On Thursday,the
Miami Heat completed a 4 game demolition of the Oklahoma City Thunder (the team
we successfully predicted will make it to the finals this season) in the 2012
NBA finals to secure the franchise's second NBA Championship. The Heat defeated
the Thunder 121-106 at the American Airlines Arena. For some,this signifies the
emergence of "The New World Order". After losing the very first game
of the series,the heat went on a rampage and although games 2 to 4 were close
in terms of scores and all,game 5 was a thorough basketball lesson handed to
the thunder. The Heat were unstoppable. According to Pat Riley "we have
built a team to be around for awhile" This statement will no doubt put the
rest of the American Basketball community on High Alert
Its impossible to
talk about the Victory of the Heat without talking about Lebron "KING
JAMES" (yes in my opinion he's earned the right to be called that now).
Lebron James finally got the proverbial monkey off his back and it seems like
his promise to deliver multiple titles to the Miami heat is well underway. The
man was just amazing as he was throughout the post season and he was absolutely
dominant in the final win sealing a triple-double en route to being named the
NBA finals MVP. 26 points , 11 rebounds
and 13 assists. An honour which nobody can really question he deserves.
His outstanding
performance in the playoff and of course the finals has gone a very long way
toward dispelling the notion and the tag of a "Choker" who hides and
fades away in Big games. The pain of last Seasons finals loss to the Dallas
Mavericks pushed Lebron to make drastic Changes on and off the court. He had to
reinvent himself,stop the petulence and be humble. That probably explains why
he played like a man possessed. "Its about damn time," James said
after receiving his MVP trophy
He however didn't
do it all by himself though. He had help from the rest of the team who all
turned up for the party. Dwayne Wade was excellent,so also Chris Bosh after
managing to stay fit and healthy throughout the finals. Chalmers and Battier
chipped in too. Mike Miller the Heat forward was however the star off the bench
in the finals. Miller ended with 23 points on seven of 11 shooting from the
field,all seven from 3 point range thus tying a franchise playoff record set by
Damon Jones against the New Jersey Nets in 2005. Miller got a standing ovation
from the continuously howling and electric American Airlines Arena crowd when
he slowly trodded off the court to be replaced by Shane Battier with 4:50 left
on the game clock. Shane Battier ended with 11 points,4 rebounds and 1 assist,1
steal and 1 charge drawn in 28:42,
collectively the
Miami Heat hit 14 three pointers,one short of their 2009 playoff record of 15
against the Atlanta Hawks in 2009.
For The Oklahoma
City Thunder,well they just have to go back to the drawing board and ask
themselves questions. Truth be told the Thunder just didn't have enough to go
all the way. They got too much "Heat" *Pun Intended* . Not enough
strength defensively,not enough intensity,not enough help from its ensemble and
not enough to stop the Miami inferno. And so sadly the OKC season ended with a
loud thud Thursday, the thunder losing 4 games in a row for the 1st time in 276
games which had been the NBA's longest active streak. Any chance of an OKC
comeback fizzled with a 19-1 third quarter eruption that expanded the Heat's
lead from 7 - 25
A game after
notching 43 points OKC guard Russell Westbrook was brought back down to earth
missing 16 of 20 shots and finishing with 19 points , 6 Assists and 2
turnovers. Lebron James and Dwayne Wade went all out to frustrate him on the
night with Wade blocking 2 of his power driving layup attempts,seemingly out of
nowhere within a 2 minute Stretch in the 3rd quarter.
Kevin Durant
played his part notching up 32 points,13
for 24 shooting but in no way was he going to stop the mesmerizing Heat all
alone without help from his supporting cast
Serge Ibaka 3 for
9 and Kendrick Perkins both combined to shoot 4 for 13 with 4 rebounds each.
James Harden chipped in with 19 points,he shot 18 for 48 over the 5 games. The Energy the Heat brought to the series was
never really matched by the Thunder. "They were challenging every
dribble,every pass,every shot, They played an intimidating brand of
basketball," Coach Brooks said
Defensively,the
Thunder was a step inferior and most times all looked frustrated and agitated
as a group with players arguing among themselves about who picked up who and
who didn't do what. An incident which summed this up was when they lost track
of Chris Bosh and he powered straight to dunk early in the 3rd quarter leaving
an angry and frustrated Ibaka throwing his hands up in agitation. Even when the
tried to double team Lebron James and sometimes Wade, the ploy backfired as
this resulted in open shots for the likes of Miller who banged in 7 three point
shots.
Offensively, the
OKC thunder shot 41.4 percent and its ball movement as a team was unusually
erratic. As the Heat went out of reach the Thunder became increasingly
desperate and resorted to floating quick jumpers which more often than not
failed which led to them turning over the ball and encouraging wave after wave
of marauding attacks from the Heat. They also lacked touch around the rim. On
shots inside the paint,the Thunder opened 4 for 12 and closed 20 for 41. Not an
impressive return to be honest
So there we have
it. The NBA has a new Champion and Lebron James finally has a ring. Hate him or
love him but his name will be written in the history books. It remains to be
seen if this team can however dominate and reign Supreme for years to come. I
sure can't wait for the 2013 season........
Note
Tactics IQ Soccer Fiesta is around the corner, for team registration, sponsorship and advert details; please follow @TacticsIQ, @tweetTimi or @seyimanu on twitter or call 08188876613, 08023507006
Tactics IQ Soccer Fiesta is around the corner, for team registration, sponsorship and advert details; please follow @TacticsIQ, @tweetTimi or @seyimanu on twitter or call 08188876613, 08023507006
Seyi Ajayi (@seyimanu)
Head; Media & Publicity
Tactics IQ Limited
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