Official Miami Heat (4) vs OKC Thunder (1) NBA Finals Thread - Miami Heat NBA Champions

[dallassneakerhead08]

OKC missed a grip of FT's, that's the reason they lost...period. The media was ready to crush this heat team for choking away the game @ home with all those damn ******ed turnovers in the 4th but they showed perseverance. Yet, I don't hear anyone clowning KD for his 4th quarter Casper act. Oh.

 

[metrokid26]

^ Not to mention James Harden blowing the game for them. The guy on offense swears he's the western conference resurrection of Michael Jordan, and on defense he's Paul Pierce.

Westbrook needs to be moved to the 2 position. The guy is athletically gifted to body any PG in the league, but doesn't have the consistency to distribute the ball all the time.

 

[proshares]

BTW, I didn't see this much outrage when KD plowed through Battier in Game 2 which should have been his 6th foul. +%%% needs to go both ways with some of you.

 

[dior paint]

Russell Westbrook being aggressive and Russell Westbrook being in control should be able to operate simultaneously. That's what some of you apologists don't understand. When he goes through those stretches where he's extremely erratic...that's not him being "aggressive". That's flat out being OC.

 

[mjdalegend]

Originally Posted by 1994SS

Originally Posted by Scientific Method

Spolstra is like, well if nobody's gonna gaurd him I will.

 

[airjordan jb23]

Spo

Stupid move by Harden at the end... That inbounds play didn't help either. Good win for Miami.

 

[doitallpaul]

Originally Posted by quik1987

Why the Thunder lost:
- Sat BOTH KD and Russ at a critical time during the 3rd
- Perkins got more PT than Ibaka Perkins plays a very good game.
- Russ taking bad shots
- FT shooting

Why it was even close:
- Dwade + 4th Quarter Turnover's

But sure, blame the refs.

 

[doitallpaul]

Originally Posted by thekillerj23

Thunder can't miss FT's like that again or go into that stanky leg, iso offense they were running at the end

I still see Thunder taking game 4

I think this game may have taken a lot of confidence out of the Thunder, they were up 10 in the 3rd and saw that lead disappear in 3-4 minutes. They then lost all team chemistry.

 

[seymore cake]

Originally Posted by Mez 0ne

Refs need to chill with those ticky tack fouls early in the 1st quarter on KD, 2 of them were not even legit fouls...and when the real fouls occur he has to sit. OKC was prime to extend their lead and once KD had to sit for the remainder of the 3rd quarter they lost the lead quickly. I don't want to watch an NBA finals game dictated by how the refs want it to be dictated, the stars should all be out on the floor and let the game play out.

I'll give you the space clearing foul against Wade... But the other 3 are being called anywhere Refs officiate. both fouls he committed on Bron ( the reach in on the drive & the grabbing and holding him through the pick) as well as his fourth.  Anytime you go up in the air and allow a player to go up as you come down you're going to get called for that. 90-95% of the time. Then that Block call was definitely the right call as he was falling before Bron even made contact.

Perkins called him out saying he just has to play smarter all of those fouls were fouls (maybe the block/charge could've gone the other way) but they were fouls and he's got to play smarter even if that means giving Bron the lay up on those plays so he stays on the floor.

Mia is just attacking the basket more aggressively than OKC is right now as they're settling for jump shots.  As a result Bron & Wade are feasting at the line.

 

[scientific method]

LoL at people still blaming Westbrook. Dude was 8 for 18 (44%) with 2 of those shots being hero shots at the end. I guess everyone misses where KD had 5 tos, terrible defense, dumb fouls, Harden going 3 for 10, and Brooks sitting Russ and KD together while a 10 pt lead turns into a 1 pt deficit, Fisher playing almost 30 minutes, very little Ibaka even though all but 5 of their baskets came in the paint.

I am back on the fire Brooks bandwagon. Speaking of which, there is a rumor he was offered 3yrs 11mil but turned it down because he wants a 4th yr

 

[mytoasterspeak]

Bottom line, the Thunder, like Dallas has to TAKE the series, because the refs and the Heat aren't going to do them any favors. Folks in here saying the refs had nothing to do with loss, are blind or Heat fans. Joey Crawford wouldn't be trending on Twitter if something fishy weren't going.on

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

OKC has yet to play a solid game in this series....I can't picture them playing 5 poor games in a row, so one of these next two they will get things rolling.

When Kendrick Perkins is the only player hitting free throws on your team, that's a problem.  Harden, KD, Collison....all bricking free throws on the road will not get it done.  Careless turnovers in the 4th quarter and miscommincations. 

Yes there were some bad calls, but OKC still was in a position to win. 

I expect Harden to play better and OKC to shoot much better.

This series may find a way to get to 7 games after all. 

