My Sincere Congratulations To…

I can't get enough of this picture.

The NBA.  Congratulations NBA and commissioner David Stern.  You got what you wanted, LeBron James has his ring.  The Heat deserved this game, LeBron had an outstanding triple double with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.  The Heat won the series 4-1, stealing at least 2 games from the Oklahoma City Thunder with the help of the officiating.  The Heat absolutely routed the Thunder, winning with authority 121-106.  Durant put up 32 points and 11 rebounds for his team, but it was not enough. Harden and Westbrook also put up 19 points each, but all Heat starters were in double-digit scoring with an incredible 23 point performance from Mike Miller off the bench.  

Don't cry.

This is exactly what the NBA wanted.  A heroic performance coming back from injury in Game 4 to take Game 5 at home.  And seriously, is the 2-3-2 playoff home system flawed or what?  They should change to 2-2-1-1-1.  That’s the way the NHL does it – and I think it’s fairer.  I’m not going to sit and complain though.  Well-played David Stern.  Well-played NBA officials.  Well played every ESPN analyst (other than Skip Bayless). LeBron James is your heroic hero who finally got his ring.  I’m sure they’ll be filming a Michael-Jordan-esque commercial commemorating this historic and triumphant ‘victory.’

I know this isn’t very insightful about the game or anything, but to be honest I was picking up a friend in Boston last night and I only watched the first and fourth quarters.  Sorry folks, I do have a personal life.

To my Boston fans… I hope this brings you some closure. 

SCAL

This guy has the same amount of rings as LeBron James.  Hope that makes you smile despite recent events. 

LeBron, you played well… But you should’ve been knocked out by the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.  The officials were the MVPs for the Heat.  Hope you’re all happy.  

I Hate Joey Crawford, NBA Finals Game 3 Blog

Thunder 85              Heat 91

Yeah you, I hate you.

The Oklahoma City Heat lost because of two things.  First, OKC could not hit free throws.  They were 15-24 (.625) from the free throw line.  The Heat, on the other hand, were shooting nearly 90% from the free thrown line going 31-35.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, more than a third of the Heat’s points last night came from free throws.  This leads me to my second reason why OKC lost.  The refereeing was terrible.  Like, Game 2 ECF bad.  I’ve been frantically searching for LeBron’s throw in off the back of the backboard, which led to a bucket last night, but so far no luck.  Maybe David Stern personally made sure that any videos or pictures of the play were taken off the internet.  The play was clearly out of bounds.  It was just that kind of night for OKC.

At least 1 ESPN analyst isn't stupid.

The Heat big 3 scored 64 of the Heat’s 91 points, lead by a great LeBron James performance in which he scored 29 points and added 14 rebounds.  So, 64 points for the big 3 and 35 free throw attempts… I guess that’s the whole plan for the Heat. 

The Thunder big 3 had 53 of the team’s 85 points, led by Durant’s 25.  Harden only had 9 points, and he will absolutely need to step up in game 4 if OKC wants to get back into this series.  Kendrick Perkins did his best to make a positive impact for the Thunder with 10 points and 12 rebounds.  I would make the argument that he was actually the most important player on the floor other than Durant/Westbrook last night.  That kind of play can absolutely be the difference in close games later on in the series. 

This is a charge, not a blocking foul.

One mistake that the Thunder made, in my opinion, was using Harden and Durant to defend James as opposed to Sefolosha.  I keep reiterating that Sefolosha’s defense and ability to keep OKC’s big 3 on the floor is the key to OKC’s success.  Am I the only one who can see that, or am I missing something?

When Oklahoma City had a 60-54 lead in the third quarter, both Durant and Westbrook were forced out of the game because of foul trouble.  Durant’s fourth foul, by the way, was absolutely ridiculous.  And his first foul was also a horrible call… it pisses me right off.  OKC actually shot better from the field than the Heat did, going 33-77 (.429).  But in today’s NBA, you don’t have to shoot well!  All you need is David Stern’s blessing.

How does Joey Crawford miss that out of bounds call when LeBron threw the ball off the back of the backboard?  How does that happen? Like earlier in the game when the Heat actually deflected it out and Thunder got called for it.  The call was eventually reversed, but coach Scott Brooks got a technical foul for lobbying for the right call.  HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?  How do these stupid fouls and missed calls happen and why are they always in favor of the Heat?  Something is wrong here. 

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen.  Although it was awfully close and the Thunder actually shot better than the Heat, foul trouble (again) and free throw shooting led to the demise of the Thunder in game 3.  Durant gets 5 fouls (at least 3 bad calls) and Harden gets 4.  Some of the fouls were absolutely ridiculous calls that made me hate Joey Crawford just as much as David Stern.  Also, off the back of the backboard is in bounds for the Heat.  Oh, and if the refs make a wrong call and anyone says anything about it, they’ll hand out technical fouls… unless it’s someone from the Heat organization.  Are there NBA gods?  For some reason I’m beginning to doubt it.  The Miami Heat lead the series 2-1 going into game 4 on Tuesday.