May 6, 2011; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) celebrates with forward Peja Stojakovic (16) late in the fourth quarter of game three against the Los Angeles Lakers of the second round of the 2011 NBA playoffs at American Airlines Center. The Mavs beat the Lakers 98-92. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

Well, for the 2011 Dallas Mavericks, the story was all of those things rolled up into one.

This team was filled with “old-timers,” as they were a bunch of aging players who starred in the previous decade.  The Mavs’ 12-man playoff roster had a combined 120 years of NBA experience.  Just envision that one guy at the YMCA who is much older than everyone else, but uses his old-school tricks and wit to outplay everyone.  Dallas was basically a whole team of guys like that, plus Corey Brewer.

Coached by Jim Carrey look-alike, Rick Carlisle (who is now more relevant than Carrey), and led by 38 year-old Jason Kidd, Dallas smooth-sailed through the regular season with consistently great offensive execution and good team defense.  Not surprisingly, the big question mark was whether they’d be able to endure the playoff games.  Other aging teams in the past few years (such as the Celtics and Nash-Stoudemire Suns) had shown that age can catch up with you as the playoffs progress.   The first round threatened to prove that sentiment true, but Dallas battled through 6 games to get past the less-endowed Trail Blazers.

Strangely, Dallas would end up doing just the opposite of what other old teams have done.  They got stronger as the playoffs moved along.  Awaiting them in the 2^nd Round: back-to-back defending champs, the Los Angeles Lakers.  Easy.  Dirk made his patented awkward shots, and started getting fouled more often.  Apparently fouling Dirk wasn’t enough, because for some reason the Lakers kept hacking Tyson Chandler, who is only an offensive threat when he’s dunking the ball.  With LA’s big men in foul trouble and the guard play out of sync, LA was held under 90 points per game.  The defining moment of the series, and possibly the whole postseason, for Dallas happened in game 4 of this series.  Jason Terry lived up to the ridiculous hype he was giving himself, and Peja Stojakovic proved this was the best game for him to be put in.  They took out their 23 total years of frustration from losing to the Lakers, combining for 15-16 from three point range.  Jose Barea scored on everyone, frustrating Andrew Bynum to the point of committing an ejection-causing foul.  Just like that, the defending champs were swept.

With the Lakers out of the way, the Mavericks got to face the youthful Thunder of Oklahoma City, whose best players were each under the age of 23.  No matter how athletic or skilled Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were, the Mavericks were going to take care of business.  In this Western Conference Finals series, Dallas pretty much told OKC to get off their lawn and go back to the playground with the rest of the kids.  It was getting late and Dallas needed some sleep so they could get up early for the senior citizen breakfast special at Denny’s.  After 5 games, playtime with the adults was over for the Thunder.  Dallas had one final piece of business to take care of.

The biggest test, and the one for all the chips, was the NBA Finals against the favored Miami Heat.  Not only that, it was a finals series in which both teams’ arenas were sponsored by American Airlines.  From the start of of the series, it appeared the plan to put 3 superstars together was working for Miami, as James, Wade, and Bosh took flight for a high-powered attack.  It had only been one game, a convincing Miami victory, but it appeared the Mavs were spent.  It was too late, however, to turn around and drive the ’99 Buick Century back home.  Jason Kidd and company decided to set the DVR to record The Lawrence Welk Show, and they went to business.  Dallas won 4 of the next 5 games, and played their best in crunch time.  Jason Terry made a million threes.  Dirk didn’t miss a free throw.  Shawn Marion was dunking like it was 2004.  As a team they constantly switched into different zone schemes that helped minimize LeBron James’ effectiveness.  Dallas closed out Miami in Game 6, which meant Dirk Nowitzki didn’t have to destroy everything in the locker room tunnel.

The 2011 NBA Championship was so much more than an event that will go in record books.  Despite having over a century of combined experience, none of the Mavs players had a championship ring.  Rick Carlisle had coached several very good playoff teams, and never won a championship ring.  Kidd and Nowitzki are two legends of the game, and neither had ever won a ring.  Even the city of Dallas, whose Cowboys hadn’t seen greatness since Jimmie Johnson was the coach, was waiting for something good.  The 2011 Dallas Mavericks was a story for the ages, and that type of championship run with such aging personnel and an “underdog” status may never be matched.

Other teams aren’t near finished with offseason transactions.  The Houston Rockets, with 8 of the 15 roster members being power forwards, clearly have a long way to go.  The Brooklyn Nets have already made plenty of moves, including signings of Joe Johnson and Deron Williams.  The Rockets and Nets probably have another year or two before they get back into the mix of things, even with all the transactions they’ll have made by the start of the next season.

There is one team that is totally in-between.  The New York Knicks are already a playoff team, but they’ll probably have to have some new personnel if they want to be a legitimate top team in the East.

New York needs to key in on 2 major factors: Depth and Defense.  They need to have a good starter at each position and a solid backup for each starter.  This includes having healthy options, which is definitely an uncertainty for this team.  Amar’e Stoudemire is a worn down version of his Suns self, and Iman Shumpert will be recovering from his ACL injury.  Jeremy Lin played great for a month, then got hurt, which put extra point guard pressures on Baron Davis- who also got hurt.  Having good depth will lessen the significance of an injury here and there, in case the key guys do get hurt.

