips Tyson Chandler made a career out of. Both tips produced big baskets.

— Reported by Michael Sherman of the Oklahoman

Thunder beat Heat for 1-0 NBA Finals lead

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

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

Durant took over from there.

Scoring in nearly every way possible, Durant finished 12 of 20 from the field and added eight rebounds. He and Westbrook outscored the Heat 41-40 over the final two periods, showing that maybe this time it will be offense that wins championships.

”Those guys they came out on fire. They were passing the ball well, knocking down shots,” Durant said. ”We just wanted to keep playing. It’s a long game.”

James finished with 30 points, his most in any of his 11 finals games, but had only one basket over the first 8:15 of the fourth, when the Thunder seized control of a game they trailed for all but the final few seconds of the first three quarters…

Dwyane Wade had 19 points but shot just 7 of 19 for the Heat, while Shane Battier provided some rare offense by scoring 17 points, his high this postseason.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

The night’s scoring kicked off with a 24-foot, Shane Battier three-point strike 53 seconds into the game and like a boulder pushed down a steep hill, the momentum continued to build. Battier was a man on a mission from tip-off.

The 33-year-old, calm, cool and collected vet continued his long distance assault on the Oklahoma City Thunder for much of the opening quarter.

With 9:27 on the clock, Battier took a feed from Mario Chalmers and zipped a 25 footer in from the left wing.

He’d start 3 of 3 from beyond the arc on the night following a missed strike by OKC’s Kevin Durant. Battier answered the Thunder miss-fire with a decisive 25-foot strike, giving Miami the 17-10 lead early in the game.

Battier finished the first half making 5 of 6 from the field while sinking 3 of 4 three-pointers, scoring 13 points and tallying two rebounds.

— Reported by Chris Wescott, special to the Miami Herald

James and Wade downplayed the loss.

“This was the feel out game,” James said. “We come here with a lot of energy, try to steal Game 1 and now we get an opportunity to go to the chalkboard, go to the film and have a better game plan for Game 2 since we’ve already seen what they’re capable of doing.”

Chris Bosh, who came off the bench, had 10 points and five rebounds in 34 minutes. Shane Battier had 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting. He was 4 of 6 from three-point range. Mario Chalmers had 12 points, including 10 in the first half.

In an eye-opening statistic, the Thunder outscored the Heat 24-4 in fast-break points. Oklahoma City out-rebounded the Heat 43-35 and had 56 points in the paint.

“They’re fast, they’re explosive, so we’ll have to adjust to that,” said Spoelstra, who added the biggest difference between the first and second halves was .

The Heat led the entire first half and the beginning of the third quarter but a driving layup by Thabo Sefolosha tied the score at 60-60 with 6:44 to play. Led by Westbrook, the Thunder outscored the Heat 27-19 in the third quarter. James had nine points in the period and Wade had six but Bosh contributed nothing.

— Reported by Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald