Some would tell you that this is also a battle of Good vs. Evil. With the Heat, and specifically LeBron, cast as the villains: the men who are trying to buy championship rings by hiring all the money-grabbing free agents and bringing them to Florida in search of NBA glory. The Thunder meanwhile are a team of young talent, nurtured by the franchise, hoping to bring a title to OKC.
Zirin's argument is well worth a read. It's not that long ago that the Thunder were the Seattle Supersonics and they weren't playing at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Of course, these questions of basketball morality are ones that pop up when there's no actual game to analyze. As soon as the game tips off, whichever team deserves it more will cease to matter. Good or bad, it's all going to be about who has the most points.
And there's just a fantastically exciting basketball series to look forward to: the NBA's MVP vs. the NBA's top scorer, and a cast of top quality players who should produce some enthralling b'ball.
Hunter Felt runs through the teams, the coaches, the styles, the music in our Guardian preview, which also pitches Gloria Estefan vs. the Flaming Lips.
Let The Games Begin.
One thing I'm not as huge of a fan of is the Oklahoma City Thunder's "White Out" idea, where the fans all dress in blue and white, to intimidate (?) the opposing team? I'm not sure it works, but it definitely does give this whole procedure an even more cartoonish look. This is like "The Avengers" of basketball games.
And we're off! The NBA Finals begin when Shane Battier hits a three, quickly answered by Durant with an opposite end bucket.
Of course, no NBA game begins until the first foul, this time LeBron James takes a foul from Kevin Durant (fittingly). LeBron makes his free throws.
Westbrook makes a nice steal and sends to Ibaka... but a traveling call wipes away the possession, and the Heat answer on the other end. The Thunder look a little rusty, which makes sense considering they've had a bit of a layoff.
Well, Kevin Durant is not rusty, at all, he hits an amazingly long three-pointer as casually as possible. Wade answers right back however and Oklahoma calls a timeout.
Battier keeps doing what he's been doing all series long, hitting threes for the Miami Heat, and he's followed quite quickly by Mario Chalmers. They're now four out of five as far as three pointers. Oklahoma City is going to have to adjust their defense.
Spoelstra takes the red hot Battier out and replaces him with Bosh, who responds by making his first shot. Kevin Durant replies with a possible three-point play, which is what the Thunder has needed desperately.
So far, it's been the Miami Heat vs. Kevin Durant, who (of course) sinks his freebie.
Make that SIX out of SEVEN three-pointers from the Heat, this time thanks to Mario Chalmers. Lordy.
Well if THAT doesn't change the momentum for the Thunder, James Harden hits what seems to be a buzzer-beating two pointer. And like that, we have the first signature play of the Finals. Unless it gets waved off.
It looks like the basket counted, although it would have been nicer had they mentioned that before the coach's interview. Shane Battier makes yet another shot. Gasp.
LeBron James makes two free throws, he's really starting to seem automatic on the free throw line now. He looks automatic on every right now. He's been replaced by a robot is what I'm getting at.
Serge Ibaka gets his first field goal of the game, the Thunder are just trying to hang around at this point and waiting for their inevitable run. It's a good sign if they can get something from Anyone Not Named Durant.
Shane Battier misses a shot. And the Thunder hit one. OKC needed both of those events.
Derek Fisher cuts it down to single-digits. I'm really tempted to write a "You know who really could have used a Derek Fisher this postseason? The Los Angeles Lakers" joke. Okay, I guess I just did.
Shane Battier Watch: 13 points.
Mario Chalmers Watch: 10 points. Chalmers and Battier continue to kill the Thunder's potential momentum just like they did roughly three million times during the series against the Boston Celitcs. All they do is answer buckets.
The Thunder are going to need to get a stop here and soon, they can't just continue hoping to match the red hot Heat right now.
That will work for a stop and a momentum change, Westbrook makes a layup after a Heat turnover and then double techincals fire up the hometown crowd. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra wisely calls a timeout.
Not a bad ending for the Thunder at all, as the Thunder score AND get stops. That's a recipe for success in my expert analysis.
