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NBA Finals Game 1: "A Tale of two Halves"

By: Jeff Meadows

Oklahoma City, OK-Game 1 of the NBA Finals was every bit as good as one could have imagined. Star players on both side's (Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and D'Wayne Wade) performed like star players and both teams supporting cast (Thabo Sefolosha, James Harden, Derek Fisher and Serge Ibaka and Shane Battier, Mario Chalmers and Chris Bosh) stepped up as well but it came down to a couple of things like team SIZE, ATHlETICISM and LENGTH and one teams star player(s) out playing the other teams which is what tonight's game came down to as the OKC THUNDER take 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

FIRST HALF: MIAMI HEAT "ON FiRE"!

In the first half, the MIAMI HEAT came out "ON FIRE" as Shane Battier would give the HEAT a big lift by hitting three, 3 pointers and LeBron had a solid first half scoring 14 points as the HEAT went into half time with a. 7 point, 54-47 lead. Kevin Durant led the way for THUNDER with 13 points.

SECOND HALF: OKC "TURN UP THE HEAT"!

The second half belonged to the THUNDER as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook turned up their play another notch and once the THUNDER took their first lead late in the third quarter behind a Russell Westbrook lay up, the THUNDER never looked back as they would go on to take game 1, 104-95 in the best of 7 series.

KEYS TO OKC'S GAME 1 VICTORY

OKC's supporting cast of Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison, Kendrick Perkins and Thabo Sefolosha all played extremely well but it was the team's leaders in 6'5 (G) Russell Westbrook who's persistence and perseverance led him to 27 point 11 assist and 8 rebound performance and 6'11 (W/G) Kevin Durant posted a 36 point 8 rebound and 4 assist outing which is what lifted the OKC THUNDER past the MIAMI HEAT.

WHAT MUST THE HEAT DO TO GET BACK TO THEIR WINNING WAYS

Like I said in my NBA Finals pre article that LeBron and D'Wade had to out play Durant and Westbrook which didn't happen. Again, in order for the HEAT to win LeBron and D'Wade MUST out play Durant and Westbrook if the HEAT are to win this year's NBA Finals. MIAMI'S supporting cast played a great game but like a said, no matter how well MIAMI'S supporting cast plays, if their BIG 2 does not out play OKC'S BIG 2, MIAMI will once again, be on the losing end of things.

GAME STATS

FG Made-Attempted

MIAMI HEAT: 36-78 (.462)

OKC THUNDER: 40-77 (.519)

3P Made-Attempted

MIAMI HEAT: 8-19 (.421)

OKC THUNDER: 5-17 (.294)

FT Made-Attempted

MIAMI HEAT: 14-18 (.778)

OKC THUNDER: 20-27 (.741)

Rebounds (Off-Total)

MIAMI HEAT: 7-35

OKC THUNDER: 10-43

Assists

MIAMI HEAT: 20

OKC THUNDER: 22

Turnovers

MIAMI HEAT: 10

OKC THUNDER: 10

Fast Break Points

MIAMI HEAT: 4

OKC THUNDER: 24

Fouls (Tech/Flagrant)

MIAMI HEAT: 19

OKC THUNDER: 16

Largest Lead

MIAMI HEAT: 13

OKC THUNDER: 11

SCORE QUARTER BY QUARTER

MIAMI HEAT: 29 25 19 21 94

OKC THUNDER: 22 25 27 31 105

MIAMI HEAT PLAYER STATS

PTS REB AST

L. James: (30) (9) (4)

S. Battier (17) (4) (0)

U. Haslem (4) (11) (0)

D. Wade (19) (4) (8)

M. Chalmers (12) (2) (6)

C. Bosh (10) (5) (0)

OKC THUNDER PLAYER STATS

PTS REB AST

K. Durant (36) (8) (4)

S. Ibaka (10) (6) (1)

K. Perkins (4) (7) (0)

T. Sefolosha (9) (1) (2)

R. Westbrook (27) (8) (11)

N. Collison (8) (10) (0)

J. Harden (5) (0) (3)

D. Fisher (6) (3) (1)

Stay logged on to HoopsReport for our EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE of the 2012 NBA Finals. Follow me on TWITTER @ Meadows_scout.

POSTED: 6-13-2012

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