Thunder-Heat Game 1 Notes- Beards All Around
The Thunder took out the Heat 105-94 in game 1. There are a couple of things to watch out for coming up in game 2 Thursday based on game 1.
*Closer duel- Kevin Durant out-dueled LeBron James in the 4th quarter outscoring him 17-4. If the Heat want to steal a game in OKC, LeBron is going to have to finish things off. Of course, help from others wouldn’t hurt…
*Wade’s mojo- It wasn’t just that Dwyane Wade had 19 pts. It’s that he did so inefficiently on 7-19 shooting. Superstar Wade must return if the Heat want to tie up this series. Speaking of second bananas…
*Sidekick control- Like Dwyane, Russell Westbrook was inefficient with 27 pts on 10-24 shooting. Unlike Dwyane, he made some timely hoops. Still, Russell took some shots away by taking bad shots of his own when Durant was in the zone offensively. If the game stays tight, Russell’s execution and shot selection will need to improve. Or they could just give the ball to…
*Fear the Beard- James Harden was saddled with foul trouble. You might consider it a good thing because they overcame it and compensated for his usual production. It could also be bad as Harden’s defensive assignments, LeBron and Wade, aren’t the best matchups for him. Who’s to say foul trouble isn’t the norm in this series for him? They’ll need him to stay out of foul trouble especially when the scene shifts to Miami in game 3. His late game heroics and execution will need to be there. Not to mention, he knows when to give the ball to KD and move out the way. Which is pretty much every time.
What do you think is the biggest key to game 2?
