Hommies, the NBA Finals is upon us...Are you excited?!?! I certainly am...We will label this Heat/Thunder the 1st...Seems to me these 2 teams, and these 2 megastars (KD and Bron Bron) are destined to meet in the Finals multiple times over the next few seasons
While the East Champ Heat are no stranger to the Finals, the West Champ Thunder will play for the Title for the first time since guys like Payton, Kemp, Schremph, and Sleepy Sam Perkins wore the Seattle SuperSonics jersey with George Karl patrolling the sidelines...That group lost to Jordan's Bulls in 6...It has been well over a decade since the Western Conference was not represented by one of the Mavs, Lakers, or Spurs...That is the same trio of teams that got Thunder struck this Postseason...Heck, the Spurs went 50 days with zero losses, then fell 4 times over a one week span to coach Scott Brooks' squad...
Amazing to remember that OKC entered Jan 1, 2009 with a 4-29 record and finished that season with up-and-coming Kevin Durant + up-and-coming Russell Westbrook, and the #3 pick in the draft...That pick became James Harden...Also added was defensive monster Serge Ibaka who came over from the ACB League in Spain...Fast forward to these days and we see a phenomenally impressive core for OKC, none of whom have even turned 24 yet...
KD has become one of my faves...This young man was born to score the basketball...Youngest Scoring Champ ever, and by the way also 3-time Scoring Champ!...What impresses me with KD is we saw guys like MJ and Kobe have unreal gifts, but they had to grow and mature into great leaders...KD seems to already display a team-first attitude and just seems to "get it" if you know what I mean...
Westbrook saw his Assists dip this season, but for a 4th straight campaign his scoring increased...Like Westbrook, James Harden also has increased his scoring every single season, Assists too...Extremely few teams have a reliable instant O off the bench guy like Harden...MAJOR luxury/advantage for Coach Brooks...
Republic of Congo native Ibaka has established himself as a hustler, and a major deterrent at the rim...Block after block, altered shot after altered shot with Ibaka in the paint
While youth is certainly being served in OKC, there surely is a Veteran presence too...C Kendrick Perkins is a long-time nasty type of physical player down low in the post...Thabo Sefelosha and Derek Fisher (nice Vet addition mid-season for OKC) give the Thunder experience/veteran minutes too...This teams attitude about belonging in elite conversation, IE Championship conversation can be summed up for me by Vet Nick Collison...KD and Collison are the only Thunder who also played for the SuperSonics...Collison said recently he is not as excited to be in the Finals as he thought he would be...I think that is because this group seems to really believe that they can beat any team 4 times before that team beats them 4 times...aka Champs, not just happy to be there...
Brooks' Thunder are wonderful on the Offensive end...To have sustained success in the NBA these days you need to be athletic and have ways to get "easy" buckets...OKC does that in full-steam-ahead mode...Truly their team speed is impressive and they use it so consistently to queue comebacks, and/or to smother teams with an aggressive onslaught...
Another reason for their success is they are the best in the business from the Foul Line (spoiler alert...This is a definite factor in why I think OKC will be the 2012 NBA Champions)...
As a team OKC is very good on the glass...If there is anything to nit-pick this team with it could be that in the P-Offs they seem to have regressed slightly on the Offensive glass
On D the paint and dirty work is spoken for with the likes of Perkins and Ibaka, + OKC does play good Team D...A key in this series will be OKC's ability to get out on the Heat shooters...OKC is decent-at-best guarding the perimeter and a sure fire way to get in trouble vs Miami is to allow the guys like Chalmers/Miller/Battier to contribute 3-balls, as we know the Big 3 are VERY likely to get theirs...
Just for comparison sake let's mention that the Heat Big 3 average 67 Points Per Game, the same as OKC's Big 3 so we see the role-players will go a long way in deciding a 2012 Champion
Speaking of the Big 3, let's check out the trio from South Beach...I will start with this...The fact that LBJ/D-Wade/CB4 took $16 mill per year each will be historically significant IMO...Yes they all left about 1.5ish million per year on the table, but if you are going to leave money on the table why not make it a legit amount that helps Pat Riley surround you with pieces that, all due respect to the 2-Time East Champs, likely improve your roster from where it is now...The Big 3 put a historic bulls-eye target on themselves when they guaranteed a trillion Championships upon signing, and it could well be the role-payers that don't measure up in this Championship series for the Heat for the 2nd straight year...
