We Have a Finals!

It can be a little tiring, but I've been able to catch 2nd halves of several NBA playoff games, including both games of the Finals so far. When you take officiating out of the equation (overall, a sham in these playoffs), the games have been fantastic. So it comes as no surprise to me that the Finals shifts to Miami that we're tied at one game apiece.

Game 1 could have been something of a classic with the way Oklahoma City came back to win and in how they closed out the win. Game 2 saw Miami jump out to an early lead and made it a big lead. That's been the biggest problem for the Thunder: they start really slow and have to come back. Durant and Westbrook epitomize this the most; both guys have started really slow shooting in both games so far. And Miami has brought it in both games. The scary part is that it's not just LeBron and to a lesser extent Wade going off. Yesterday Bosh has a monster game (16-15) and Shane Battier looks like North Central's offense when they were putting Wheaton away in the CCIW title game. I thought he wouldn't be able to replicate his outside shooting from Game 1, but he's looking like what Bulls fans wanted from Keith Bogans last year. It's been incredible.

The best part about this series is that both games have been decided in the 4th quarter. Kevin Durant has been saving his best for the final few minutes of each game. He's got 34 points in the 4th quarters of the 2 games combined. It's been incredible. When he's needed to hit a big shot, he's hit it with the exception of that last shot with about 10 seconds left (more on this later).

On the other side of the coin, LeBron hasn't been daunting in the final frame still, shooting 3-9 in both 4th quarters with some turnovers. He's had 30 and 32 in these games, a drastic change from previous Finals. But last night LeBron had the 4 most crucial points for the Heat. His banker late extended Miami's lead to 5 (and it was a tough shot). He also had those icing free throws at the end that, the argument could be made, he shouldn't have taken.

When Durant took that shot on the baseline at the end, the entire Chesapeake Energy Arena was up in arms. So was Twitter. In real time I thought nothing of the shot, but watching the replay, LeBron has quite a bit of an arm bar on Durant. In most universes, that's a foul. I don't know if they missed it, wanted to "let the players play", or if the fix is in. I don't think I believe option 3 is true, so I don't know what happened. I think it was a foul. But that didn't decide the game.

I thought OKC made this game closer than they maybe should have in that they had a huge deficit to overcome. They waited too long to assert themselves and try to tie or take the lead. With probably about 4 minutes left I knew Miami was winning. The Thunder just didn't want that and made it a photo finish.

The pressure here is clearly on Oklahoma City. Game 3 is not must-win for them, but they need to grab 2 out of 3 in Miami to have the best shot at winning the title. To do that, they need to get an earlier jump on the Heat. That means attacking the basket, reestablishing the defense, trying to get the ball in transition, and rebounding the ball.

No matter what happens, this has the makings of a great series. And the superstars of each team are the front runners for Finals MVP.