 

[duba169]

I wanna see lebron is massive foul trouble two games in a row. I'm sure his fans would be fine with it. Okc didn't even get a home court.








MIAMI -- I present the following not as a conspiracy theory, but as a fact:

A judgment call by an official late in Game 2 of the NBA Finals went in favor of LeBron James, and that judgment call allowed the Heat to escape with a victory against the Thunder. Three days later, on Sunday night, a judgment call by an official again went in favor of LeBron James -- and that call allowed the Heat to hit the clinching free throw and escape Game 3 with a 91-85 victory.

Again, that's not me launching a conspiracy theory. That's me telling you the way that it is, and the way it is has the Heat holding a 2-1 lead on the Thunder -- with both wins sealed by a referee's decision of a 50-50 call in favor of LeBron James.

Well, hold on -- I'm trying to deal with facts here, not theories, so let me clear up one fact in that last sentence:

Those were not 50-50 calls that went in favor of LeBron James. That would be generous to the officials, and I'm not in a generous mood to say either call looked as close as a 50-50 proposition. Not Thursday in Game 2, and not Sunday in Game 3, when a bizarre call -- dare I say phantom call -- 45 feet from the basket sent James to the foul line with 16.2 seconds left and the Heat holding a three-point lead. James hit the second of two free throws to make it a four-point game, a two-possession game, and it was essentially over.

Reggie Miller wasn't walking through that door, and the Thunder would have no miracle finish. Not on a night when they were more Keystone Kop than NBA finalist, their sloppy game capped by Thabo Sefolosha's inbounds pass to nobody with 15 seconds left that finished the Thunder for good.

Although that phantom call pretty much finished them first.

If you saw the call late in Game 3, you know what I'm talking about. Unless you're a Heat fan, and then never mind. For everyone else, you saw Thunder guard James Harden harassing James on the perimeter, pressuring the ball loose and then staying uncomfortably close as James regained control. As Harden hovered nearby, James lurched into him once, then twice. The second time, Harden went to the floor.

Flop? Probably, yeah. But when the official blew his whistle, it wasn't a 50-50 call because there were three options, two of them favoring the Thunder: One, no call at all. Two, a charge on James. Three, blocking on Harden. The referee went with No. 3, and the game was basically over. The three-time MVP was given two free throws with 16.2 seconds left, needing to hit just one to put the game essentially out of reach. James hit one.

Game over.

Also déjà vu --- because James received a similarly generous whistle in the previous game. You saw that call, too, so you know exactly what I'm talking about. Unless you're a Heat fan, in which case you'll want to ignore LeBron's left forearm on Durant's upper body as Durant goes up for a 10-footer with 11 seconds left and the Thunder needing two points to tie the game.

No whistle. The shot missed, James rebounded and was fouled, and he went to the line with the chance to make it a two-possession game in the final seconds. That was Game 2. But it was also Game 3.

And this is not a conspiracy theory, because if it were, I'd note that Kevin Durant received a lousy whistle in Game 3. (See for yourself. Here were the first four fouls.) The first foul, ironically enough, came when Durant had the ball in his hands and gave to Dwyane Wade the same sort of shoulder that LeBron gave to Harden in the final seconds. The results? Offensive foul on Durant. Defensive foul on Harden.

Durant spent several minutes on the bench with foul trouble, including the game-changing span late in the third quarter when the Thunder surrendered a 10-point lead shortly after Durant was sent to the bench with his fourth foul against Wade -- on a play where it sure looked like Durant didn't touch Wade. As he stood near the Thunder bench, Durant muttered to himself these words:

"I didn't touch him."

After the game, Durant was more charitable.

"I try not to concern myself with the officiating," he said. "They're going to make their calls, and there's nothing we can do about it. We can't change it. Just got to play through it. There's going to be some calls they may miss. They're human."

Well said, and so true, and also skirting the issue that officials have helped decide each of the last two games of the NBA Finals, both in favor of the Miami Heat, by giving the benefit of the doubt -- perhaps a little bit more than that -- to the most famous basketball player in the world. It would be naïve to say officials aren't influenced by the level of fame in front of them, which is why Daequan Cook can flop all game and get nothing, while Dwyane Wade comes apart like Mr. Potato Head and gets rewarded with a trip to the line.

It's a rigged game, but usually it's a fair game. The referees are so bad, so affected by the star power in front of them, that the calls usually even out. Both teams tend to have stars, so both teams tend to get atrocious calls on their behalf. Kobe Bryant probably owes 1,000 of his 29,484 career points -- roughly 12 percent of his made free throws -- to generous calls, the kind of calls you get when you're Kobe Bryant, but not when you're Thabo Sefolosha. This is the way of the NBA: Officials are incompetent, but they're so incompetent that neither team gets an edge.