This Heat team changed what it wanted to do, what it wanted to be about, multiple times this season...An up-tempo team for a spell, but they did not like what that did to their Team D...So then the became a D-first team who was going to beat you with their Team D...Currently, for my $ anyway, watching the Heat in these P-Offs has boiled down to one thing every damn time...It is currently all about LeBron...He has been in attack-mode, beast-mode, MVP-mode...This guy is over 30 ppg, and 9.5 Rebounds per game in the P-Offs, and his Game 6 performance at Boston will not soon leave my memory...D-Wade owns South Beach, but we have seen the Heat mature/evolve into being LBJ's team to put on his back...
I thought that a key factor to Miami losing last years Championship was Coach Erik Spoelstra's inability to make the necessary game-to-game adjustments that P-Off series' insist on...Well this Finals that needs to start with LBJ...I would like to see the Heat make a concerted effort to start possessions with Bron Bron in the Post...LBJ can facilitate from the Block and get some good looks for himself, and/or find a cutting Wade or one of their spot-up shooters if/when the double-team comes...One challenge for Spoe will be to get D-Wade in a better rhythm...Wade's #'s certainly are good, but he does need to find one more level...His FG% has been in decline since the P-Offs started...Too many examples of him looking to the Refs for bailout calls IMO...
To Spoe's credit he has already made nice adjustments and found the way to get Chris Bosh back integrated into the rotation, and in rhythm too...If I am calling for Wade's numbers to have to increase to another level then surely the same has to be said of Bosh...Again, not to say Wade or CB4 have not been very good, I just think to have a chance vs this Thunder team the Heat need the Big 3 to be GREAT...
The supporting cast need to step up their consistency at least one more notch too...A guy like Mario Chalmers has increased his scoring slightly, but his 3-Point % is on the steady decline in the P-Offs and he must catch fire for the South Beach crew to score and hang with the Thunder...Shane Battier had a good Celtics series, and clearly he is a guy on both ends of the floor that the Heat require a contribution from...Mike Miller has seen his effectiveness, and his minutes decrease quite a bit through the P-Offs...The Big 3 were enough last year to get to the Finals, but not enough to overtake the Mavs for the Title (ROLE PLAYERS REQUIRED!!! Ask MJ...Ask Kobe...Ask Magic...Ask Bird)...The Big-Man scenario for the Heat outside of CB4, and contributions from veteran Udonis Haslem, is u-g-l-y...Big Up to Joel Anthony because he is a good Canadian! BUT...having either him or Ronny Turiaf split about 30 minutes per game may cut it in the East, but can you afford such non-factors getting those minutes vs an on-fire OKC group?!?! I personally doubt it...
This years Heat look similar to me...A sensational Big 3, but playing against a team with its own collection of talent that is very likely deeper, and surely faster than Miami is...
The Foul Line could, actually likely will, be a factor in this series...The Heat are good-at-best from the stripe, while the Thunder are terrific
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| KD 3-time Scoring Champ, Oden not so much |
Ultimately we see a Franchise that built through the Draft, sure they got lucky (Portland taking Greg Oden instead of KG for example) but not even possible to get to an elite Championship level without a solid chunk of good fortune...The other Franchise got themselves into relevance with a Free-Agent bonanza, the likes of which had historic significance for the Association...One has a Coach who is as up-and-coming as his team is...The other has a Coach that had better win an NBA Title or he will be removed from South Beach...Both have a terrific Big 3...Only one though is playing at the breakneck speed and firing on all cylinders on O and that is the team I feel will win the Title...I think the Thunder could romp in this series...Remember the NBA Finals is the only Finals where the format changes...The series will go to a 2-3-2 format meaning Game 5 will be in Miami, otherwise I would take OKC to wrap up the Title in Game 5 at home...With this format I will take OKC to win their 1st Title in 6 games in front of a fan-base that is becoming one of the best in basketball...The Heat simply have not faced an animal on O like this Thunder team, and ultimately (even though they say D wins Championships) I think the high-powered OKC O will be enough to get them 4 wins before Miami can get 4 wins
Loved the post? Hated it? Something in-between? What is your prediction?!?!
Hit me back at craigballard77@myself.com
