[J W]

Split the first two games, Miami gets 2 of 3 in Miami, OKC gets game 6, and it comes down to game 7. Obviously hoping OKC wins it.

 

[grokit]

That sounds about right. But if OKC manages to hold home court all bets are off!
 
Wild cards: Can the Heat's defense slow the Thunder down, and can anybody slow LeBron down.

 

[kckc]

This is going to be a great series. I'm going to say OKC in 7.

 

[grokit]

The Heat made the Celtics look old.
Can the Thunder make the Heat look old, that is the question.

 

[flaming_june]

Are we all watching to see lebron fail?  I'm rooting for OKC being a ray ray celts fan.

 

[OJNeg]

It's not just Lebron right now (I'm watching the end of the 4th). The Heat are falling apart like a bunch of amateurs. They're sluggish to get back on defense and indecisive on offense. It's surprising to see them let OKC back in after they played so well in the 4th against the Celts. OKC has so much more energy and desire it would seem. If the Heat don't turn it around, OKC will take it in 5 games.

 

[kckc]

The Thunder showed great poise in their first Finals appearance. 

 

[Maxvla]

3 to go. Bring it home, Thunder.

James was well guarded, but still posted good numbers 30 and 9, a great effort by anyone, but the rest of the Heat did nothing at all, except some nice 3 ball action by Battier early.

 

[grokit]

The Thunder stepped it up in the second half, and Miami ran out of gas. They just came through a tough game 7 a few days ago, plus a long plane ride. I expect the next game to go down to the wire. Remember it's not a series until the home team loses. OKC has some great fans, the Chesapeake Energy Arena was rockin'!

 

[sridhar3]

Quote:

OKC has some great fans, the Chesapeake Energy Arena was rockin'!

 
No kidding.  The arena was so loud, you could barely hear ref whistles!  I wonder what kind of db levels they had up in there.
 
OKC has some great defensive players to put on Lebron, but I don't think anybody can really actually "defend" against him.  Thabo Sefolosha did as much as he could, and did a great job keeping Lebron to 30, but realistically, his numbers were low (relatively) because he missed a lot of make-able shots and not because of the defense.  Aside from double-teaming him, I don't see anybody being able to damper his energy and athleticism.
 
I'm glad to see OKC playing as well as they are.  I'm gonna have to throw down and buy a James Harden jersey at some point.

 

[OJNeg]

Quote:

 
OKC has some great defensive players to put on Lebron, but I don't think anybody can really actually "defend" against him.  Thabo Sefolosha did as much as he could, and did a great job keeping Lebron to 30, but realistically, his numbers were low (relatively) because he missed a lot of make-able shots and not because of the defense.  Aside from double-teaming him, I don't see anybody being able to damper his energy and athleticism.
 

 
Lebron's going to get his points no matter who you put on him. There's no doubt he's a great scorer. It's the way the rest of the Heat play that makes me think that this series is going to be cut short.

 

[J W]

You just know the Heat are going to get some games where Lebron is nailing those jumpers and the refs are awarding the Heat 40 free throws. It'll be interesting to see how the Thunder respond.

 

[grokit]

Yeah It was like three superstars against one last night. Well maybe two against one because Harden didn't have that great a game either. I think Miami's main problem is injuries to Bosch and Wade, hopefully they will be able to bring it tomorrow. Then maybe we'll have series for the ages. Something tells me that no matter who wins these two teams will see each other in the finals again, if they both stay intact. Which in Miami's case is a big if, if they lose again.

 

[Radio_head]

Interestingly enough, Lebron and Durant had the same amount of free throws even though Lebron took more shots.  They had a similar ratio of shooting to attacking too, so I'd say the refs were pretty even-handed in handing out "superstar calls."  Miami also went in the penalty early in two separate quarters, leading to lots of extra FT's for OKC.  They thrive on this- they are the best FT shooting team in the league and it also disrupts the flow of the opposing team's offense.  
 
Total FT's in Game 1: 27-18 OKC.  About 8 were in penalty situations so it was quite even.  Sure, there will be games when Lebron, Durant, or Westbrook will attack the basket relentlessly and have a 15-20 free throw game, but when players like that get going and start beating their man, fouls are inevitable while trying to catch up or mitigate losses.  That's a large part of why players like this get so many FT's.

 

[Rawrbington]