As advertised.

[21Huskies]

amazing its taken people this long to appreciate it. he's been doing this since the end of his 2nd and all of his 3rd season.

i was at the game tonight and when Lebron went down, i just pictured jaynyce in his parents basement doing a fist pump with a big smile on his face

 

[Kitaman]

What pissed me off is that the OKC center Obaka(?) on the jump ball at the end let Battier slip around him for the tip to the Heat player who Westbrook fouled. Had he placed a body on him the Thunder get the ball. Obaka was watching the play and Battier was in the play. Small thing but big impact. Battier who I don't care for at all, does the little things well that keep him in the NBA. Good play on his part as much as I hate to say it, it was a game changer for sure.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Very frustrating game to watch rooting for the Thunder, mostly they were beaten and Miami outhustled and out-toughed them. Didn't help that the Thunder seemed to make individually dumb plays at particularly bad times. Inexperience is showing and Miami has definitely developed a new aura of tenancity built around that LeBron James won't be denied Game 6 performance against the Celtics.

Thunder have a small gripe that the Heat are getting the benefit of the doubt calls and they are not, but I think its because the Heat are the aggressor and playing with more confidence and the refs can't help but see this.

Look at the matchups and Heat are dominating 5/7
Ibaka v Bosh - Bosh
Perkins v Battier - BATTIER
LeBron v Durant - LeBron
Wade v Westbrook - Westbrook
Chalmers v Sefolosha - Chalmers (made this the matchup based on relative importance even though they don't ever cover each other)
Bench - DRAW Harden has been a negative, now scared to shoot!?
Spo v Brooks - Spo

 

[babysheep]

amazing its taken people this long to appreciate it. he's been doing this since the end of his 2nd and all of his 3rd season.

i was at the game tonight and when Lebron went down, i just pictured jaynyce in his parents basement doing a fist pump with a big smile on his face

Yeah, he seems pathetic enough to cheer when a player he doesn't like gets hurt.

 

[babysheep]

Despite people saying that OKC has a better "team," the supporting cast for the Heat have come up huge, while James Harden and crew have barely done anything in OKC's three losses.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Despite people saying that OKC has a better "team," the supporting cast for the Heat have come up huge, while James Harden and crew have barely done anything in OKC's three losses.

Its leadership. Even with their play, no one would trade Sefolosha for Battier or Ibaka for Battier or Haslem. All of Battier's shots are catch and shoot off of great ball movement and the Heat are playing with more composure which allows their role players to stick to their duties.

Also need to consider that prior to this series Bosh was injured and playing so-so whereas James Harden was lighting it up. Now Harden is shrinking and Bosh is making tons of hustle plays and key baskets.

 

[Kitaman]

Harden was guarding Lebron most of his time on the court. I think that had an impact on his offensive performance as well. It looked like he lost his confidence and was tired.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Harden was guarding Lebron most of his time on the court. I think that had an impact on his offensive performance as well. It looked like he lost his confidence and was tired.

Great point, and score another one for LeBron. No question that guarding someone so much stronger than you wears one down physically and has a very detrimental effect on offensive end. Two biggest ways to hurt offensive performance via 'make him play defense' is run them into the ground especially through screens (see vintage Hamilton, RIP or Allen, Ray) or force them to constantly muscle you.

This is why Kendrick Perkins is so terrible offensively, he dedicates every game to muscling and pushing everything that moves

I'm really torn today, I think Oklahoma still has a puncher's chance if they can get back in front of their home crowd and I think the NBA REALLY wants this series to go 6-7 games. But what I've seen is Miami physically and mentally dominating OKC and their will to win is incredibly strong right now. I don't think they can be denied tonight by anything less than two Westbrook game 4 level performances from OKC stars AND a subpar performance from 2/3 Miami stars (and one of them will not be LeBron - he has made the final progression to Jedi Master).

 

[8893]

Series is over, but I'm feeling OKC tonight.

 

[Huskies4ever]

Series is over, but I'm feeling OKC tonight.

This series was not as advertised. Last year's Finals was wonderful. This year's sucked.

 

[huskyniner]

John Calipari and Lebron James both won a championship in the same year. The world really is ending December.

 

[superjohn]

Come on Fishy that is way to simplistic of a way to view this series. Yes Lebron is better than Durant but not by much, Durant did his job this series nobody else did, the supporting cast for the Heatl blew the Thunder's supporting cast off the floor all series long.

 

[traitor71]

Miami was just smarter, tougher, far tougher really, and just better than OKC. They could have player several more times and I believe Miami would have ground them down just about every time.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

The silence from the LeBron Haters is defining tonight.

I hope these teams have a rematch next season.

 

[Burnsbros23]

Lebron is a way better defender than Durant way better passer way better driver. Its not that close. Durant is just a unbelievable pure scorer but LeBron is clearly better.

 

[tzznandrew]

Lebron is a way better defender than Durant way better passer way better driver. Its not that close. Durant is just a unbelievable pure scorer but LeBron is clearly better.

Agreed. I went into this series thinking the two were close. The series ended with a definitive validation of LeBron as leaps and bounds ahead of Durant as an all-around player.

 

[8893]

This series was not as advertised. Last year's Finals was wonderful. This year's sucked.

The series was not as advertised, but LeBron and the Heat were. And LeBron's performance was one for the ages. He turned the corner during Game 4 of the Indy series and he never looked back. Hats off to him.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Yep, the teams may have been close in talent, but hands down the Heat had the best player in the series and to a man the Heat had more smarts, guts and hustle than the Thunder. And Spoelstra outcoached Brooks (best you could claim is Brooks team just didn't execute or listen to him). Ironically people are drawing parrallels between the Heat championship and Kentucky's but they are actually much more opposite, HUGE factor in the Heat's win was experience.

An underlooked factor in LeBron's incredible performance is getting Durant into foul trouble to help win two games and simultaneously wearing down Harden in those games. And in game 4 when Durant switched to Chalmers, Mario had one of the best games of his career. Game, set, match LeBron.

 

[babysheep]

If you've ever worked hard for anything and that hard work payed off, you should empathize with and feel good for LeBron. I mean the look on his face when he actually had the trophy in his hands choked me up a little. He's finally gotten what he's dreamed of for most of his life and has achieved true greatness, not matter how anyone defines "greatness," and did it while dealing with just about every stressor imaginable along the way. You can't hate on that.