The Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder are playing on TNT live on Thursday night and the game with LeBron James and Kevin Durant will be streaming online from Chesapeake Energy Arena and comes at 8 pm ET and follows the OKC win against Miami previously and now the two MVP candidates and All-Stars will battle once again in what could be an NBA finals preview.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant have been battling all season as MVP candidates and the NBA would love nothing more than to have then in the finals against each other again and this gives the teams a chance to match up here before the playoffs down the line this spring. The Heat come into the game after a nice win against the Dallas Mavericks and James is coming off his best game of the season with 42 points and he also had nine rebounds and Mario Chalmers led the way with nine assists.
The team plays against OKC on the road and then matches up with the Chicago Bulls at AmericanAirlines Arena and that will be on Sunday afternoon. The Heat come into the game second in the east behind the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City is best in the league and they have done it for a while without Russell Westbrook in the lineup and now he makes his return on Thursday against the Heat.
The TNT double header has this as the early game and Miami comes in scoring over 104 points per game as the seventh best in the league and they are in the top 11 in defense with less than 100 per game and they are fifth in assists with over 23 per game. The team got rid of Roger Mason at the trade deadline and the Thunder stood pat despite the Westbrook injury. The Indiana Pacers made a big move at the deadline and now they are stacked heading into the second half of the season.
The Pacers have been playing this season with the Miami Heat and home court in mind and after trading for Luis Scola and signing Andrew Bynum, the team pulled off the trade for Evan Turner and now that adds another strong bench player to the team. The Pacers traded away Danny Granger and his expiring contract and now they are set for the playoffs and no matter what, they will be hard to beat.
Oklahoma City comes in after a win over the Lakers and Durant had a great game, putting in 43 points with 12 rebounds and seven assists and they are scoring 105 points per game for fifth in the league and they are sixth in rebounding and that will be an advantage on Thursday. The team is sixth in point allowed with less than 100 per game and they are getting a huge boost with Westbrook coming back.
James and Durant are friends and they always have great matchups when they play against each other and now this could be an NBA finals review and the best move the Thunder made at the deadline is activating Westbrook and that could lead them to the championship. Westbrook returns after being injured since December and that is a huge boost for the team on the court.
Check here for the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder live coverage.