Heat 100 Thunder 96
Okay so last night was Game 2 of the finals and it honestly
pained me to watch it. Not just because
the Heat won and LeBron had success, but Oklahoma City did not make the
defensive adjustments they needed to make in order to win. I’m absolutely talking about leaving Durant
to cover LeBron James. When I blogged about Game 1 one of the things I reiterated was how successful Thabo Sefolosha
was in limiting LeBron James in the field and holding him to a mere 29%
shooting. I guess, for whatever reason,
Thunder coach Scott Brooks felt it would be fine to keep Durant on James from
the start of the game. In my opinion
this decision led to the loss.
For those of you who haven’t been religiously watching Heat
basketball, you might not know that LeBron James is the untouchable man of the
NBA. Part of the reason for his success,
and I’d like to think I’m not exaggerating here, can be attributed to the fact that
defenders are afraid to make any contact with him for fear of foul trouble. That’s exactly what happened to Kevin
Durant. LeBron James drew 2 Durant fouls
in the first quarter, forcing him to sit in the beginning of the second quarter
where the Heat were able to build a substantial lead over the Thunder. NBA referees are not afraid to call fouls for any contact they see LeBron James take. This has been established during the regular season and even more so in the postseason. The Heat went on to carry a 15-point lead into the second half while Westbrook and Durant's minutes were more limited due to foul trouble.
I’m not going to go ahead and say the only reason that the
Heat won was because of foul trouble.
LeBron had a good night, 32 points with 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Dwayne Wade finally showed up to play with 24
points. The Boshtrich had 16 points and
15 rebounds. And I think the most
surprising story for the Heat, on the offensive end, was Shane Battier with 17 points. He went 6/8 from the field, including 5/7
from 3-point range.
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| Cue the Evil Empire Music |
The big 3 from OKC scored 80 points, led by Kevin Durant’s
32 points. However, the
role-player contributions were not nearly as good as they were in Game 1. Nick Collison and Old Man Fisher were
nonfactors. Collison had no points and
only 3 defensive rebounds while Fisher went 1/5 from the field, including 0/4
from 3-point range. Ibaka was also
quiet, only putting up 7 points and 4 rebounds in 30 minutes of play.
Yeah the Heat played well, and yeah the Thunder didn’t play as
well as they did in Game 1. Do I still
blame David Stern a little? Absolutely.
When Jeff Van Gundy keeps looking at the replays and continues to say,
“Well, from that angle that foul looks a little iffy,” or “That was absolutely
a foul on LeBron James,” you know something’s up. I could go on and on about the stupid calls
on the Thunder or the non-calls for the Heat, but what really sticks out in my mind
was Kevin Durant’s pull-up jumper in the last 10 seconds of regulation
time. If you didn’t watch it, LeBron
CLEARLY fouls Durant's potentially game tying play at least 4 times. Those calls would’ve gone LeBron’s way if he
were on the receiving end of the contact for sure. After all, he is the golden boy that David
Stern needs to protect. TV ratings have
been doing exceptionally well this year for LeBron James and the Heat. Ever since he made a villain out of himself
by leaving Cleveland, LeBron James has attracted record-breaking television
ratings. Those ratings are fat paychecks
for the Commish.
Let's play a little game called, "Can You Spot The Foul?" This isn’t the crazed Boston fan in me speaking – but just take a look:
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| Call me crazy… |
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| No Call?
Where’s the call here? This could’ve tied the game up for OKC and led to an overtime period where the Thunder had the momentum! This stuff makes me sick. I hope the Basketball Gods, (and refs) are just in Game 3. We can all see this, Commissioner Stern. This is worse than the Pacquiao decision. This pisses me right off.
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