That's not much for comfort, but that's as much as I can offer. Only I can't offer it today, not to Thunder fans, because they have almost as much star power as the Heat, yet they're not getting the calls at the end of the game. The Heat got those calls. The Heat got those games.

The Heat might just be two games away from winning a championship, and if this trend continues, we'll remember these as the NBA Finals that were decided by an official's call. And not one. Not two. Not ...


http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/ ... f-the-time

 

[sorkoram]

Miami shot 38% at home and gave up too many turnovers, yet still won. Key thing is them limiting OKCs transition offense and getting physical on offense. Durant isn't catching it anywhere he wants it, unless he is coming off a pin down.

Miami can play much better, as can OKC, but I do expect better offensive production out of Bosh and Chalmers.

Defensively Miami is playing better ball and hitting ft's.

The play that stood out to me - 1st half Bron gets rejected in the post, then debo's Perkins for the ball, he just wanted it more. If the supposed "villains" win, it was all officiating, not because OKC is allowing them to live in the paint.

 

[ThaxbyChamblis]

There's like 6 heat fans on the board and I doubt they would be enough to push this to 145 pgs sooo....yeah......

Oh, I see what's going on. Should the Heat win, they ( & Bron) are gonna get the * Like they (and Wade) got the * in '06. I see now

 

[losalmighty]

you don't foul jump shooters. you learn that in middle school.

 

[ThaxbyChamblis]

Originally Posted by Scientific Method

LoL at people still blaming Westbrook. Dude was 8 for 18 (44%) with 2 of those shots being hero shots at the end. I guess everyone misses where KD had 5 tos, terrible defense, dumb fouls, Harden going 3 for 10, and Brooks sitting Russ and KD together while a 10 pt lead turns into a 1 pt deficit, Fisher playing almost 30 minutes, very little Ibaka even though all but 5 of their baskets came in the paint.

I am back on the fire Brooks bandwagon. Speaking of which, there is a rumor he was offered 3yrs 11mil but turned it down because he wants a 4th yr

Bro who gave Fish the green light to shoot a pull up 3 on a fast break?

 

[mytoasterspeak]

Also, Westbrook. That stretch during the third quarter when Sefolosha and Durant got hot, Westbrook got salty because he wasn't a part of the scoring during that run. He proceeded to take five, TERRIBLE!!!!! shots in a row, and pound the ball into the floor until the shot clock ran out. He can not do that and the Thunder win. I can argue that, that five minute stretch doomed the Thunder also, he ruined the momentum and run because he wanted in on the action, and a point guard is not supposed to feel that way. SUPPLY THE BALL TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HOT.

 

[finallyfamous]

Youth & Inexperience will be the death of OKC.

Harden & Westbrook are playing like kids all high off sugar... SETTLE DOWN!!!!

Has anyone else noticed how easy the Heat are getting to the paint?

Lebron seriously is untouched/guarded on like all of his layups..

The only positive thing for the Thunder is that in the 2 losses, they have made furious comebacks to try and steal it.

Game 4. must win. I hope they do it, 2-2 would be

..

Finals have been good.

 

[dior paint]

Originally Posted by FinallyFamous



Lebron seriously is untouched/guarded on like all of his layups..

Right. What the hell is Kendrick Perkins' purpose on the team if dudes are going to have free reign in the paint.
More of then than not he's just standing there watching Bron or Wade lay the ball up with no resistance.

 

[scientific method]

It eould be a tough argument to make because they were up 10. The almost 6 minuyes to end the 3rd sans Westbrook and Durant saw a 10 pt lead turn into a 1 pt deficit before Brooks bought them back.

 

[finallyfamous]

Perkins just is out there, and I feel like he's going 60%

.. Just pouting .. always looking so mad.

Play some defense bro

 

[IATT]

perkins is a good on the ball defender against post guys.. problem is, miami doesn't really have a post guy


he doesn't have the literally quickness to cheat off whomever is playing center for them.. which is why ibaka and/or collison should be getting the majority of the "center" minutes for us

 

[dior paint]

OKC could really use a stretch 4.

 

[ravagebx]

Originally Posted by DubA169

I wanna see lebron is massive foul trouble two games in a row. I'm sure his fans would be fine with it. Okc didn't even get a home court.

That's not the way it works fam. Why do people act as though foul discrepancy should be even? LeBron is a better defender than KD. He knows when to be aggressive and when to fall back. A lot of KD's fouls are self-inflicted. He hasn't quite figured out how to be aggressive without fouling or APPEARING to foul. Chalk it up to inexperience. That article you posted is pretty much a complete crock and I'm already growing tired of all the complaints about officiating. KD is my second favorite player in the league and I gotta call it how I see it (which as a Knicks fan and Heat hater by rivalry may in fact be jaded at times), and that is that it's been relatively fairly officiated.