NBA playoffs, anyone??

[SRR]

What a great game last night! OKC looked a little nervy in the first half, came out shooting poorly, looked like the occasion might be getting to them, but Durant and Westbrook really stepped up for their team. Lebron actually played pretty well, went missing at times but unfortunately for him Westbrook and Durant decided that whenever their team needed something, they were going to be the ones to provide it. Wha about that play from Durant, stealing the ball, running the full length of the court, getting to the rim and drawing the foul for a 3 pont play to make it a 7 point game just before the half? And I thought he guarded Lebron really well at times. Excited for tonight's game, you can't write the Heat off, especially with Bosh back, but I really think that if Westbrook and Durant play well for OKC (particularly if Durant can shut Lebron down for a quarter) then the Heat will lose. Battier and Chalmers were big for them in the first half, but they couldn't sustain it, and I definitely don't think they will sustain it throughout the series, so if OKC can defend against Lebron and Wade effectively they could take the series in 6 IMO.

Six games means it'll come back to OKC, which should certainly spell doom for the Heat. I'm thinking that the Thunder might be able to close it out in Miami. I think they should ride the momentum to a win tonight, and in Miami should easily be able to take at least 1 out of 3, maybe even 2 of 3. Whatever the case might be... I think the Thunder have too much firepower for the Heat. I just hope nobody key gets injured, as this would have a huge effect on the series.

Yeah, I think if Lebron and Wade combined for the kind of numbers they did against Indiana in that one game (40 something each) and Bosh chipped in then the Heat would have a real chance, but the OKC's newly discovered defensive prowess will stop that happening. The main difference is the one we expected: OKC simply play with greater unity, and that is what the game of basketball boils down to - a good team is always going to beat a one-man circus. Lebron is having the same problem with OKC that Jordan had with the pistons, except he is not being defended so extremely as Jordan was, and in Wade he has another guy capable of bagging 30 points a night. The only way Lebron can get the Heat past OKC is if he finds a way to involve the other guys on the floor - he has to make OKC think twice about whether he's gonna drive to the rim or lay it off for a team mate. I don't think this will happen though, and I think OKC could adapt to such a tactic if they had to, and still edge it. If OKC win tonight, which I'm hoping they will, I think it might even be over in 5, but I think 6 is a pretty good prediction, though it really is contingent on the notion of OKC playing well in 4/6 of those games