1) Thanks to Couper Moorhead, who works for the Heat, for this stat: Miami shot 16% outside of the painted area tonight - 16%. How many teams do you think won a game this entire season when they shot 16% outside of the painted area? One. One team, one time (Denver). And I'm guessing they weren't playing high-powered, fast-running, explosive jumping, offensive juggernaut Oklahoma City. So how did Miami win? Well, KJ James and Dwyane Wade weren't overly efficient, but both made plays at the rim; Kevin Durant got in foul trouble again; back-to-back fouls on triples; and Chris Bosh's ferocious fourth quarter defense. Wait- what? Chris Bosh's ferocious fourth quarter defense? Yes! CHRIS BOSH'S FEROCIOUS FOURTH QUARTER DEFENSE! NO ONE HAS EVER BELIEVED IN THE FEROCITY OF ANYTHING MORE THAN I BELIEVE IN THE FEROCITY OF CHRIS BOSH'S FOURTH QUARTER DEFENSE!!! LET'S GOOOOO!!!
2) KJ, man, we're going to cover his headiest play down in #4. But, in general, he was really, really good again tonight. He rim-attacked so hard early, setting the correct tone for the team. He got Durant in foul trouble again with some aggressive plays on both ends. In the second half, with Miami unable to knock down any jumpers, OKC shrunk the lane and made it very difficult for KJ or Dwyane Wade to get middle. The offensive numbers weren't off the charts (for KJ): 11-23, 6-8 from the line (if he gets officiated like a normal player, that's 18 free throws, not 8), for 29 points. And there were a couple of stagnant late possessions. But there was a triple at the end of third quarter to put Miami up 2, completing a comeback from down 10. There was a huge drive-and-finish over Kendrick Perkins for one bucket, and a beautiful little touch pass to Chris Bosh for two free throws up 1 with a minute to go. He limited Durant to 4 fourth quarter points. He grabbed 14 more rebounds. He was the best player on the court, as he needs to be for Miami to have any chance to win these games...Dwyane was aggressive all night, but was, at times, a frenzy of bad shots, and had another mind-bogglingly bad turnover down the stretch that, for the second straight game, made Miami have to finish twice. Still, he tried to live in the paint whenever possible - he shot only 8-22, but was 9-11 from the line, and had 7 boards and 7 dimes, and his drive-Euro-step-and-one finish over Kendrick Perkins to put Miami up 4 with 4 minutes to go propelled them towards the finish . He doesn't have to be the best player on the court for Miami to win - that's KJ's job - he just has to help make enough plays, on both ends, to allow KJ to do what he do. That's the proper dynamic now...
3) Chris Bosh was only 3-12 from the floor, and two of the hoops were easy first quarter dunks on screen-and-rolls that OKC didn't cover properly. He did make 2 free throws under a minute to go with Miami clinging to a 1 point lead. But his fourth quarter defense probably won the game. For the better part of two seasons, he has spent the vast majority of his defensive energy on seeing how high and how straight he can stretch his arms into the air while offensive players weave around him and lay the ball into the basket. But tonight he unveiled a whole new game plan: see where the offensive player is coming from, try to figure out where he's going, then get to that spot, jump, and try to hit the ball! You know - like an NBA big man would do! He was fabulous - he got credit for only two blocked shots, but I know for a fact he blocked three: a Westbrook layup, a Perkins layup from behind, and a Durant runner. Also had a huge alter on Durant late, with just over a minute to go and Miami up three: Durant caught the ball at the short right wing, and KJ bodied him up, determined not to let Durant shoot that little jumper, which is automatic from that spot. Durant made a good counter by ripping his arms through to his right hand, put the ball down for one dribble, and elevated for a little bank shot as KJ tried to ride his body a little bit...except here came Chris Bosh swooping in from the help side, elevating (sort of), and getting a fully outstretched contest, which forced Durant to shoot a 10 footer clear over to the wrong side of the backboard, where a hustling KJ, of all people, reeled it in. it was the last shot Durant would take in the game as Miami held on, and it was just one of numerous contests Chris made in the fourth quarter. If he's been saving all this defensive energy, he picked a great time to spring it on someone. Chris Bosh: please keep this up. However, if it's all the same with you, I'm going to try not to get my hopes up too much...
