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

Battier could be completely ineffective, or he could give Russell an absolute headache with his annoying defense.

That leaves Bron on KD, and Wade on Harden, which I think are much better match-ups than trying to have Wade chase around Russell all game, that will tire him out quick, look what it did to Tony Parker.

Tony Parker excelled in quite a few early games, but Russ just wore him down because he's younger, stronger, and faster.

Someone like Battier could solely just focus on trying to shut down Russell, and sit in the corners on offense.

KD V LBJ. Damn.
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I won't be able to watch G1, my last final of undergraduate degree is the following day, but I can't wait to see the rest of the series.
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I'm riding with Big J and Chester on this one... Heat in 6.
 
Another thing, I think the refs will play heavily into this series with the refs favoring OKC heavy in OKC and favoring Miami heavy in Miami, just my opinion
 
OKC in 5. The HEAT barely squirted by the Celtics and I expect Kevin Durant to transform into an Angel of basketball on the court and shine his light of pure basketball scoring brightly. May LeBrons hairline rest in peace for this is his final year of having it after the stress of not getting another ring. This will be the first of many finals meetings between these two I believe. The X factor in this matchup is really Ovals tho. If he and Perkins can protect the paint and board well its going to get ugly.
 
[h1]2012 NBA Finals Heat-Thunder: Matchup by Matchup[/h1]
By Matt Moore
Breaking down the matchup advantages ... and disadvantages, for each of the major players in the 2012 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder. 

Russell Westbrook: Westbrook is a tipping point in this series. He'll blow by Mario Chalmers. No question. How he does on Dwyane Wade and LeBron James is the question. Westbrook goes for the two-dribble-off-screen pull-up jumper a lot. If it's falling, he's unstoppable. If it's not, the Thunder lose a big component. The Heat will try and lure him into that to keep him in front of them. 

The temptation will be to say that Wade can't possibly stay in front of him, but you're missing out on the work Wade did on Rondo in the second half of Games 6 and 7. The guy's still got some tricks in him. Meanwhile, James on Westbrook is fascinating. James can check Rondo, but not stop him. Can he do the same to Westbrook? Is Westbrook faster than Rondo? Will he have to accelerate to a point he can't control himself at the rim? 

How Joel Anthony, Shane Battier, and Udonis Haslem get in front of Westbrook and if they can draw charges will be huge. 

Defensively, Westbrooks' going to wreak some havoc. He's also going to allow some points. If he's up on Wade he may get too eager and over play, allowing Wade to get to his runner, which is bad. And more than one team has found that Mario Chalmers can score at the rim this year. The Thunder may be surprised by what Chalmers brings if he gets past Westbrook. 

Mario Chalmers: If he's stuck against Westbrook, it's just about trying to stay on the floor. That's it. Chalmers doesn't have the speed or ability to hang with Westbrook. 

But he can offset some of that offensively. He'll have looks on the perimeter and has hit some big threes. He has to knock down his looks, and he has to be aggressive. Chalmers can get to the rim. But that's on place where Serge Ibaka could feast, where the Celtics could not. 

Chalmers is facing the biggest challenge of his professional career. 

James Harden: What a fascinating set of matchups. Harden wound up out-dueling Manu Ginobili, but Ginobili got his licks in. Harden hit tough, contested shots. Will those go in vs. better defenders? Can he draw fouls at a high rate on Dwyane Wade? 

Harden can make big defensive plays in passing lanes. Can he handle Dwyane Wade or LeBron James face-up? Probably not. But he'll get help. Harden hitting those tough contested threes is big for the Thunder offense. It doesn't seem smart, but then, very little about the Thunder offense seems that way, and yet, here they are. 

Harden may face some time against Battier. On defense, that'll allow him to help and gamble since you can take your chances with Battier's threes in a make-or-miss scenario. Offensively, it's a tough matchup, but Harden's got he speed to get to the edge. Pick and roll work could allow Harden to really do damage against the Heat's defense. 

Thabo Sefolosha: Knock down open threes, like you did in the Spurs series, only with a defender actually closing on you. Anything Thabo provides offensively is gravy.

