Oklahoma City Thunder race to a double figure lead against Miami Heat in the first quarter of Game 4
Facing a 2-1 deficit in the NBA Finals, Oklahoma City Thunder finally put their struggles of slow starts behind them and raced to a 33-19 lead in the first quarter of Game 4 against Miami Heat.
OKC came out without an intensity to start this game which had been missing on their part in the series so far. Thunder were in an imperious mood and after starting off with a 9-2 run, then just bulldozed a shaky Heat defense.
Russell Westbrook led the OKC charge with 10 points by going 5-of-8 from the field. Much of his points came through pin point mid range jumper as the point guard answered his critics in fine style.
Another factor that worked wonders for the Thunder at the start was their distribution on the floor. Six of their player opened up scoring accounts in the first 12 minutes with Kevin Durant having 8 points and 2 assists to his
name.
While Durant and Westbrook were firing on all cylinders from outside, the OKC bigs followed up low down in the post. Nick Collison came off the bench to score 6 points in the period and Kendrick Perkins contributed with 4 points.
Thabo Sefolosha also got on the score sheet early by knocking down a triple to give OKC their first lead at the 10:23 mark on Serge Ibaka`s assist whereas James Harden managed to get 2 points on an easy layup with just a tad below
30 seconds remaining in the frame.
The most crucial factor working in favour of OKC was the way they held down Miami, who were woeful in the first quarter and at times seemed unable to get any kind of offence going. They shot the ball 8-of-23 from the field to start
the game at a conversion rate of 36 percent. The Thunder were hot from the floor in the first frame, connecting on 15 of their 24 tries.
LeBron James chipped in with 4 points and 3 assists whereas Chris Bosh and Norris Cole contributed 6 and 5 points respectively. Only two other players scored for Miami in the opening frame with Dwyane Wade adding 3 and Shane Battier
getting 1 point from the stripe.
Tags: