LeBron James versus the Oklahoma City Thunder in NBA Finals - Part 1
After taking down the gritty Boston Celtics in seven games, the Miami Heat made their second consecutive trip to the NBA Finals, but unlike last year, they weren’t the favourite for the title.
In what was a third attempt for LeBron James to finally get a championship ring, Miami were up against a young and energetic Oklahoma City Thunder side, which has dismantled the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and the San
Antonio Spurs – teams who have ruled the league in the past decade.
To make the matters more intimidating for the Heat, unlike the Celtics, OKC were young and as athletic as them, if not more. And they had a sensational player in the form of Kevin Durant, the league’s leading scorer for the last
three years.
Durant came into the finals having built the reputation as the new Mr. Clutch in the league and after Game 1; Miami got a fair idea of what the hype was all about. After having led the game for majority of the time, the Heat were
unable to hold of Durantulla in the fourth quarter. KD scored 17 of his 36 points in the last 12 minutes of the game to hand OKC a 105-94 win and a 1-0 lead in the series.
The pressure was on James and Heat to respond in the next game, and they did.
32 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists – Game 2
After seeing his 30 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists performance go to waste in game 1, James registered even better numbers - 32 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists – leading Miami to a hard fought 100-96 win and tie up the series
at 1-all.
James scored only 6 points in the final quarter, but made two crucial plays down the stretch to seal the all important win, as OKC got beat on their home court for the first time in the playoffs.
Entering the last 50 seconds of the game, Miami were leading seven points (98-91), but Kevin Durant went on a personal 5-0 run to make it two point game. KD had the ball in his hand with 7.1 seconds to go, but being hounded by
LeBron, he failed to get the crucial shot in. James then calmly slipped in two free throws at the other end to ice the game.
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