Finish The Mission!!! Official 2012 NBA Finals Thread. Heat Vs Thunder

[Loose]

Jordan took 3 L's to the Pistons in a row.


The Spurs didn't win the first year they got Duncan, and their situation isn't the norm, a veteran team getting an All-NBA first teamer out of the sky.

So it would take 3ls from 2 all stars , a 6 man(should be an allstar) and dpoy candidate in order to validate themselves in a weak era

this isn't your typical "young team", not to mention we also have fisher, perkins, thabo, collison, nazr on the team as well. wade won a ring in 06 aint that considered young oh wait he had shaq and crippled zo who didnt do shyt in the finals i forgot.

 

[kash10003]

gonna off mario

 

[HiphopRelated]

gonna off mario

He's getting Wade, Mario will be on Sefalosha

 

[Loose]

He's getting Wade, Mario will be on Sefalosha

the whole game? who will guard harden?

 

[ReggieFlare]

It's not that cut and dry though, the Thunder are only young in age. They have the talent to win the title, and they went through a tough road of the last 3 WC champions (Nba champs as well).

That said, I think the Heat should win because the Thunder's offense as good as it's been in the playoffs doesn't really expose the glaring weaknesses in the Heat's defense. The best way to beat the Heat defense is with ball movement that gets them to over rotate, the Thunder just isolate, and that was good against the Mavs, Lakers and Spurs but they didn't have the athletes on the wing to defend against it.

Westbrook is really the key to the series for them, not just in scoring but he has to distribute the ball or get the Heat to collapse on him. The Heat protect the paint at all costs, which is why I thought the Spurs were a bad matchup for them and Im not sure you can beat them just shooting jumpers out of isolation.

This man knows what he's talking about

 

[TheNig]

I'm leaning towards the Heat, I felt they could beat the Thunder all season if they faced off, wasn't sure the Heat could beat the Spurs because of how much they give up the 3.


My reasoning is the Heat are a better defensive team than the Thunder have played against to this point, and even the teams the Heat has played in the playoffs were better defensively than what the Thunder played. The best defensive team they played were the Mavs, they've gotten their offense easy by comparison, what happens if they can't score as easily as they have in the previous rounds?


If 2011 Finals LeBron shows up though it's done in 4 with the Thunder winning huge.

i want the Heat to win. It would be nice for LeBron to get this monkey off his back. but OKC is full of firepower.

-if you're Spo do you start off the series with Chalmers on Westbrook and watch him go ape shyt or do you put Wade on him from jump?

-i dont think LeBron will be able to get to the block like he did against Indy and Boston. i expect to see him start a lot of his possessions with the ball on the perimeter. and that may make it hard for him to score on KD and those long ass arms.

-Wade has to get going early. if he starts slow, that does nothing but give Thabo the confidence to think he can shut him down. Wade got to go straight at this dude from jump. and he's gonna have to work even harder on the defensive end when Harden checks in. Wade has got to come with it this series. no half stepping.

-Bosh's quickness should be enough for Ibaka. Bosh is their X-factor to me. if he can take advantage of that matchup they can win this thing.


all this said. i have OKC in 6. The Heat's bench will be the reason why they fall behind most of this series.

 

[TheNig]

btw... if Westbrook can play within himself and they Thunder can continue to take care of the ball, they'll be alright.

 

[Tres Leches]

thinking Thunder in 7 but a lot depends on that wade vs westbrook matchup

 

[cfountain]

still no poll.

anyway, Thunder in however many it takes.

oh yeah, to those saying the Thunder play nothing but isolation ball, did you watch the Thunder/Spurs series? they had more assists than the Spurs(or really close). they were averaging over 21+ assists a game

they are playing way better than they were in the regular season and they aren't turning the ball over anymore.

still, hoping for a great series.

 

[Dr. Shaquille O'Neal]

After Days of scholarly research I've decided my pardiction, whatever team scores the most will win the series

 

[TheNig]

After Days of scholarly research I've decided my pardiction, whatever team scores the most will win the series

that Shaq analysis>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[Malta]

So it would take 3ls from 2 all stars , a 6 man(should be an allstar) and dpoy candidate in order to validate themselves in a weak era

this isn't your typical "young team", not to mention we also have fisher, perkins, thabo, collison, nazr on the team as well. wade won a ring in 06 aint that considered young oh wait he had shaq and crippled zo who didnt do shyt in the finals i forgot.

Did I not say there's an exception to every rule, and that the Thunders age wouldn't be the reason they lost if they don't win?

 

[Mandizi]

Miami looked ready too then. What I'm saying is OKC is too young. They don't know about the NBA Finals, where youth is rarely, if ever, served. They're just getting their feet wet. Miami is on a mission. Hungrier. More seasoned.

In fact, I don't really see any way possible OKC wins this series. I won't be shocked at all when Miami wins.

Magic was a 20-year old rookie when the lakers beat the experienced Dr. J. led sixers in '80.

Proves your point wrong.

 

[HiphopRelated]

the whole game? who will guard harden?

 

[Malta]

i want the Heat to win. It would be nice for LeBron to get this monkey off his back. but OKC is full of firepower.

-if you're Spo do you start off the series with Chalmers on Westbrook and watch him go ape shyt or do you put Wade on him from jump?

-i dont think LeBron will be able to get to the block like he did against Indy and Boston. i expect to see him start a lot of his possessions with the ball on the perimeter. and that may make it hard for him to score on KD and those long ass arms.

-Wade has to get going early. if he starts slow, that does nothing but give Thabo the confidence to think he can shut him down. Wade got to go straight at this dude from jump. and he's gonna have to work even harder on the defensive end when Harden checks in. Wade has got to come with it this series. no half stepping.

-Bosh's quickness should be enough for Ibaka. Bosh is their X-factor to me. if he can take advantage of that matchup they can win this thing.


all this said. i have OKC in 6. The Heat's bench will be the reason why they fall behind most of this series.

I'd play Westbrook exactly like they did Rondo, give him a cushion, go under every screen and let him take shots. He's a much better shooter than Rondo by far, but you live with all his makes, and just let him keep shooting. The more shots he takes means the less shots for Durant and Harden.

The two games they played this season were completely different, and the truth is somewhere in the middle. The first game the Thunder blew them off the floor, Kendrick Perkins had 16pts, how likely is that to happen again? The second game the Heat shut down everyone outside of Durant, Westbrook and Harden and won the game.

The Heat have to slow down Harden and Ibaka to win the series, Harden makes up the bulk of the Thunder's bench production, they get 10ppg from Fisher and Collison (playoffs). Ibaka gives them 11ppg right now and a release for Westbrook on those pick and pops.