Defensively, Wade's the best matchup. Sefolosha could get brutalized by James in the post if they stick him on him, or even face-up on the drive. Wade on the other hand, could struggle with Sefolosha's length. Thabo needs to take the Battier tactic. Play off and push him baseline, contest on the jumper. You live with Wade doing damage. You're just trying to shave points off. 

Dwyane Wade: Wade's been struggling, but he's also faced a much tougher defense. Wade has to get on the move. He can't settle for the jumper. He's about to have a lot more opportunities at the rim, though. If Ibaka doesn't block it, Wade can't get points. But he's going to need the pick and roll to spring him to get into the interior. Wade's going to hit the deck. Perkins and Collison will take care of that. He can draw fouls at a high rate.

Maybe biggest is he has to not get frustrated. James Harden is going to draw fouls on him. He's got to play through it. He's got to get back in transition. If Wade lollygags getting back complaining like he did vs. Boston, that's going to kill them. 

Wade could take punishment going through screens. He needs to go under screens, daring the mid-range jump-shooter, and he's going to have help out on the wing on perimeter drives to distract. Wade also needs to get in the passing lane, something he wasn't able to do vs. the Celtics. He's a great steals creator. Turning the Thunder over makes them into much less of a team. 

Kevin Durant: Will score a ton. Will defend will. Durant is the force of nature in this series for Miami. You just have to live with it. You can't play him tight, he'll get around. You can't play off, he's the best jump shooter alive. LeBron James will likely take him down the stretch in tight games, with Battier being sacrificed to him for much of the game. 

Battier did excellent work on him last year in the Grizzlies series. (I can hear Thunder fans complaining about his physical play now. Get used to it. This is the Finals. Deal with it.) But that was last year. Battier will have his moments. Durant will have more. Durant has to make sure he keeps his position, because Miami will try and shove him off his spots to get him the ball where he doesn't want it, the only real weakpoint in his game overall. 

Defensively, he may have to guard James for long stretches, which is going to wear on him, but he also has the length to challenge him in the post. The good news is they can counter that for long stretches by putting him on Battier or even Haslem to save his energy. 

Kevin Durant is going to have an absolutely huge series, again. 

LeBron James: No one can stop him, at either end, but the Thunder have a great shot to at least deter him. Unless he's in Game 6 mode. Then they're doomed. James is going to have to run point a lot in this series. He's going to take hammering blows from Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka. He's going to have to guard Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and James Harden for different stretches. 

And he's going to have to do it after playing 48 minutes in a Game 7 after a grueling series. Oh, and he's got to score 30-plus every night. 

So, you know, kind of some big expectations for James. 

Shane Battier: He's their Thabo. Knock down the open threes, don't turn the ball over, and anything you give offensively is gravy. 

Defensively, he's going to have to hae the best series of his life. He has to do damage on whoever he's guarding, and he's still going to have to deal with being on highlight reels all night long. It's about to be a hard knock life for Shane Battier. 

Serge Ibaka: Bosh is going to guard him in space, so those open jumpers he got are going to be much more contested than they were against the Spurs. He can get some points inside, but the Heat will also probably foul him a lot to try and knock him off his game. This is going to be the most physical series he's been in.

Get ready for a lot of goaltends and a lot of fouls, defensively. James and Wade are two of the best players in the league at drawing fouls, and Ibaka's going to be eager to try and block them. Which means he's going to foul. 

The worst thing, though? He's going to bite on Chris Bosh pumpfakes if he doesn't watch it. He's got to keep good spacing, he's got to keep a hand up, and he's got to stay home and not get sucked in. That could get bad, very quickly.

Chris Bosh: Depending on his health, he's going to feast. Ibaka will fall for his chicanery, Perkins can't guard him in space, and he has the length to battle inside. Nick Collison throws a wrench in this plan, and Bosh is going to have to be aggressive to get fouls on Collison and get him out. Brooks hasn't trusted Collison as much in the playoffs. But he needs to in this series and may be forced to with foul trouble. 

