Well whaddaya know – an NBA playoff preview that is NOT late! I guess that’s what happens when there are no family emergencies going on around me.
At any rate this exciting NBA season is about to come to a close, but not without an exciting finals match-up between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Expect lots of scoring and storylines galore – e.g. which “Big Three” is better, which dynamic duo has the edge, major media market with lots of glam vs. smaller market, you get the picture.
As for the teams…
Miami Heat
The Heat are on a mission to atone for last year’s choke job in the finals to the Dallas Mavericks. Miami’s “Big Three” of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh are back and appear more motivated than ever before to finish the job. The problem is the Heat’s bench is suspect beyond Shane Battier and Mike Miller.
The Heat played inspired against an aging Boston Celtics squad that never quit. However when the Heat finally manned up against “Team Geritol”, fans thought that this Heat team might have turned the corner. But let’s be clear on something – that series should not have gone beyond five games. We’ll see how that affects Miami’s legs going forward.
Oklahoma City Thunder
OKC is pretty damn scary looking these days.
Look how they rolled through its opponents in the Western Conference playoffs. The Thunder swept the Mavericks, the Lakers in five and the Spurs in six. What did those three teams have in common? They were all NBA champions this decade. The Thunder just went through them with such relative ease.
And here’s the scariest part: all of OKC’s stars are under 25 years old. Kevin Durant, Michael Westbrook and James Harden have not only arrived – they are here to stay. The Western Conference knows it, and all the NBA know it. Sucks for Seattle, eh?
As for the match-up itself, I’ve told friends I do not see anyone beating OKC in a series, and I am sticking by that. The Heat may be hungrier and more focused, but the Thunder will not be waiting its turn. The Spurs and Lakers found that out. The Thunder is deeper than the Heat, and look for OKC to exploit the hell out of it.
This will be an entertaining series and points will be scored in bunches. And while the Heat are amazing defensively, I do not see them holding up against the OKC fury. I’ll say this: if LeBron is defending Durant, the Heat have a good chance of winning. Then ask the question: who will defend Westbrook? Wade? Given that Wade is gimpy, not a chance. That is why I am picking OKC to win the NBA Finals in six games.
Categories: NBA, sports story
I agree completely. For one thing, it is pretty obvious that the Thunder are going to give the Heat some serious match-up problems. For another, the Thunder top to bottom have a better starting five and better depth.
Tonight will tell the tale of the series. If Miami can steal one from OKC after they have had a longer layoff and quite frankly, San Antonio isn’t nearly as tough defensively as Boston. Miami could steal one and then hold serve at home. They have been to the finals, OKC hasn’t. I just hope it goes 7 and we have an excellent series, don’t really care who wins.