Apr 28, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler (6) during the first half of game one in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at the American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Part of this depth will have to involve getting better defensive players.  Although the Knicks didn’t rank poorly in defensive stats, much of it was from having the Defensive POY, Tyson Chandler, hanging out at the basket and swatting shots after his teammates let their guys fly past them.  New York has to become a better all-around defensive team.  They’ve got a few guys with questionable defensive attributes, playing important minutes:

Carmelo Anthony didn’t bring his defensive game each time out, so don’t bank on him being a defensive advantage.  Steve Novak isn’t asked for much on defense, but still, having him in the game forces others to cover more ground.  Josh Harrellson is a good strong rebounder and knows how to foul, he’s just not quite the enforcer that Tyson Chandler is.

Now consider some guys the Knicks just brought in.  Jason Kidd is almost 40 years old.  It’s not like he’s going to shut down other point guards in the division, like Rondo.  James White is a freak athlete with great length, but is he really good enough to play much for the Knicks?

With Landry Fields and JR Smith entering free agency, New York likely loses Fields’ all-around game and Smith’s explosive scoring ability.  This leaves Shumpert as the only viable shooting guard option, unless their 2^nd Round draft pick from Greece turns into a Larry Bird/Penny Hardaway hybrid.  If New York ends up not re-signing Jeremy Lin for some reason, they could spend big money on Eric Gordon, and move Shumpert to the 1.  That would take care of offense, defense, and depth.

New York is clearly an incomplete team for the time being.  They’ve got 10 guys, not counting their draft pick, Kostas Papanikolaou.  They could use an additional player at any position right now, and it would be in their best interest if the next addition is healthy and can play defense.  If you’re a Knicks fan, don’t be quick to fret.  This is a huge year for free agency and the next couple of moves your team makes should make your current roster look immensely better.  New York still has a solid core group, a successful (so far) coach, and plenty to pick from in the free agent market.  Depending on what moves are made, they could be looking real good by the time the season starts.

Looking back, these guys definitely made teams satisfied with their investments.  For being expected to potentially make minimal contributions for their teams, they’ve achieved way beyond that.  Ginobili has been one of the best defenders in the world for the last decade.  Arenas was a gunslinger for the Wizards (in multiple ways).  Boozer made immediate impact after he was drafted, and became an all-NBA player.  These all-stars aren’t the only guys who’ve made earlier draft picks look bad.  Trevor Ariza, Monte Ellis, Paul Milsap and Landry Fields each broke into permanent starting roles at young ages, and they were 2^nd round draft picks.

Those were just a few guys worth mentioning, as every draft has a few guys who far exceed the level of expectation for their draft rank.  In a loaded 2012 draft, it would be surprising not to see a 2^nd round pick turn into a very good player.  The question right now is, who will it be?

A good way to predict this is by looking at guys who may not be great athletes or well-rounded offensive players, but have attributes to their game that are better than most of the draft class.  Manu Ginobili wasn’t the fastest guy or the best shooter, but he was an excellent defender and could get to the basket at will on offense.  Carlos Boozer showed at the draft combine that he had the same vertical jump as a turtle, but he was such a good scorer and rebounder, in addition to being incredibly strong.

Other times, teams just miss players.  Monta Ellis and Landry Fields somehow made it to the 40’s before they were picked in their respective drafts.  Not only were they very skilled prospects, they were also very athletic.  Either way, guys who have NBA-level skill in multiple areas will find their way into a starting lineup.  That’s really something to look for in the 2^nd round picks.

A couple of players from 2012 come to mind immediately.  Jeffrey Taylor and Darius Johnson-Odom could definitely become very good NBA players in a short time.

March 22, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Marquette Golden Eagles guard Darius Johnson-Odom (1) drives to the basket against Florida Gators forward/center Erik Murphy (right) during the first half in the semifinals of the west region of the 2012 NCAA men

For Jeffrey Taylor, being picked 31^st doesn’t mean Taylor was overlooked, because he could have been drafted as low as 20.  Still, 31 is in the 2^nd round, so he counts.  While Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will likely be the cornerstone of the franchise, Taylor has everything the Charlotte Bobcats need.  6’7” with a 40 inch vertical jump, so he’s clearly got the size and athleticism to play in the league, but Taylor is also a great defender and a very good shooter.  As a 4 year Vanderbilt player, he’s definitely experienced and intelligent enough to make an immediate impact for his awful NBA team.

Darius Johnson-Odom had to wait a very long time to hear his name called.  At pick 55, he will look to earn a roster spot with the Lakers.  Actually, I’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t.  The main knock on Johnson-Odom is that he’s undersized for a shooting guard, being 6’2”.  That shouldn’t matter anyway, because he’s got a 6’7” wingspan to make up for it.  As far as his game is concerned, he’s a great shooter (shot over 40% from 3 during his college career), can run really fast, and jumps really high.  He’s also a hoss, as he hit 17 reps on the bench press.  Add in the fact that he’s joining a Lakers team with Kobe Bryant and a bunch of mediocre guards, and he’s got a chance to make an early impact.  He’s shown that he can outwork other players, so don’t be surprised if he ends up a starting point guard, or an elite NBA 6^th man.  He’s definitely got some Jason Terry traits.

