The NBA Finals started off with some heat, Miami that is. The Miami Heat dominated early on and kept Oklahoma City behind until the third quarter. In the last 17 seconds of the third quarter, OKC took its first lead of the game and decided to hold onto it until they pulled away with a 105-94 victory.
It was a key factor that Kevin Durant, who scored 36 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, would have to be shut down, in order for Heat to keep their lead. As the second half came into play, Durant came out more ready than ever and so did the rest of his team.
“Hey, we came out as team and we came away with a team victory,” Durant said in a post game interview.
Lebron James was also asked to give a comment immediately after the game, but he shrugged his way passed Durant and ran back to the locker room.
Durant got much help from his team in this victory. With 27 points, 11 assist and 8 rebounds from Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook, Durant had a great supporting cast. Bench players also played a key role in the victory.
Veteran point guard Derek Fisher, scored 6 points and played good defense. Power forward Nick Collison also came off the bench to rack up 8 points, 10 rebounds and a steal.
Both teams had the same amount of turnovers, but OKC had more determination than the Heat did when it came down to rebounds. Thunder had 43 rebounds while the Heat had 35.
In the fourth quarter, Durant sank 17 points while the entire Heat could only manage 21 points. Not only did the Thunder out rebound the Heat in the fourth quarter, they also got three steals that all led to points to help maintain the lead.
Lebron James did score 30 points. He played well, but Durant played better. Also, with Westbrook’s 27 points, Dwyane Wade’s performance of 19 points was mediocre for his expectation. To even stand a chance in game two, the Heat are going to have to make some changes.
It was an exciting and tough game on Tuesday night, but the anticipation for game two is much higher. Game one got the highest ratings ever for a game one on national television and the same expectations are in place for game two.
