The Miami Heat are back in the NBA Finals. They were able to go on the road and steal Game 2 of this series to flip home court advantage back in their favor. That being said, if they want to finish this series at the American Airlines Arena, they are going to have to win three straight games to get the job done. The Oklahoma City Thunder know that they need just one of the three games on the road to be able to come back to Chesapeake Energy Arena with a shot at clinching their first ever championship.
Game 3 of this series starts on Sunday night, and one of these teams will be able to break the de facto deadlock. Miami and Oklahoma City are both -115 right now at Bookmaker Sportsbook to win this series, and we really could see this one going either way.
The Heat are now essentially at full strength, and they are getting great contributions from all of the parties that need to be accounted for. LeBron James has now had back to back games where he has reset his all-time high for points in an NBA Finals game, scoring 30 in Game 1 and 32 in Game 2. Dwyane Wade hasn’t been the greatest, but he did account for 24 points in Game 2 to help lead his team. Most importantly though, is Chris Bosh, who had 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Heat three nights ago. The key stat for Bosh, though? He played 41 minutes, just as many as most of the starters did.
Mario Chalmers had 16 points in Game 1, but he faded in Game 2, scoring just three. However, Shane Battier has been a man on a mission, hitting a slew of shots from the outside on a regular basis. He had five triples in Game 2 and came away with a monster 17 points that proved to be the difference in the game.
Oklahoma City has gotten off to some really slow starts in this series thus far, and it needs to improve that or risk getting run off of the court in South Beach in Games 3, 4, and 5. Russell Westbrook is taking a lot of heat for taking so many shots, but we think that he did just fine in Game 2, scoring 27 points, coming down with eight boards and seven assists against just two turnovers. Kevin Durant had 32, while James Harden came off of the bench to score 21. Nick Collison had a good game in Game 1, accounting for eight points and 10 boards, but he and the rest of his role playing teammates really had nothing to be thrilled about in Game 2. Derek Fisher and Thabo Sefolosha combined to go just 1-of-7 from beyond the arc, and that isn’t going to cut it to say the least.
Game 3 takes place on Sunday, Game 4 is on Tuesday, and Game 5 is going to be on Thursday night. All three games will take place at American Airlines Arena. The scene of this series will shift back to Oklahoma City for Game 6 if necessary a week from today.