Players such as Jeffrey Taylor and Darius Johnson-Odom have yet to play a professional game, and nobody in the 2012 draft is completely guaranteed to be great.  Given their abilities, however, Taylor and Johnson-Odom can be the next great overachievers.  There’s a reason the NBA Draft has 2 rounds.  You can’t find all the future stars in the first 30 picks.

Especially Mike Miller.

Mike Miller.  I’m talking about the sharp-shooting veteran, whose back problems barely allow him to walk, let alone play basketball, who had already announced this series would hold his final NBA game.  Throughout the first four games of the series, Miller played very limited minutes and didn’t make a single three point shot- but that didn’t mean anything to him in this game.

Jun 21, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat shooting guard Mike Miller (13) shoots a three point shot against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter of game five in the 2012 NBA Finals at the American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Miller entered the game late in the first quarter, already hobbling and bent slightly to combat his painful back.  He drained a three.  The crowd got loud.  Two possessions later, he nailed another three.  Crowd went crazy.  He did this five more times, the last two being consecutive long bombs to start the 4^th quarter.  Not often is a game put away with 11 minutes to go, but Miller’s 7^th made shot suggested the game was over.  The Heat had cooked the The Thunder to a crisp.  For Mike Miller, he left with a bang.  After a career of playing for mediocre teams and building up nagging injuries, Miller ended his time in the NBA with an unforgettable performance and a championship victory.

Miller was only part of the story, though.  The entire Heat team was prepared to put away the Thunder.  Both teams started with lots of intensity and Oklahoma City pushed their way to a 6-4 lead, but it was all Miami from there.  Seven different Heat players scored in the 1^st quarter, as they led 31-26 after 12 minutes.  They didn’t slow down in the 2^nd quarter, as they added another 5 points to the lead.  Despite it only being halftime, the desperation was clearly in the Thunder players’ eyes, while the confident determination continued for the Heat.

Early in the second half, a Mario Chalmers 3 sparked a run for the Heat, which eventually turned into a 25 point lead.  Before the 3^rd quarter ended, the Thunder were getting frustrated, and began to take quick shots and constantly fouled Heat players.  It’s hard to blame them for their frustration.  I’d be frustrated too if my team was getting lit up by Miller, Chalmers, and Battier in addition to the Heat’s Big 3.

The way Miami played, there was really nothing the Thunder could do.  They tried, but they just weren’t going to win.  Kevin Durant finished with a great performance (32 points, 11 rebounds), but none of his teammates were as successful.

Miami’s swarming defense forced lots of tough shots, and unfortunately for Russell Westbrook, he was the victim of much of this.  Once plays broke down, he had to force contested jumpers.  And lots of plays broke down.  He finished 4-20, which looks bad in the statbook but instead should be credited to the Heat’s great defense.  James Harden was a little more efficient in this game, but he still had trouble.  Even Mike Miller, the Heat’s defensive liability, was locking down on Harden.  For those who are skeptical, it’s incredibly hard to do anything with a 6’8” NBA player guarding you like it’s his last game ever.  James Harden got to experience this first-hand.

Down low, Miami gave Oklahoma City more trouble.  Haslem, Bosh, and James crowded the paint and prevented the Thunder big men from getting any space to go after missed shots.  On long misses, Wade came in flying from the perimeter to grab rebounds.  After rebounds, the Heat were running and gunning, and it was enough to score a ridiculous 121 points.  Again, the Thunder were definitely frustrated.

Oklahoma City made up some ground in the final quarter, but it amounted to little.  They still lost by 15.

With the game so wide open in the end, we got to see a preview of next year’s preseason games, as guys like Royal Ivey, Lazar Hayward, and Terrel Harris showed off some scoring abilities.  Like the preseason, these minutes didn’t matter, but at least these guys got to see the floor during a Finals Game.

Also during the last few minutes, we saw players on the verge of tears.  One side showed sadness and frustration, while the other showed joy and relief.  Once the game ended, opponents met at midcourt, LeBron gave words of encouragement to Kevin Durant, and Dwyane Wade greeted the crowd at the scorer’s table.  Minutes later, LeBron addressed his feelings on winning a championship.

Said James, “It’s about damn time.”

Agreed.  The MVP finally won a title.  The Heat attained the goal they’d envisioned two years ago with their then-revamped lineup.  Critics can quiet down and supporters can be satisfied for now.  As for the Thunder, they’re young and they’ll be back.  They’ll be back many times.

And here is the final “PS” note on the final game recap of the season:

This NBA title victory was so surreal in multiple ways.  The focus was obviously LeBron, and he absolutely dominated opponents for the entire postseason.  It’s no surprise that he controlled the game and got a triple-double, but a totally dominating Heat performance that ended in a blowout was kind of unexpected.  Think about who else got their first championship.

-Mike Miller, as previously mentioned, finished as a hero in his first ever (and last) chance to win a title.

