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NBA Finals: Observations from Heat-Thunder Game 2

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The Miami Heat avoided a 0-2 hole after holding off the hard-charging Oklahoma City Thunder, 100-96, Thursday night in Game 2 of the 2012 NBA Finals. The series now heads to South Beach for games 3, 4, and 5.

Here are a few observations from Game 2:

HEAT USES THE FORCE

Erik Spoelstra talked about playing with more force after his Heat got hammered in Game 1. It was straight out of the Pat Riley book of coaching and the Heat responded by imposing their will on the Thunder. By inserting Chris Bosh — who hasn’t started since Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals — in the starting lineup the Heat played a more conventional lineup and were able to turn the tables on the Thunder in the rebounding department. After getting outrebounded 43-34 in Game 1, the Heat outrebounded the Thunder 40-36 thanks to Bosh’s 15 rebounds — seven on the offensive end — in 40 minutes. “We needed every bit of his big tonight,” Spoelstra said of Bosh.

SLOW STARTS NOT OK IN OKC

The Thunder have outscored the Heat in six of the eight quarters played, but the first quarters have been their Achilles’ heel. Oklahoma City got down 29-22 in Game 1 and it happened again in Game 2 as the Heat surged to a 27-15 lead in the first quarter and led wire-to-wire. “Two games in a row the first quarter let us down,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. “It’s tough to come back when you’re down 17. I told the guys we’re a much better team to be down 17.” The Heat are too good of a team to be given a cushion every game, and Brooks better figure out how to get his team going early.

BATTIER ON A ROLL

Shane Battier is probably not on the Thunder scouting report because he has been wide open all series. In two games, the Heat forward has 34 points on 9-for-13 from 3-point range, including a key bank-shot trey in Game 2. This is the same guy who struggled to find the rim in the first two rounds of the playoffs, now he can’t seem to miss. Oklahoma City may have to start staying home on Battier because he is locked in and has provided a much-needed scoring punch from the outside, allowing LeBron James and Dwyane Wade more room to operate in the painted area.

DID LEBRON FOUL DURANT?

The conspiracy theorists are running rampant after some questionable calls Thursday night. The biggest one was the noncall on LeBron James when he appeared to foul Kevin Durant on his baseline jumper with seven seconds left in the game and the Thunder down by only two. Replays showed that Durant was thrown offbalance after James gave him a nudge on his shot attempt. When Durant was asked about it during his postgame press conference, he shrugged it off, didn’t use it as an excuse, and said: “I missed the shot, man.”

LEBRON CLUTCHES UP

We all quickly pounce on LeBron when he shrinks in the fourth quarter, but we should also highlight his brilliance when it deserves it. James made some clutch baskets late in the game, including an offbalance bank shot with the clock winding down that put the Heat up four and two free throws with seven seconds left to ice the game. LeBron had another monster game overall, scoring 32 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 42 minutes. He was also a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line. James also dug deep defensively, matching up with Durant for most of the game.

FLASHBACK

Dwyane Wade’s demise has been greatly exaggerated. “One day it’ll happen. Father Time will knock on the door and tap me on the shoulder. But not right now,” Wade said. The 2006 Finals MVP looked like the D-Wade of old, scoring 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting, and had seven in the first quarter. When Wade is in attack mode, like he was Thursday night, the Heat are a different team. He didn’t settle for jumpers and did most of his damage in the paint. In the fourth, he scored a tough floater and set up Bosh for a big-time dunk with under a minute left.

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The End of the Celtics

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It’s a tough day, not because of tomorrows test looming over me, or the early hour I was forced to wake up today.  No, today is tough because a harsh reality has set in, the Celtics run is over, and in the unlikeliest of ways.

I knew I’d write this article at some point.  It was only a matter of time until I was forced to face the realization that my days of basketball glory were over, but not like this.  The Celtics are playing as well as I’ve seen them play in years, but after a heart-breaking loss they find themselves down 2-0.  Teams up 2-0 win 95% of their series!

Numerous blogs have tried to describe the series as one team just being better than the other, but that’s not true.  Sure, the Heat are more athletic, younger and a better team than the Celtics, but that’s too easy of a cop-out.  The Celtics played a Heat team that was at their best, on their home floor and were one step away from beating them.  Actually, one call away from beating them.  Rajon Rondo’s unbelievable, historic and enigmatic performance will be remembered as one of the greatest playoff performances in history, and that’s not hyperbole.

However what will be so memorable about the game was Rondo’s drive in overtime, with the clock under two minutes.  It was a play that’s happened to Rondo a million times.  His quickness and over-aggressiveness pays off, and even though he misses a layup he has no shot of making, he gets fouled by a flailing arm trying to stop a speed that’s impossible to keep up with.  Normally, he goes to the line, hits one, maybe two free throws, but not this time. This time, the refs blew it, and not an excuse type of blowing it, they blew the game!  He was clearly hit in the face, and in a game where LeBron James shot five less free throws than the entire Celtics’ team, the refs have no excuse for “letting them play.”

The refs called a completely different game for LeBron than for Paul Pierce or any other Celtic, it’s just a fact.  Fouls don’t accumulate on one side and not on the other like that, especially in a game this even.  Stars have gotten calls in the NBA for years now, and I’m sure Michael Jordan is in a casino somewhere laughing about how he got the same love-taps-turned-free-throws LeBron did.  However for all of those terrible gimme calls, all of the Game One technicals against the Celtics, the refs had a chance to erase every whisper of NBA conspiracies.  All they had to do was call an obvious and unquestionable foul, but instead Rondo got smacked in the face and went down looking for a call.  By the time he turned to the ref, Udonis Haslem was on the other end of the floor dunking the ball…it was a four-point swing.

Even with the foul, the Celtics had a great chance and played a great game.  I don’t give much merit to the stat of the largest comeback in Heat playoff history, since everybody realizes that erasing a 15-point lead before halftime in the playoffs is about as impressive as T.O.’s arena league play.  In fact, it was the Celtics who were resilient.  Ray Allen’s late three sent the game into OT, even after trailing late with Dwyane Wade on the line ready to seal the deal.

Sure, if the Celtics come down with the rebound after LeBron’s missed layup in the waning seconds of the fourth, they have the ball with a chance to win the game in regulation, but it wasn’t like they blew the game.  They went into overtime with their best clutch player on the bench because of fouls.  Both teams had leads, and both teams lost them, it was an even game.

So here I am, with a 5% chance at coming back and winning the series, and possibly elongating a run with a lineup that will change completely by next year.  I always pictured this moment as pathetic and hard it is to watch.  I imagined the Celtics losing in the first round to the Pacers or Magic, and the world laughing at my old and staggering lineup, but the Celtics are in the Eastern Conference Finals, with a lineup that has no business of being there, competing with an Avengers-like team.  They lost in overtime, in part, because of a blown call that any ref could easily make.  It’s a perfect parallel for them, a team that won its championship with defense, intensity and effort willed themselves to battle last night.  They lost that one.  They won a couple in 2008.  And that’s sports.  The sooner I come to terms with that, the easier the end of these Celtics will be.