Defensively, he just has to get a hand out on Ibaka. He's got to keep his rotations up. Pick and roll is going to be huge. He needs to push Westbrook to the edge and he's going to get switched up on Durant. He needs to overplay Durant to prevent the jumper and trust his help defense to contest Durant a the rim. When he has size mismatches, Bosh mush take advantage of them.

Kendrick Perkins: Fouls. So many fouls. Fouls on offense. Fouls on defense. Fouls in the air, fouls in the sea, fouls all the time. 

If Perkins scores, great awesome. You can't rely on it. You just can't. Joel Anthony vs. Kendrick Perkins is going to be the ugliest thing about this series. Same deal with Udonis Haslem. The big key for Perkins is to make the fouls count, control his emotions, and rebound. The Heat cannot get second chances. Controlling the glass is going to be Perkins' biggest priority. 

Others: 

Nick Collison: Expect a lot of minutes for the Thunder's smartest defender. If he can hit some layups and deter Chris Bosh, he can swing the series. He should start, honestly, but he won't. 

Derek Fisher Hit a few open shots and he will have done what he can. The Thunder can't live with Fisher on the floor defnsively against this team for long. The Heat take a lot of three-pointers, which means Fisher can stick. But Chalmers can also get past him and any other player running point or shooting guard is going to have advantages on him. 

Joel Anthony: Six fouls and some missed free throws. Anthony's help defense is going to be a big deal for the Heat in this series. The Big 3 aren't going to have the stamina to contain, so there will be drives. Anthony has to manage his fouls in a smart way. 

Udonis Haslem: Hey, he's not facing Kevin Garnett anymore, he's not going to get killed! Neat! Haslem needs to hit the dump-off jumpers but that's become a losing proposition more and more. Hustle points are bigger for Haslem at this point. 

Norris Cole: Don't do anything terrible. (He will probably do something terrible. Rookies gonna rook, man.)

Mike Miller: Can only play when Sefolosha is on the floor. He's going to be a defensive liability on the floor otherwise. He's similar to Fisher in that regard, but only because his body is beaten up, badly. 

Coaching:

Scott Brooks: Emotion is a fine line and the Thunder's will be through the roof. He's got to make sure they have something for the fourth quarter and that they don't get discouraged. They're going to get some bad calls in this series, they're facing three superstars. It's going to be physical. He has to keep them focused. 

If he rolls out that Westbrook-Fisher-Harden lineup he was fascinated with in the first two games against the Spurs, he's going to get destroyed. How he matches up with the Heat when they go to lineups with James at point guard is going to be huge. They better have a scheme. 

Erik Spoelstra: His team is exhausted and facing a great pick and roll team. Frustration could be an issue. He's got to throw as many looks at the Thunder as he can. He's got to blister them with changes in approach until they're blind. They can't just lineup and play. Spoelstra has to recover from a bad series
Link
Click to expand...
 
Originally Posted by bonafide125

Can you guys believe we finally got an NBA finals with perhaps the best versus the second best player in the league?
Click to expand...


No I can't because Kobe is not playing.We got the two best teams playing idk about the two best players tho.
 
I can't remember the last time I was this excited for the Finals. Either KD or LBJ will be a champion after this series
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The Two best teams in the LG meeting in the finals. That's all you ask for. Can't wait.
 
Originally Posted by odog24

Originally Posted by bonafide125

Can you guys believe we finally got an NBA finals with perhaps the best versus the second best player in the league?
Click to expand...


No I can't because Kobe is not playing.We got the two best teams playing idk about the two best players tho.
Click to expand...

qx00y.gif
 
Originally Posted by odog24

Originally Posted by bonafide125

Can you guys believe we finally got an NBA finals with perhaps the best versus the second best player in the league?
Click to expand...


No I can't because Kobe is not playing.We got the two best teams playing idk about the two best players tho.
Click to expand...

roll.gif
Can't believe we still have some who think Kobe is the best. Man even Magic Johnson doesn't think so, and he's a laker for life. 
 
We need to do what Dallas did to us last year.

We need to get one of those first two. Critical.
 
Don't really care. I'm just happy that Boston is in the ground..........If i have to pick, I would like Miami to win, so the media came move on past Bron and to something new. Can't do another season with everything focused on Bron smh
 
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