-Chris Bosh shaped himself into a true NBA big man for this season, and won his first title.

-Former superstar draft prospect Eddy Curry, who’s barely stayed in the league for the past 5 years, just won his first title.

-Juwan Howard, the last active member of Michigan’s Fab Five, an ultra-talented group that could never win the big one in college or the NBA, became the only of the 5 to win a NBA title.

-Coach Erik Spoelstra, doubted by many, managed to unify this Heat team and beat the best team in the west.  He proved himself to be a decent coach, and gave further proof that Pat Riley is a genius.

This championship was about more than just LeBron James.  There were many heroes for the Heat this series.  After a tough game one loss, the Heat played like champions and showed why they’re the best team in the league.  Anyone that can beat the Thunder four straight times is a heck of a team.  Miami showed that they’re a heck of a team, and now they’re on top of the basketball world.

Jun 19 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat point guard Mario Chalmers (15) lays the ball up past Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Nick Collison (4) during the second half of game four in the 2012 NBA Finals at the American Airlines Arena. Miami won 104-98. Mandatory Credit:Mike Segar/Pool Photo via US PRESSWIRE

This was certainly an entertaining game, with no shortage of big plays.  Westbrook dazzled everyone with an incredible display of scoring, making 20 total shots and being literally unstoppable.  LeBron James was a rebound short of a triple-double and kept his team under control for the 2 minutes he played with cramps.  Durant continued to prove that he can score from anywhere on the court, while Shane Battier continued to prove that he can attempt to take a charge from anywhere on the court.  Dwyane Wade hit huge shots and made clutch defensive plays to create key possessions.  Norris Cole kept Miami in the game during the 1^st half, while he waited on his team to catch up.

And then there was Mario Chalmers.

Chalmers is no stranger to making big plays.  In his last college game, he hit the infamous 3 pointer to force overtime and lead to a national championship win.  In the Celtics series, he was a key part to a few of the Heat’s wins, but he was nothing impressive.  In this game, however, Chalmers was the X-Factor in the victory.  9-15 shooting, 25 points.  He had his outside shooting going well, and it opened the floor for LeBron and Wade.  Late in the game he hit some incredibly difficult layups to negate the jumpers Westbrook was hitting.  He went to the line and hit clutch free throws.  He helped force turnovers in the end.  On offense, he closed the game.  On defense, he came around.

LeBron James played his usual MVP-like game.  I know it’s a shame to say, but it’s hard to act impressed by these performances anymore because he’s played great in every game.  He was getting his team started in the first half by making incredible passes leading to scores.  In the second half, he focused more on scoring, and did exactly that.  After going down with leg cramps, he hobbled back into the game, and led a 7-0 run that included a gamebreaking 3 pointer in Thabo Sefolosha’s face.  He left the game with a small Heat lead, and the game was now in the hands of the backcourt players, Chalmers and Wade.  Dwyane Wade hit a 5 minute spurt in the 4^th quarter where he was doing nothing right.  Bad shots, horrible passes, terrible mistakes on defense.  He then collected himself and helped keep the Heat in the lead once LeBron left the game permanently.  He prevented the Thunder from getting 2 extra possessions by making amazing acrobatic out-of-bounds saves.  Additionally, he stole the ball twice in the last minute.  One of them looked like he did it based on pure instinct.  Wade’s all-around game was a great representation of the Heat’s all-around performance.  Everyone contributed with extra effort.

Game 4 was just another reason that Westbrook isn’t to blame when his team loses.  The Thunder looked good in the 1^st quarter, when Collison came in and was somehow the most athletic big man on the court.  After that, Norris Cole led a comeback and Westbrook’s teammates kind of gave up.  Kevin Durant played OK and had 28 points, but he wasn’t as much of a presence as he should have been, so Westbrook had to initiate more offense.  So he did.  James Harden gave the Thunder nothing.  Westbrook had to make up for that.  And he did.  Westbrook could have had 15 assists with his 43 points, but he didn’t because his teammates didn’t take or make enough shots.  If I’ve ever seen a player carry his team, Westbrook was the gold standard for such a thing.  He gives this effort in every game, and tries to get things going when all else fails.  Nothing to blame him for, especially after this game.

Regardless of whether you like the officiating or don’t like it, these games can’t be blamed on the referees.  When every game is as physical and fast-paced as these, it really changes things for the refs.  Players are going to make contact and get hit.  Sometimes they’re fouls, sometimes they’re not.  No matter how many calls these refs may or may not have missed, they were missed on both sides.  Miami won because they were tougher, and all their players showed up, while Oklahoma City only had Westbrook really giving it all.  With all that being said, it would be nice to see more consistency within the officiating.  Players are prone to injury when the game is borderline rugby and hockey out there, and then you’re just messing with them when you start calling fouls on everything a few minutes later.

Oklahoma City can still win, but they’ve got quite an uphill battle.  A total team effort would be a good start if they plan on staying alive.  As for Miami, Wednesday will be a nice day of recovery for LeBron and Wade.  They were as beaten up as anyone on the court, and they need lots of rest to be ready for Game 5.