4) Great conversation with GFOB Plumber the other day about KJ James. His theory: KJ doesn't play basketball with joy, he's a bit humorless out there. It's a good observation, I've thought that as well, at times, that he can be a bit of an automaton. Off the court, he seems to smile a lot, he's polite in interviews, every player says he is the biggest practical joker in the locker room, and players around the league all seem to like him, unlike Russell Westbrook, who is detested even by his own teammates (I would imagine). But maybe he enjoys being in the NBA more than playing the games, if that makes any sense. Or, maybe the pressure of trying to live up to an incredibly high standard wears on him. Or, maybe he's just a serious dude out there. I tend to think the latter is mostly true (with elements of the others sprinkled in). If you watch KJ every night, one thing you learn about him is that he is a student of the game in a way that a lot of players (Dwyane, for one) is not. KJ can wax rhapsodic about past greats, and also seems to know how every player in the league is playing at any given time - in Dwyane's case, sometimes it feels like he has such an arrogant belief in himself that he doesn't even pay attention to which players are on what other teams (which is fine - works for him). Another thing you learn is that KJ is both the off-court and on-court leader of the team. All the players will tell you he is the most vocal leader in the locker room (which has never been Dwyane's thing according to everyone associated with the team), and on the court as well. He has a lot of responsibility. So maybe what Plumber and I take as "humorless" is more "serious." Not sure there's anything wrong with that - different guys have different personalities. I mean, Michael Jordan seemed to love basketball only in comparison to everything and everyone else on the planet, which he absolutely despised (except for making money)...No matter where the truth lies, on a key play tonight, KJ showed what a student of the game he is. With Miami leading by 4 and 16 seconds to go, OKC had one last shot out of a timeout, ball at midcourt on the side. Thabo Sefalosha was the inbounder, guarded by Udonis Haslem. KJ's man, Durant, lined up on the block nearest the ball, and Russell Westbrook lined up with Wade guarding him at the elbow. Before the ball was inbounded, KJ went over to Wade and told him to switch men, to go down and cover Durant, while KJ took Westbrook - he had sniffed out that Westbrook was going to screen down for Durant to pop up to the top to receive the ball. Instead of potentially getting caught on the screen, and having the smaller Wade stuck on Durant, KJ just told Wade to switch the screen - when Westbrook screened down, KJ would stay in place and wait for Durant. Moreover, he went over to Haslem and moved his positioning on the court, telling him to pinch the sideline to make it difficult for Sefalosha to throw it down to the corner. When the ball was handed to Sefalosha, Westbrook ran down and screened, but Wade and KJ held their places - as Durant popped to the top, Sefalosha looked to inbound it to him, but KJ stayed right in the line of the entry, making it impossible to get it to KD. Sefalosha then looked down to the corner to Westbrook, but UD was pinching the sideline so closely (thanks to KJ), that it looked like a very difficult pass. It wasn't a great play drawn up by OKC - they expected they were going to inbounds it to Durant easily, and once KJ blew that up, there weren't a lot of other options. Westbrook was in the corner with Wade - at the same moment Westbrook decided that that he had to try to run back up top to change the angle of the pass, Sefalosha decided he had to throw it down to the corner. Westbrook vacated, and the ball went right to a very surprised Dwyane Wade. Ballgame! Score one for the very attentive KJ James!
5) Biggest stretch of the game: halfway through the third quarter, with OKC up 6, Durant got his fourth foul on a pretty weak call defending a Dwyane Wade drive (though I've always said: Dwyane puts refs in bad spots - you keep going in there aggressively, at some point someone's going to give you a call, even if it's a bad one). Miami had a chance to cut it to three, but an Almario Vernard Chalmers triple went halfway down and popped out, and then, obviously, he immediately fouled Derrick Fisher on the other end as Fisher dropped a three, putting OKC up ten, and putting Miami on the brink. But with four minutes to go, Shane Battier and James Jones were fouled shooting triples on back-to-back possessions (by Ibaka and Fisher), and made all 6 free throws to cut the lead to four, and stabilizing the Heat, who would end up leading by 2 after three. Do. Not. Foul. Jump. Shooters. Especially on triples. Side note: if Derrick Fisher didn't get special treatment from referees because he is "tough" and "a winner" he'd foul out in four minutes in every game in which he played. He is the biggest hatchet act I've ever seen in this league. I'm not even complaining or hating - it is what it is. I'm just saying if you watched some kind of isolation on him for a game ("Fish Doing Work"), it would be an absolute joke. He literally fouls, somehow, every possession on both ends of the court.
Bonus) This kid is spot on:
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Mannn, we haven't been up 2-1 in the Finals since, well, last season, I guess. That didn't end up so well. Next game is Tuesday. Not looking forward to it, because I never look forward to any playoff game. Too stressful! If you need me before then, I'll be busy making the wallpaper on every computer I own this kid's Jon Barry Sucks sign! See you on Tuesday Heat fans (and Jon Barry)!
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