Game 1 is now in the books and the Thunder have a 1-0 series lead thanks to excellent play from Durant and the rowdy fans. Chesapeake Energy Arena was rocking it is one of the loudest arena NBA and the fans took it up a notch for the finals. Miami jumped out to an early lead, but it was not close to enough. Oklahoma City took it to Miami in the second half outscoring them by 18 and at one point Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook had more points than than the entire Heat team in the second half. Kevin Durant was just too much for the Heat to handle, it seemed like anything he threw up was going in. Also if you haven’t noticed Durant has proved he is the best closer in the league. Westbrook had double digit assists and as I have said before when that happens the Thunder will win.
The Thunder went down by 13 points early in the game, but they adjusted and the Heat were never able to counter it. They took their first lead late in the 3rd quarter on driving Westbrook and 1. After that the Thunder never seemed to let up and it lead to a double digit win. Durant finished with 36 points 8 rebounds and 4 assists, if he gets anything close to this the rest of the series, which he will, the Thunder will be the new finals champions. Westbrook was oh so close to a triple double, only needing 2 more rebounds to complete it. He also added 27 points and 11 assist. He was only 10-24 from the field normally that would mean he had a bad game, but he has matured enough this year so he can still play well when his shot is falling, The Heat need to slow him down, they have a chance with him, not so much with Durant. Harden only had 5 points and that wont happen again so the Heat will have to adjust accordingly. Scott Brooks showed he isn’t afraid to mix up his lineups, he sat Perkins and Ibaka for the 4th quarter. He went with the hot players in Collison and Sefolosha. They flat outplayed the Heat in the second half and it lead to the win.
Lebron James had a nice game with 30 points 9 rebounds and 4 assists, but he shot 11-24 from the field and I know a lot of people don’t want to hear it, but James was 2-6 for 7 points in the 4th. He really needs to step it up when the rest of his team doesn’t have it going. Wade is the real problem right now, he does not seem into it. It seems like he is being passive aggressive about the Heat not being his team anymore, he is settling for way too many jumpers. He only had 19 points and 8 assists and was awful from the field, he needs to find his game for the Heat to have a chance in this series. Bosh needs to start the next game, he only had 10 points and 5 boards, but he is not used to coming off the bench and is obviously not comfortable not starting. This game may have been a blow out if Mario Chalmers and Shane Battier didn’t combine for 17 points in the first quarter.
Miami doesn’t have the talent to match up with Oklahoma City in this series especially with Wade playing the way he is. Spoelstra needs to, first, start Chris Bosh and come out with a superior game plan which I don’t think he is capable of. If next game is anything like this one the Thunder will go up 2-0 and most likely win this series in 6 maybe 5. The Heat need to pull out all of the stops for them to pull out this series. They did come back in the last 2 series, but the Thunder are a whole different animal. I believe the Thunder will win again by double digits and will have full control of the series.
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