Miami Heat 69 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder 67 - Third Quarter Breakdown Game 3: NBA Finals 2012
After making a successful comeback and cancelling out the good start to the game for Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder continued to dominate the proceedings in the third quarter.
They came out in the second half with a 14-4 run which helped them get a 9 point lead; nonetheless, their impressive showing was cancelled off at the other end by a late charge by Miami.
Miami closed out the proceedings of the third quarter with a 15-3 run to turn over a 10 point deficit into a 2 point lead in their favour, 69-67.
In the early stages of the second half it was all OKC. Kevin Durant led the way by managing 8 quick points, taking his tally to a total of 21 points. The supporting cast had their say as well in that period.
Serge Ibaka chipped in 3 points, James Harden managed to get 2 points while Thabo Sefolosha also had 2 points. Russell Westbrook dropped in with 2 points of his own in the period.
The controversial call of the period came at the 5:41 mark when Durant was hit with his fourth personal while trying to guard Dwyane Wade. Due to the foul trouble head coach, Scott Brooks had no choice but to pull his best scoring
asset out of the game.
Miami capitalized on the chance and quickly got the lead down to 6 but up stepped Derek Fisher to hit a three while getting fouled on the play by Mario Chalmers. He converted the free throw successfully to give OKC a 10 point lead.
In the next few minutes, Heat were handed their best chance to cut back on the lead when Serge Ibaka first fouled Shane Battier, allowing him to make three free throws and on the following possession, James Jones was fouled by
Fisher on the very same spot for three easy points.
Heat went onto score 5 more points with 4 coming from Wade and a triple from LeBron James which took his total to 21 points and gave Miami back their lead in the game.
Harden had the ball in his hand in the closing stages to either give OKC the lead or tie the score before heading into the fourth. However, two failed attempts at the basket in the final 5 seconds of the period left Harden frustrated.
Till that point in the game, he had only been successful on 1 out of 8 attempts from the field.
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