vs. 
Miami Heat (12-6, 4-4 road) vs. OKC Thunder (12-3, 8-0 home)
TV: ABC (Cox 8, HD 705)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:00 CT
Series tied 0-0
View from the enemy: Heat Index
Shall I take another three or four hundred words to describe this moment and how incredible and massively huge it is? Or do we all get it by now?
I’m pretty sure we all get it.
It’s time for basketball, time play the games. Time for matchups to get sorted, time for the spotlight to shine. The Thunder keep talking about playing hard, which hopefully, in the NBA Finals, they will. It’s more than that though. It’s about playing extremely hard, but playing exceptionally well. The margin for error against the Heat is slim, and OKC will need to be right.
There’s a question as to if Chris Bosh will be starting tonight and while that’s obviously important, the Thunder don’t seem to care.
“It’s a little bit of a difference,” Scott Brooks said at shootaround. “But it doesn’t matter. Serge [Ibaka] is going to guard either one [Bosh or Battier], whoever they start at the 4.”
The Thunder have used the same starting five essentially all season, and the same starting five the entire postseason. They don’t change, even if their opponent does.
“We’ve been playing against different lineups all year,” Brooks said. “Serge has done a good job and I give him a lot of credit. We talked about, going into this season, him being able to guard stretch 4s. And he’s done a great job at that. So put Battier out there, and I think Serge is in a good position to do a good job with him.”
Ibaka says he’s ready to defend big or small. And the Thunder have played out all the scenarios and situations. Whatever Miami chooses, OKC should have a plan.
Because at this point, it’s about playing the game. There will be a crazy amount of nerves, a ton of jitters and a whole lot of anxiety. The building will be ballistic, the atmosphere insane. But the Thunder have to just keep it cool, play their game and let the 48 minutes happen as they may. They’re good enough to win. But it won’t happen unless they protect home court. Unless the protect The Peake.
The NBA Finals begin in Oklahoma City tonight and while I am definitely fighting the urge to wax on about what a moment this is for the state and city, how incredible it is to rise to this moment, this reality is it’s about basketball right now. We can reflect later.
It’s an amazing feeling to be here, to know the Thunder are four simple wins from a championship. Surreal, crazy, wild, unreal — fill in the blank. But as good as it feels to be playing for an NBA title, imagine the feeling to win one.
Tip at 8:00 CT. Go Thunder.
SCOTT BROOKS
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SERGE IBAKA
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RUSSELL WESTBROOK
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Did she just say "Tay-bo"?
I dunno, I still think she is kind of hot.
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/06/lights-out-okc-closes-out-miami-in-game-1-105-94/
@Jooseppi I feel like I've seem this before
@Jooseppi HA!
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/06/lights-out-okc-closes-out-miami-in-game-1-105-94/
@blueRAP damn you
Im happy with the outcome, but i just wish Russ would try to make the right play every time as opposed to some or a lot of the time. i know thats a lot to ask, but its just that the bailout threes or mid range shots will always be there at the end of the shotclock, and with more patience i think he can take better shots than some of the ones he did today.
@Thunder S Mid range shots are okay, usually we have some kind of rebounding position. But the threes annoy me.
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@FSUThunderFan Bosh is just a spot up shooter for the rest of this series. Doesn't look like he's back at 100%
@FSUThunderFan no, Ibaka is better guarding a Big as oppose to a faster shooter.
@FSUThunderFan With his newfound speed who knows?
I am thinking the small ball is really helping us. I also would like to see perk in there too. I just like how much spacing he takes away in the lane. Yeah it's going to be a tough cover for him to guard Bosh, but with team defense, he should stay in the middle and worry about the person who's near to him
just two words. Three more.
All 11 Russ assists came off of different plays/sets.
@Skyline I think his court vision is improving by the game this post season.
@blueRAP @Skyline I think people are catching balls.
Perk got 25mins tonight, a little too much for my taste. Serge/Collision should get all the center minutes this series.
@neo12 he played better at 2nd half,but he is not good at off rebs which is big advantage of collison
@neo12 Ibaka wasn't exactly the defensive juggernaut we're used to seeing either.