Going to catch up on these Tweets that I've gotten. "Go ask @HunterFelt why the Celtics are wearing red tonight? I'm confused..."asks Cian Fahey (@Cianaf) about my poor eliminated Boston Celtics. That's harsh.
And my colleague David Lengel mentions, in regards to the Oklahoma City Thunder, "Funny, they've been down forever, but you just don't feel like they're down." My bold halftime prediction is that this won't last for much longer. I fully expect this to be a tied game a few minutes into the third quarter, OKC is starting to figure the Heat out.
Remember that you can tweet at me at @HunterFelt if you have questions, comments or just want to taunt me about the Celtics.
Kevin Durant hits a three pointer to start the Thunder's game and Thabo Sefolosha draws a foul and hits one of two free throws. Exactly what the Thunder needed.
Shane Battier gets fouled and makes only one free throw. Oh well, I guess this isn't his night.
Westbrook gets a steal, and then picks up a loose ball and... and it doesn't matter, the Thunder can't convert and the Heat get the ball back. Oof.
Sefolosha gets a fantastic steal, and misses the dunk, but draws a foul on Dwyane Wade. Hey two free throws are worth the same as a dunk, even if they don't come up with a poster. It's a one-point game. That's close to tied right?
Head coach Erik Spoelstra calls a time out, dooming us to more previews of the latest Adam Sandler monstrocity, but Wade scores a quick two immeidately after to take the crowd out of it... Until he picks up his third foul almost immediately afterward.
Durant passes to Sefolosha to briefly tie the game, but LeBron James slows the momentum down with two striaght scores.
Serge Ibaka tosses up an absolute airball, but the Thunder get the ball back by drawing a foul on Chris Bosh. Goofy basketball can be effective basketball.
Shane Battier hits another three pointer. I just should copy and paste that phrase. LeBron James hits a killer layup and gets a "plus one" on the continuation.
LeBron James with a rare free throw miss, he is having a really great performance and it's barely even registering on me. I've just come accustomed to him being this good. Maybe this is why he gets so much criticism? It seems like it comes easy to him.
You know who looks exactly as impressive as he is? Russell Westbrook, who is coming alive in the second half and just barrels through defenses.
Every team is in the bonus, so here come the barrage of free throws. Which are so interesting that the announcers are talking about dead pets. No, seriously.
Westbrook rams through the Heat defense, ties the game and draws a foul. Wesbrook's beast mode has a beast mode. He makes his free throw to give the Thunder the first lead to go into the fourth quarter. Because he is Russell Westbrook and will not be denied.
A note from Hassan Cheema: "That's the first time I've read Monstrosity written that way. Seems like a corpora slogan for OKC." I'm going to pretend that was totally on purpose.
The Thunder are now in control, and it's Nick Collison and the Resurrected Derek Fisher who combine for their latest two points.
Durant with a tremendous slam. Roof shaking response from the OKC crowd.
This is like two jazz musicians trading riffs going back and forth now. Some beautiful basketball as players from both teams are making tough shots look easy.
It's the fourth quarter and the Miami Heat seem to be fading. This may be worth monitoring for media narrative reasons.
David Lengel points out that they're still playing Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2": "Cue the pedophile music in Oklahoma! @Busfield @HunterFelt #rocknrollpt2". That really needs to be retired. And the Miami Heat really need to stop Kevin Durant who scores again.
Dwyane Wade hits the most necessary bucket of the game so far for the Heat to keep them hanging around.
I'm going to be honest, my biggest thoughts coming into this game was that I wanted anything but the Heat coming up short in the fourth quarter. I feel like a "Saturday Night Live" writer stuck writing the same sketch with the same punchilne.
It's the end of the fourth quarter, which means burst of really dramatic action punctuated by many, many free throws.
Nick Collison slam? Nick Collison slam. That will probably do it for the Heat.
Sefolosha gets fouled and makes both free throws and this could be the game.
Nick Collison with another slam and there goes the "Nick Collison does the little things you might not notice" narrative.
The moral of his postseason is: Never have the lead too early. The change for a dollar tour hits another speedbump for LeBron James.
Excellent effort by the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Heat will end up being the story, they always are, but what Westbrook and Durant did in the second half was extraordinary and should be the real story. When the two-headed monster is going, it's really difficult to contain.
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