The Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder will play Game 1 tonight as they begin their best-of-seven series in the NBA Finals.
Newsflash for the Heat, the Thunder are 8-0 at home in the playoffs. In other news, the Thunder went through three teams that combined for 10 out of the last 13 championships to get to the Finals.
Even though this group of Thunder players will make their first appearance in the NBA Finals together, they have already been through tough competition.
They can close out games and play under pressure as long as their leader is on the court. The Heat will have to slow down Kevin Durant.
He averaged 29.75 points, basically 30 points, in the final four games of the series against the San Antonio Spurs and helped his Thunder rally back from a 0-2 hole.
Unlike the Spurs, the Heat were able to surpass a Boston Celtics comeback as they closed out the last two games of the series. They did this with help of LeBron James, who played consistent basketball all series long, averaging 33 points in the series.
The Thunder have the advantage in this matchup since they have a more balanced team and more dynamic players. When Russell Westbrook struggled, Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins find a way to step up.
When Dwyane Wade struggled, the Heat lost. Miami's role players are not designed to take over games and this series will come down to which team plays better as a unit.
The Heat were able to get passed an injured New York Knicks team, an inexperienced Indiana Pacers team and an old Boston Celtics team.
No disrespect to the Celtics, who played well and got far, but they simply looked old in the backend of the series.
Even then, with weaker opponents, the Heat struggled to look and execute like a championship team.
If the Heat are to win this series, they need Chris Bosh to keep scoring 19 points like he did in Game 7. Abdominal strain? What abdominal strain? Bosh proved he is capable of being a relevant player again.
However, he cannot spend the night dancing around the perimeter shooting threes like he did in Game 7. Who will then take charge of boxing Perkins out down low? Shane Battier? Udonis Haslem?
The Heat will have to find quick solutions to the matchup problems the Thunder will give them. Erik Spoelstra will have to find a way to save his job in Miami and stop drawing plays where LeBron James is just standing on a corner and not running the offense for half a quarter.
The teams spilt the season series 1-1.
When it is all said and done, we should be in for a treat as stars will collide in a monster battle for the NBA Championship.
Game 1 tips off after 9PM EDT.