Now for the final thoughts:

-Dwyane Wade tried to one-up the fashion skills of Westbrook and Durant, but his silly flip-up sunglasses lenses are really bothering me as I watch this post-game news conference.  That needs to change.

-Language barrier or not, Serge Ibaka was at least a little bit mistaken about LeBron’s defensive ability.  Sure, LeBron isn’t a good defender… when he’s on the bench.  Or when he’s cramping.  Or even when he’s being pinned down on the floor by Ibaka, like that time in the 3^rd quarter.  James is definitely a good defender.  He’s a perennial member of the All-NBA Defensive team.

-Fear the Beard.  James Harden has to play well next time.  It’s much tougher because Miami rarely allows the middle to open up, but the bearded one must make use of his space and just get it done.  He’s obviously skilled enough to take over games, so he might as well try for that when he’s needed.

-This Miami team is starting to come around with Spoelstra as coach.  He’s a very smart basketball guy, and he’s drawn up some good game plans that have led to big wins.  He deserves more credit than he’s gotten in the past.

-Anyone else think Game 5 will be the best game of the series?

Johnson put it simply, saying LeBron James “willed his team to a win.”  This was a game where neither team shot well and both teams had double-digit turnovers.  Offensive execution was clearly a problem for everyone, and both teams thrived only on the defensive end.  The bright spot in this game was LeBron James, who did, in fact, will his team to a win.

While he wasn’t the entire story, James made the difference Sunday in making sure his team failed to execute less often than the other team.

Jun 17 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) drives to the basket past Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins (5) and James Harden (13) during the fourth quarter of game three in the 2012 NBA Finals at the American Airlines Arena. The Heat defeated the Thunder 91-85. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

With 29 points and 14 rebounds, James was game leader in both categories.  What was more important, however, was James’s ability to keep possessions alive.  In addition to the 5 offensive rebounds he had, I lost count on his out of bounds saves, loose ball tips, and everything else that didn’t involve scoring.  Late in the game, he broke Oklahoma City’s brief 20-second lead with 2 free throws.  A few possessions later, he threw down a dunk to increase the lead.  Up until the clock struck 0:00, LeBron was the defensive catalyst that got rebounds and stopped penetration when the ball came to his side.  It was a great all-around performance for The King.

While LeBron led the charge, good energetic performances from his Heat teammates are what enabled the opportunity to win.  Like I said earlier, offensive execution was a problem, as Wade and Bosh combined for 11-34 shooting.  They did enough things outside of scoring, though.  Bosh finished with 11 rebounds and 2 blocks, showing that all-star defensive post presence the Heat were missing earlier in the playoffs.  Wade shot poorly for the game, but got to the line for 11 free throws and hit some clutch shots in the 4^th.  The combined efforts of Miami’s 3 stars late in the game allowed the Heat to close out and win Game 3.

We saw the Thunder going shot-for-shot with the Heat to start the game.  Considering how well the Thunder start the 2^nd half of each game, it would make sense that they’d build a lead in the third quarter if the game was close enough for them to do so.  As expected, they did so.  Their early 3^rd quarter defense kept Miami out of the paint, and led to lots of missed 18 footers.  At the same time, Durant and Fisher scored a couple times, and the lead suddenly reached 9.

Then Oklahoma City temporarily forgot what they were doing.

On back-to-back Heat possessions, The Thunder lacked disciplined perimeter defense, and fouled on 3 point shots both times, from the corner.  Battier and Jones each hit 3 free throws, and the lead was cut to 3.  For the last 2:50 of the 3^rd quarter, James Harden missed 3 jumpers and 2 free throws, as Miami came back for a 2 point lead.  For Miami, the 3^rd ended with 4 points by Wade and a deep 3 by LeBron.

From then to the mid-point of the 4^th quarter, both teams returned to their tough defense and alternating scores.  At this point, Oklahoma City really struggled.  Harden lost the ball a couple of times.  Westbrook and Durant missed shots.  Oklahoma failed to finish by executing plays, while guys like LeBron James did all the little things to close the game.  So in the end, Miami won.

Now for some other notes on the game:

-The leader of the Thunder offense, Russell Westbrook is definitely the most scrutinized player on his team.  When the Thunder wins, Durant gets all the credit.  When they lose, Westbrook catches the blame.  He definitely deserves more credit, even when OKC loses.  While it’s true that Westbrook plays bad in most of OKC’s losses, tonight wasn’t the case.  Russell played the best overall game of anyone on the Thunder, and really helped keep them in the game with his defensive skills and timely scores.  Just like the rest of team, he didn’t do enough to win at the end of the game.  Can’t put this loss on Westbrook.

-Kevin Durant didn’t play terribly, as he finished 11-19 shooting.  His 4^th quarter, however, was awful.  He scored only 4 points, lost the ball a few times, and fouled LeBron on an And-one play.  He was anti-clutch tonight.  I’m waiting on everyone to make him the most hated player in the NBA because he “can’t play in the 4^th.”  Obviously, that’s not true, as he’s a very clutch performer.  Also, I don’t want him to take the same ridiculous treatment that LeBron James has endured for the past year.  Neither of the two deserves that, and it should be interesting to see what some of the silly fans say now.

