The NBA put together a recap of Game 1 told through a “micro-movie,” and as you might expect, it’s terrific.
(Also, bonus video: Game 1 Phantom.)
Headlines
- VP Biden called Durant to thank him for donation
- KD named All-NBA first team, Westbrook second team
- Perk donates $25,000 to help build shelters in schools
- Report: Mo Cheeks to interview with the Pistons
- Thunder land the 12th pick in the 2013 draft
- Thunder donate $1 million to aid with disaster relief
- Kevin Durant donates $1 million to disaster relief
when those experts said wade would do something,they must forget thunder limited Kobe who is better than wade
Tony Allen has been reading DT!! Giving credit to the Thunder and Coach Brooks.
I hope Westbrook and Harden can step up their defense on Wade. It's like the media is fueling him on purpose or something. In fact, scratch that, I want to see Durant on him for the 2nd and 3rd Quarter. To limit his production as much as possible. Westbrook can switch to Battier or the PG. Thabo on Lebron and having Perk or Collison in the middle. That should bottle any scoring they're going to want to get. Even fisher or Harden could be in to get some scoring done too
Dan Crawford is reffing tonight. In D-Wade era, Heat are 14-3 (.824) in playoffs when he refs!
All of these NBA experts are coming on the radio and Tv this morning breaking down Game 2 and everything they point out favors the Thunder. But when they are asked to pick a winner many are saying the Heat and their reason is they can't imagine Lebron, Wade going down 0-2 and losing back to back in the Finals. Uh, Ok.
@Skyline the sky is falling! the chosen one loses again!
@Skyline They couldn't imagine the Spurs being any where else other than the finals when they were up 2-0 on us in the last series. Screw these guys. I want the Thunder to destroy this "team"
@thelaughingwiseman Lots of reasoning for the Heat winning tonight too is that Wade will be fueled by all of the criticism that he has received after Game 1.
@Skyline I expect Harden to have a decent game and that would be enough.
Now Broussard is on First Take answering the question if DWade is the blame for the LOSS!!!!!
@CDSpark No one should be blamed more than Brooks for heat loss
@shiki @CDSpark
THE HEAT LOSS IS BROOKS'S FAULT!!
@ou_sas
:D :D :D
@ou_sas @twistdov @shiki @CDSpark So, do we fire Brooks before or after the parade?
@twistdov @shiki @CDSpark FIRE BROOKS!!!!
Wait, what?
@CDSpark You know what, keep talking about how the Heat lost rather than the fact the Thunder won. We'll show them that the Heat have 3 more games to lose before all is said and done here.
Inspired by @shiki 's comment below, I have the new nickname for KD - as if we didn't have enough.
The Catch-35. Damned if you guard him. Damned if you don't.
@ou_sas @shiki Jalen Rose has been calling him "The Remix", saying that he is like some of the Old School scoring players only a new and better version.
@Skyline @shiki There's some untapped potential there too.
Guys, I know this is next year's pipe dream... but I want KD to set the consecutive 25 point games record. It was fun watching him take it on two years ago, but after this year's playoffs... If it's that effortless for him, I'm going to expect it of him.
@ou_sas Thunder are blowing out teams much more frequently and I don't see KD playing as many 4th qtrs to reach the 25 pt record.
@Skyline Well, that's true... I'd be fine if we hit 60+ wins next season instead of KD setting that record.
@ou_sas I always like Jordan's perspective on scoring 30+ pts a game. He simply said all you have to do is score 8 pts per qtr and that gives you 32 per game.
The story line is "The Heat Lost" game 1. Its never "The Thunder Won" game 1. There is a defect in the Heat. There is a failure in performance. Why can't it be the Thunder excelled? The Heat played well, the Thunder played better. Every one is trying to find the shortcomings of the Heat in game 1 rather than the positives for the Thunder
@CDSpark
Keep in mind that ESPN sponsors the Heat, essentially. And we're seeing alot of east coast-centric opinions. These guys have been milking every last ounce of the Heat's stories & subplots for the past 2 years.
The flip side is that people love stories of misery. Win/win if youre an east coast mediahead covering the Finals.
@CDSpark It's really starting to get on my nerves. I really want the Thunder to metaphorically kick this Heat team in the mouth today. I need Harden to have a big game though. It'll all go smoother if he just plays well
@CDSpark yea they dont understand that james and wade cant easily drive to our rim because of our length, and not just because of their lack of aggressiveness
First Take crew is in total apologist mode when it comes to the Heat. They are literally giving no credit to what the Thunder did to win the game and that Durant's explosion in the 4th quarter was just a fluke. They all think putting LeBron on Durant and Wade on Westbrook will result in 4 straight Miami wins and that the Heat LOST Game 1, not the Thunder WINNING it.
@C-Wil putting Lebron on KD is not smart because lebron has too much job for his team.
@shiki @C-Wil Not putting Lebron on KD is not smart because KD will go off if he wants to.
@ou_sas Playing against Kd is not smart because you will not have a high win %.
@C-Wil I completely concur.
@C-Wil geuss we'll just have to take the next 2 then
I'm really not liking how much attention Wade is getting for his "off" game, where he went 19 pts, 8 ast. I hope Harden is hearing all this about how "Wade needs to have a big game" "How Wade needs to step up". It's beyond annoying! Why can't ESPN talk about Harden and his 5 pts and 4 fouls!