@neo12 Brooks kept Perk in there to keep Lebron from guarding someone who could score
@KellOne Lebron's explanation sort of made sense. He said, that most of the times, Perk would screen for KD, and when they had to switch Lebron would be on KD.
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@FSUThunderFan @neo12 If Bosh starts it might be less of a big deal
I blame our slow start on Russ....I caught him smiling right before the game..Wasnt til he tried to kill battier that we got it together
@OBoymuzik Angry badger is always better
@KellOne Russ is pissed that we won this game
@OBoymuzik @KellOne yea ur right , we need to free up kd probably a little better- but no doubt some of his shots (esp. some of the threes) werent great and we couldve worked the ball around for better shots
@Thunder S @KellOne All of the heats defensive focus in the 3rd was to deny Durant the ball...Russ would go to pass it to him, KD would try to get open...on and on for 15 sec then Russ would try to make something happen....i would rather Russ go 10-25 than 5-10 on a night where harden in nonexistent
@OBoymuzik @KellOne i thought russ had a good game but he took some really bad shots- especially the three point shots. Would any of us really been upset if he had fed kevin durant more? I dont think people who criticize russ say he's been bad, but its just that the alternative could have been way more devastating
How to build the perfect basketball PF.
Take:
Kevin Garnett's body
Dirks Jumper
Duncan's Attitude/ leadership.
Or
Draft a ready made Kevin Durant
@jdstorm I watched a video of some Durant training regimen and it focused a lot on core strength.
@jdstorm But he can't bench 150
@OBoymuzik @jdstorm That's what gives him his feather soft touch. Stronger guys tend to be less efficient shooters.
@OBoymuzik If my arms were 7'4 i couldn't bench 15
First game of the Finals and Westbrook has an arguably better game than he did in the entire WCF, AND Harden struggling?
Be afraid Miami. Be very afraid.
@blueRAP Offensively he didn't shoot the ball well. Blowout if he had his jumper going. Let's hope he can get his touch back, sweep if his jumper starts to fall
@blueRAP Stephen A Smith was very critical about the shots he took. However if his jumper had been dropping from the start this woulda been really wipe out.
@blueRAP and the media says westbrook played like shit basically
@Lost Ones It's easy to get on a player for shooting more shots than KD. Be we all know what we saw there. 41-40 KD/Westbrook vs Miami in the 2nd half trumps anything bad about his game tonight.
@Lost Ones @blueRAP Good, more fuel for his fire.
@Lost Ones @blueRAP well his first half was. he can get whatever he wants against this team whenever he wants it
Durant Westbrook and Sefalosha
anyone know lebrons shot chart when kd guarded him?
Its still amazing to me how efficient and natural a scorer Kevin Durant is. He doest need rhythm, too many shots or anything - he is probably the purest scorer the league has ever seen.
@Thunder S He was compared to Gervin before who was also a natural scorer type. Then Bob McAdoo, who supposedly had 3pt range but when the 3pt line became en vogue he was in his twilight years. Durant has some of the best tools as a scorer, that's for sure. But 'purest' scorer ever? There were some who got their points easier, if that's what you mean. Adrian Dantley had some ridiculous scoring seasons efficiency wise.
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@ThunderWins @FSUThunderFan @Thunder S I read that. Dirk gives him a lot of credit. Dirk was pretty darn good by his fifth season.
@justin_mia @FSUThunderFan @Thunder S http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4689899/dirk-kevin-durant-way-ahead-of-my-curve
@FSUThunderFan @Thunder S Durant's definitely unique. When you have to steal traits from a bunch of all time greats to get his skillset...
@justin_mia @Thunder S dantley was a terrible teammate though
@Thunder S Ever?
@justin_mia to be fair i dont know much about adrian dantley. i just think kevin durant can score easily pretty much from anywhere and its instructive that the only defense on him is to prevent him from getting the ball and then hope he misses shots. i dont know who else we can say that about.
@Thunder S Durant's range separates him from a lot of the bigger scoring forwards. He shoots so effortlessly from 28 feet and makes them with some regularity. Plus his handle is good and he's a better athlete than some of them. He's definitely unique in that sense.