-It hurts my body to see Mike Miller go up and down the court, as injured as he is.  No telling how many painkillers he’s had to use.

-Referee Joe Crawford is like 200 years old, but still going strong.  While some of his calls are questionable, his smooth footwork and fiery attitude make him entertaining to see.  One thing that shouldn’t be questioned is that he’s The Decider.  The old man runs this league.

I’d say it’s reasonable to expect a more offensively successful contest in Game 4.  Fewer turnovers, more made shots, similarly close game.  Let’s hope Monday goes by fast!

The good thing about their inconsistency, is that they’re inconsistent with playing poorly, too.  They repeatedly make mistakes, but not in back-to-back games.  They made the fatal mistakes in Game 1 versus the Thunder, so by default, Miami would play better in Game 2.

Jun 14 2012; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Miami Heat power forward Chris Bosh (1) dunks the ball past Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka (9) during the fourth quarter of game two in the 2012 NBA Finals at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Heat defeated the Thunder 100-96. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Robertson/Pool Photo via US PRESSWIRE

Miami definitely played better this time around.  Shooting-wise, Dwyane Wade shot 10-20, for 24 points.  Whether it was pull-up jumpers or finding his way into the middle, Wade was taking better shots than Game 1, where he shot 7-19 and looked pretty bad.  When Wade shoots at or near 50% from the floor, it’s awful hard to beat Miami.  That itself was a big factor in the Heat’s victory.

Chris Bosh rebounded, figuratively and literally from a poor Game 1 performance, as he finished Thursday night with 16 points and 15 rebounds, 7 of them being offensive boards.

There were two consistent performers from Game 1.  LeBron James, who scored through double teams and conducted the offense throughout the whole game, was dominant.   Shane Battier hit 5 threes.  And no, we shouldn’t be surprised at this.  When you focus all 5 of your defenders on only 3 Heat players, somebody’s going to be wide open.  When shooters are wide open, they make shots.  Battier did that.  He also played his annoyingly good defense on Durant again.

Oklahoma City also played differently from its Game 1 dominance, but it was different in a negative way.  While the Heat looked organized and efficient on offense, there were times when the Thunder made us wonder what in the world they were thinking.  Beginning at tip-off, OKC looked disoriented.  The Heat’s defense is one of the best in the league, but they can’t be the entire reason the Thunder were so troubled on offense for much of the game.  In the first half, Russell Westbrook was having one of those games where he doesn’t do anything right.  He was throwing errant passes, taking and missing bad shots.  It seemed he and Wade traded each other’s performances from Game 1.  He was just having so much trouble.

Kevin Durant also had a bad start, partially from foul trouble and partially from just missing shots.  He wasn’t the only one fouling, though.  The entire Thunder team played more physical than I’ve seen in recent memory.  It was too physical.  They fouled Miami players with authority on nearly every possession.  If the NBA was like the NHL and had a penalty box for ridiculously physical play, Miami would have been on the Power Play for the entire game.  The rough Thunder defense didn’t statistically affect the Heat anyway, as they still put up 55 points in the first half.

There were two bright spots for Oklahoma City, while everyone else stunk.  James Harden scored 40% of his team’s first half points, and Serge Ibaka played basketball.

Like every game, though, the Thunder’s play picked up as the contest progressed.  They started to show some life in the 3^rd quarter, outscoring Miami by 1.

There wasn’t a “wired” coach cam for Scott Brooks during this time, like there usually is- but I’d say he still had his usual pep talk for Durant late in the 3^rd.  Why do I say this?  The Durantula scored his usual 16 fourth quarter points.  And like what usually happens in concurrence with Durant’s scoring, the Thunder played their way back into the game. With 4 minutes left in the game, a reenergized Ibaka subbed in for Collison, and his defensive efforts combined with Durant’s offense to bring the deficit to 2, with half a minute left.  Unfortunately, this late game “Serge” by the Thunder wasn’t enough to win, as LeBron James put the game away with 2 free throws.

The series is now even.  Each team has played one great game and one bad game.  With the series moving to Miami, it should be expected that the Heat are very receptive to their home crowd while the Thunder bounce back and play a more complete game.  Don’t be surprised when Game 3 is a total dogfight from start to finish.

Since there’s no game tomorrow, maybe we should temporarily shift our attention to that guy who’s going to walk a tightrope over Niagara Falls.  Is ABC bringing back Wide World of Sports or something?  Maybe it’s good that we have such a distraction.  As big as this Finals series is, even the fans need a couple days to recover from Games 1 and 2.  That being said, Sunday night can’t come soon enough.

Jun 12, 2012; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) dunks the ball against the Miami Heat during the fourth quarter of game one in the 2012 NBA Finals at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Many of Oklahoma City’s playoff games go as follows:  Start slow, begin to get lit up by the opponent’s shooters, then play well enough to make the game close by halftime.  At halftime, they make defensive adjustments, and in the 2^nd half they turn it into a back-and-forth game.  Late in the 3^rd quarter, Coach Brooks says like 10 words to Kevin Durant.  This motivates Durant, who scores a bunch of points in the 4^th quarter, and the Thunder use the last 5 or 6 minutes to close the game.

