The tone has been set for the NBA Finals and from the looks of it these won’t be games these are going to be battles. The Heat jumped out to an early lead in the first half against OKC as Shane Battier hit a number of 3s to start the game, Battier went on to finish with 17pts for the game. The Heat were looking to go in to the half with a bigger lead until the Thunder made a late 1st half push to cut the lead to 7. Thanks in part to a buzzer beater by James Harden which got the crowd back in to the game. To start the 2nd half the last thing any Heat fan wanted to see was the Heat come out flat, and yet they did. The second half was full of buckets the Heat couldn’t buy, and on the other end it was full of hustle plays by OKC and Kevin Durant highlights. Durant and Westbrook used their length to dismantle the Heat in the second half as they finished with 36pts (KD) and 27Pts (RW). On the Heat side of the ball compared to Durant and Westbrook’s 41pt second half the Heat only put up 40pts as a team. LeBron James finished with 30pts and 9rebs, while Dwyane Wade finished with 19pts and 8asts. The series is far from over as anything could happen, but if the Heat want to win they got to play good the whole 48. Game 2 will be Thursday at 9:00 PM in Oklahoma City.
-John McAuliffe (@John_Mac310)
