SB Nation Seattle - NBA Finals 2012: Lebron James, Miami Heat Dispatch Oklahoma City, Win Series 4-1

Finals, Final.

2012-06-22T04:54:24Z

121-106. To be honest with you, no one will remember the last sixty-something points that were scored in this game. The Heat's third-quarter stomp-fest sealed this one early and the remaining game time was merely a formality as sportswriters across the country began writing their lead-ins.*

I'm not going to spend a lot of time discussing what this means. There will be plenty of time for that by writers better than myself, but this championship will reverberate more than most. Congrats to the Miami Heat, congrats to LeBron James.

*Or polishing off their 9th beer, in some cases**

**Only mine, probably.

By How Much?

2012-06-22T03:44:13Z

We're halfway through the 4th quarter in what will be the penultimate game of the 2011-2012 NBA season and the only questions that remain are "by how much will the Heat win?" and "how will Skip Bayless spin this on First Take tomorrow?"

In a vacuum, the story of this game has been Stinky Mike Miller and his seven three-pointers, but this game was not played in a vacuum. No, this game is about LeBron James and there's no use pretending it's not. He's gonna be lifted from the game soon, and he'll head to the bench having contributed 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists.

He's earned every bit of this.

Third Quarter Update: "Put 'Em In A Body Bag!"

2012-06-22T03:21:28Z

After a nice run to start the second half and pull within five, the Thunder have been absolutely manhandled by the Heat. You guys remember the Lion King? Remember the wildebeest stampede, the one that killed Mufasa and almost killed Simba? That's what the last ten minutes of the game have felt like -- an unending, reprieve-less onslaught with enough malicious intent to not only win this game, but loosen the very rivets that hold the Thunder's souls in check.

At this point, Oklahoma City is trying to crawl their bloody way out of a street beatdown but LeBron and Co keep grabbing them by the ankles and dragging them back into the scrum. It's time for the Miami PD to break out the chalk outlines and start dusting for prints.

Miami is clearly not content to just let the clock wind down. No, they're playing the third quarter like the Thunder just slapped their mama. They're using sledgehammers to drive the nails into the coffin tonight.

The Miami Heat are winning by a lot, is my point.

LeBron James, Box-Score Filler

2012-06-22T02:56:59Z

In six second-half minutes, LeBron James has only taken one shot, yet logged two rebounds and four assists. He has 15/7/9 for the game. He's on pace for 24/11/14 on just 16 shots. He's 270 pounds.

Halftime

2012-06-22T02:43:34Z

The scoreboard says that the Miami Heat are beating the Oklahoma City Thunder, 59-49. It feels, however, like they're winning 132-7; eerily reminiscent of Game One, when OKC thundered (ahem, sorry) back to win convincingly. Every time I look up, it seems like LeBron is fiishing at the rim or Mike Miller is splashing a three-ball. Durant and Westbrook, however, have done a hell of a job of keeping the Thunder relevant.

Notable stat lines:

LeBron James - 6-9 shooting, 15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists

Dwyane Wade - 4-6, 9 points, 3 rebounds

Mike Miller - 12 points, 4-4 from three-point range

Chris Bosh - 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks

Kevin Durant - 15 points, 8 rebounds, 6-14 from the field

Russell Westbrook - 13 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2-9 from field, 9-9 from free throw line

Jacson Bevens - 4.5 beers (Bridgeport Brewer's Choice)

James Harden - 8 points, 6-6 FTs

Thabo Sefolosha - 0, 0, 0, 0, 0-2

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Kendrick Perkins' NBA Finals Highlights

2012-06-22T02:18:26Z

Listed below are the contributions Kendrick Perkins has made to his team during the NBA Finals.

Thanks for reading.

A Little Help From His Friends

2012-06-22T02:06:48Z

I've long contended that part of the criticism leveled at LeBron James is his penchant for pass-first play, leading to a lot of missed shots by teammates. I've also always thought that that was largely a lazy and uninformed opinion, as his decisions to pass out of double-teams to wide open teammates is the right basketball play. NBA players should hit open shots more often than not. Unfortunately for LeBron, those shots, especially the crunch-time ones, are all too often missed.

Not this series.

Shane Battier, James Jones, Norris Cole, Mario Chalmers, and now, finally, Mike Miller (4-4) are all hitting the open looks when defenses collapse on James and, less frequently, Dwyane Wade. So far tonight, Miami is a remarkable 7-12 from downtown; major reason that they are ahead by 17 with five minutes left in the first half and just 29 minutes from locking up LeBron's first title.

When James' teams have lost in the past, he shouldered a disproportionate amount of the blame, while his under-achieving teammates were spared their share. Now, if Miami wins tonight, they will likely mis out on their share of the credit. Nature of the beast, I suppose. For what it's worth, however, LeBron is 5-6 from the field with 5 rebound and 5 assists accompanying his 13 points.

A Quick Thought On Russell Westbrook

2012-06-22T01:51:37Z

The second quarter has just started, and Russell Westbrook has made seven free throws. He's the game's leading scorer with 11. I've said all along that the most over-hyped criticism of the series has been getting on Westbrook for shooting too much, despite numbers strongly indicating that the Thunder do better when he shoots more. In fact, Oklahoma City wins nearly 77% of their games when Westbrook takes more shots than Kevin Durant, while winning only 65% of the time when Durant shoots more.

Those are simplified numbers, but the point remains that Westbrook is at his best, for himself and his team, when he's attacking with the ball. We're always saying how much better Westbrook is for getting to play with Durant, but there's a high probability that the inverse is also true. Durant is deathly efficient, but Westbrook's all-attack, all-the-time style allows Durant to pick his spots more than if opponents only had to focus on him on the perimeter. There are criticisms of Westbrook's game to be made, but saying that he shoots too much isn't one of them.

On another note, Mike Miller is now 3-3 from downtown. 36-32, Heat.

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