Tuesday night versus the Heat, it was the same old story.  In the end, they played strong and finished on the good side of the scoreboard.  It didn’t matter that it was their first Finals game, and it didn’t matter that they’re all so young.  They had the energy and support of their home crowd.  It seemed like they’d been there before- it looked like just another playoff game to them.

The first quarter began with the 1 on 1 matchup we were all looking forward to, as Durant began the game guarding James.  Durant used his length to prevent good jumpshot looks from James, so it forced LeBron to go under Durant’s arms and look to score inside.  Soon enough, there was great help defense once James got within 12 feet.  Here, LeBron James had 2 options: shoot overly-contested shots like teammate Dwyane Wade did throughout the game (more on that later), or pass out to an open man.

James chose the latter, and it worked.  Shane Battier and Mario Chalmers combined for 5 threes in the first 12 minutes.  Miami led 29-22.

Oklahoma City, led by Kevin Durant’s good start, was only avoiding a blowout until midway through the 2^nd quarter.  Like usual, the Thunder offense started to catch fire around the 6:00 mark.  Ibaka and Westbrook each scored 6 points in a 5 minute span, and the deficit returned to 7 by halftime.

Both teams took interesting approaches on defense in the first half.  Miami looked like they have for the entire postseason, as each player held his matchup with confidence and aggressiveness.  At the same time it was neat to see Miami’s approach on guarding Durant.  Battier was on him for a good amount of the time, while Wade started fouling Durant whenever Battier wasn’t there.  LeBron James played much like Magic Johnson in the 80’s, by guarding the opponent’s power forward while being the point man on offense.  Oklahoma City started the game looking a little confused on defense, but once they figured out all the switching Miami was trying to do, they did just enough to keep the game close.  One thing the Thunder did very well defensively was forcing the Heat to shoot many uncomfortable 20 footers.

Then, unfortunately for the Heat, the second half was underway.  Miami started throwing terrible passes and missing shots.  Oklahoma City began to do the opposite.  The momentum shifted further and further in Oklahoma City’s direction with each Heat turnover and each easy Thunder layup.  After a timeout with 2:34 left in the 3^rd quarter, Scott Brooks basically told Kevin Durant to get open and score.  Then they high fived and Durant got back to work.  Seems like they’ve got a pre-4^th quarter habit, doesn’t it?

Habit or not, it works for Oklahoma City.  The Thunder went with their usual mid-2^nd half small lineup, which catalyzed the pace enough to really get them going.  This lineup put each player in his pre-NBA position, with Durant, Sefolosha, and Westbrook playing the 4, 3, and 2 respectively.  If nothing else, it would negate any athletic advantage the Heat had on defense.  It did more than that, however, as the pace grew fast enough to make the Heat uncomfortable.  And what about Durant?  He scored 17 points in the final quarter.  His deep 3 pointer with 6 minutes left in the game began a 9-2 run that allowed the Thunder to close the game with relative ease.  They’re getting good at this whole “closing” thing.  They do it quite often, after all.

So this game was a familiar story for the Thunder, and now they have a 1-0 lead in the series.  If every game of the series is as exciting as this one, NBA fans are in for a treat.

Now for some notes that the above words didn’t cover:

-The big storyline for this series is “MVP vs. Scoring Champ”.  Neither James nor Durant disappointed fans in this one.  James did his usual thing: scored 30 points and gave solid contribution in just about every other way possible.  Durant scored the most points in the game.  He shot well in the beginning and shot well in the end, finishing with 36 points on 12-20 shooting.  Sounds like a good game to me.

-Russell Westbrook played one of his best games of the season, with a near triple-double in addition to great defense on Miami’s guards.  In this series, The Thunder will go as he goes.  And as long as he’s playing like the point guard Maurice Cheeks has trained him to be, the Thunder will be just fine.

-Nobody else put up huge offensive numbers for Oklahoma City, but it seemed like Ibaka, Harden, Collison, and Sefolosha were always there at the right time to get the needed bucket.  The least we can say is that Oklahoma City played excellent team basketball.

-Miami has to figure out what they’re doing on offense.  Somebody other than LeBron James needs to score inside here and there.  Battier was a huge help with his outside shooting and Chalmers gave another good game tonight, Miami needs to find ways to get better shots for Wade and Bosh.  The two all-stars combined for 11-30 shooting in this game, and both of them got dunked on.

-As promised, I’ve got some things on Dwyane Wade.  He’s one of the best shooting guards of all time for a reason.  He’s made a Hall of Fame career out of aggressive defense and an insane ability to score through contact and heavy defense.  In this game, Wade took his usual high-difficulty shots, but missed most of them.  When he missed a jumper to move his shooting stats to 4-15, that was around the same time Oklahoma City began to take over.  He was more efficient in the 4^th quarter, but he’s got to play well for more than 12 minutes in order for the Heat to win.

-Oklahoma City is partying like Seattle in ‘96, except the Supersonics lost Game 1 of the 1996 Finals by 17.

-Word on the street is that Skip Bayless will try to convince Stephen A. Smith that he’d rather build a team around Nick Collison than LeBron James, during Wednesday’s showing of ESPN First Take.