@thelaughingwiseman had we lost, it's all we would've heard about
@thelaughingwiseman it's hard for people to admit that our #2 guy is better than theirs
spo "game 2 we have to dominate in athleticism"
yeah i think the thunder will take that, exp with an injured wade
@OBoymuzik I think the Heat are going to be aggressive on Durant today, he most likely will start passing a bit too much, I hope Harden can listen the burden and make points, that way Durant doesn't get hounded that much.
easy to say,hard to do
It is our home.playing aggressive means more fouls but they only have 6.5 players who are available(miller is 0.5)
@thelaughingwiseman we'll see what they can do on durant...they might be able to keep him under 30...I'm starting to worry that harden may not get the calls he normally gets in this series, and the heat have been agressive in trapping him
tony allen is in okc today and will be on first take....which one of our players can we disguise him as
@OBoymuzik Reggie Jackson, sorry buddy, but you gots to have him!
@thelaughingwiseman lol the nation wouldn't be suspicious when we activate rookie reggie jackson for game 2 of the finals...and then he single handedly shuts down miami
With No basketball today. I decided to try and work out if i thought the Heat could win this series. I had previously predicted the series a thunder win in 6 or less.
Due to roster and rotational analysis. I am slightly scared and could definitely see the heat winning with a few tweaks. Though this assumes Wade can lock down Harden and Lebron can lock down KD, two things that might not be possible. Thankfully as a thunder fan there is no way that Wade agrees to come off the bench so this is probably moot.
@jdstorm who locks down westbrook then? lebron has not shown that he can lock down KD.If ibaka finds his jump shot again we still win.
@f5alcon @jdstorm
Agree on Westbrook. If you have no shot blockers and don't put someone on Russ that can keep him from penetrating, then you're done. Just ask Dallas.
@anonymous12345 @f5alcon @jdstorm
I'm less worried about adapting to Miami's defensive tweaks than I would have been 2 weeks ago. As long as Brooks doesn't take two games to adjust to something Miami's doing effectively, we'll be fine.
I keep coming back to the sense that Miami doesn't have great chemistry. They seem to have some dysfunctionality problems between some of the players and their coaches. And I don't see them making really effective adjustments because their roster is so limited.
Spoelstra: "The plan was to stick with a tight 6-man rotation this first game". Really? Yikes.
LeBron: "this was a feel-out game". A feel-out game in the NBA finals? Not a good mindset. Sounds kinda excusey.
So i did a practice writing, and it was about Scott Brooks. I was wondering if i should post it on here for you guys to read.... Though, Some of you scare the living shit out of me as critics. I've never took a writing class ever. So..... I would be way too scared.
@ElMexiThunder
Hey, ElMexi . . . This might be more info than you wanted, but here's a writing rubric that might help you--kind of like a writing class in a nutshell. Take a look at what you've written and see if you think it's approaching the 3-4-point range in each category. You get good at writing by practicing, getting honest feedback, and reading other good writers (like Royce, for example). And, of course, be sure to do as Scotty would have you do and write from your heart. :)
http://www.connectingwaters.org/Assessment/4ptrub.htm
thabo and collison did incredible things in game 1. i'm still surprised that so many experts picked the heat in this one, and i'm still surprised that the "experience, taste of losing, lebron needs this more therefore he will win it" arguments still held any weight before this series.
I know they weren't favorites, but they weren't exactly underdogs the way a lot of people were spinning this.
We have a finals, in my opinion, that would only be close if we switched up the role players on both teams. As I see it, the Heat will have to work very hard if they want to make this a 6 game series, with some otherworldly performances not only by LeBron, but from Wade as well.
It's not a good thing when you have older superstars with less energy and worse teammates going up against young, determined, experienced guys with teammates who know EXACTLY what they have to do to help the team win.
As an aside, I want to give some credit to LeBron and Wade in their postgame interviews yesterday. They were classy, and they were respectful. If there's one thing that the NBA seems to exude lately from the teams that play the Thunder, it is respect for our talent. Whether it's Kobe, Dirk, Duncan, Lebron, or heck, even Stephen Jackson talking, I think that this current group of all-stars know when to give credit when credit is due.
@harrisonp Great points.
The "experience, taste of losing, lebron needs this more therefore he will win it" postulation never made much sense to me and basing a Miami pick on that line of thinking makes even less sense. I'm guessing most of those media 'experts' have an east coast-based perspective and a subconscious obligation to give Miami lots of benefit of the doubt.
@twistdov Perspective certainly may have something to do with it, though I think you're trying to avoid the word 'bias' here and I don't like to make arguments about "bias" anyways. But when people are playing word association and "podunk" still registers when someone from Florida, NYC, or LA hears "Oklahoma," well sure, Miami going from "obvious underdog" to "a decent shot of winning" makes more sense, when most of the national sportswriters are coming from those big sports cities.
I would just rather believe that there are a just a lot of people with really cracked out ideas out there... These people should stay fans, and not try to become sportswriters.
And there are also people out there who don't know how to properly use reason, find fallacies, etc. Superstars make a huge difference on a team in the NBA, moreso than other professional sports. But superstars aren't a team. Nike and the NBA plays up the "Superstars ARE the team" angle, because it's sexy. It sells. And people buy it. It's just not true.
Trade Durant and Westbrook to the Heat as currently assembled for Wade and Lebron for the Thunder as currently assembled. What happens? Most likely, Lebron gets his first ring. Not because he's any better, but because he's on the better team.
I like the way Lebron has carried himself throughout this postseason. I just think the Thunder are clearly a better overall team, and that isn't sexy to write about, but it's true.