-Apparently Jeff Van Gundy named his cat after Maurice Cheeks.  Cheeks the cat died 18 years later.  Rest in peace, Cheeks

-Nate Dillon

This game was not decided by effort or focus, as both teams maxed out in those categories.  In the end, execution was the difference.  Both sides executed evenly until midway through the 4^th quarter, when Boston started missing and Miami kept scoring.

But before we look at the end of the game, let’s look at how we got there.

Boston was clearly ready to play.  It’s not like they hadn’t been in a similar position multiple times before.  Doc Rivers and his 4-headed monster knew what they were doing.  They came out firing and didn’t look like the old, beat-up team we’ve watched all year.  Ray Allen made 2 threes to start, Paul Pierce suddenly returned to his 22 year-old self with a dunk that had lots of air time, and Rajon Rondo was well on his way to another triple-double with few turnovers.   They continued this energized success throughout the second quarter, where we saw Brandon Bass take over for a string of 6 possessions that ended with a dunk on Dwyane Wade.  Simply put, the Celtics took care of the ball, and executed by making shots.

As for Miami, it looked like they caught the turnover bug that Boston had in the first half of Game 6.  This limited the Heat’s shot attempts, which kept them behind despite their good shooting percentage.  When they weren’t losing the ball, they looked good on offense.

For both teams, transition offense thrived.  We got to see an array of cute layups from Rondo and some nice Boston dunks, as a result of Miami’s first half turnovers.  Miami created transition offense from rebounding the limited Boston misses, capitalized by a double-oop dunk by James near the end of the half.  After a very entertaining 24 minutes, the score was 53-46, Celtics with the lead.

The exciting pace and good scoring kept up in the third quarter, but things looked different defensively for Boston.  They got tired.  Chasing around Wade and James all series finally started to wear them out.  It led to defensive switches that put Paul Pierce on the perimeter and Boston’s bigs on LeBron.  Seeing Brandon Bass going to the top of the key to guard LeBron James was a nightmare for Celtics fans.  This nightmare lasted for about half the game, too.  Already much slower than LeBron, Bass made the mistake of getting too close to James when so far from the basket.  This made him easy to get around.  The results of this were usually very hard shooting fouls near the basket that made it look like Steelers Defensive Coordinator Dick LeBeau was coaching the Celtics defense.

The fatigue among the Celtics soon hit their offense, as they began to lose their legs and miss shots.  They still ran plays and got the shots they wanted, but didn’t have the juice to finish the game as strong as Miami’s young team did.

Chris Bosh was clearly a factor in Miami’s victory.  He played starters’ minutes (31) off the bench, hit shots from all around the court (including 3 threes), and was that big reliable rebounder the Heat have been missing.

Miami’s backcourt did exactly what they had to do.  Dwyane Wade made almost half his shots, which is much better than most of the games we’ve seen from him lately.  Chalmers made driving layups at key moments.  More importantly, the two combined for 13 assists.

Shane Battier did exactly what he needed to do.  He played good defense on Pierce and made some threes.  Udonis Haslem wasn’t statistically productive, but he helped keep Garnett in check on defense.

LeBron James had another MVP-like game.  As previously mentioned, he got to the basket at will and got to shoot a lot of free throws.  His monster dunks kept the crowd on their feet, and his 31-foot three pointer in the 4^th quarter took the life out of Boston.  It’s safe to say he closed this series.  It probably won’t hush his critics, but it should temporarily give them something else to hate him for.  Regardless of anything he’s done in previous years, James should get all due credit for carrying his team through the playoffs thus far.

A story that will make people overlook the Heat victory is the Celtics’ loss being the potential end of Boston’s Big 3.  None of them played their best games, but they played hard and well enough to be proud of how they ended their playoff run.  Each of the 3 reacted differently to the loss: Garnett left the court as soon as possible, Ray Allen was holding back tears, and Paul Pierce was business-as-usual in congratulating the Heat players.  What they do have in common is an NBA title, 3 other conference finals appearances, and future spots in the Hall of Fame.

We learned a lot in this series.  We’ve seen what the Heat are capable of doing when they put things together.  We’ve seen Rajon Rondo put together games that are as good as anything we’ve seen from point guards in the playoffs.  We’ve seen the likely end of an era in Boston.  We now know there’s another chance for the league’s MVP to finally win a championship.

And I’m glad it took 7 exciting games for us to learn this.

Additional notes

-Ray Allen finished the 2012 playoffs with 313 career postseason three point shots made.  He’s 7 behind Reggie Miller for the most all-time.

-LeBron James scored at least 25 points in all 7 games this series.

-With Bosh playing this game, there were 7 all-stars who played in Game 7.  These guys have combined for 60 all-star appearances (34 between Garnett, Pierce, and Allen).

-ESPN mentions every three minutes, how Wade, Bosh, and James scored the Heat’s last 31 points.  No need to be surprised, they pretty much did that all season.

-Skip Bayless is going to find some reason to criticize LeBron James on Monday.  Even people who hate LeBron James will think Skip’s ridiculous.

The NBA Finals will be quite a treat.  Can’t wait.