tOfficial NBA Finals 2012 thread

[Clayton]

Miami matches up with OKC fairly well. I think they take this in 6 if they still have the energy left. Miami is going to have to go from playing the top D in Boston to the top O in OKC and do so in one of the better home courts in the league.

Durant has already matched up with Marion and Meta World. I don't think Lebron is going to bother him that much so both Durant and Lebron should go off in the series. A lot of 'Durant/Lebron gets the rebound, runs the length of the court and gets the foul' kind of plays. Ibaka is good for one game where he gets a lot of easy baskets. Bosh will probably 'go off' in 2-3 games. Wade is good for 1-2 bad shooting performances, Westbrook is good for 2-3 bad shooting performances. Both teams live at the FT line. I don't see any mid-series chess match switch that could help the Thunder. Im not sure Perkins has much of a role at all.

Yeah, I like the Heat in 6.

 

[wildturkey]

Miami matches up with OKC fairly well. I think they take this in 6 if they still have the energy left. Miami is going to have to go from playing the top D in Boston to the top O in OKC and do so in one of the better home courts in the league.

Durant has already matched up with Marion and Meta World. I don't think Lebron is going to bother him that much so both Durant and Lebron should go off in the series. A lot of 'Durant/Lebron gets the rebound, runs the length of the court and gets the foul' kind of plays. Ibaka is good for one game where he gets a lot of easy baskets. Bosh will probably 'go off' in 2-3 games. Wade is good for 1-2 bad shooting performances, Westbrook is good for 2-3 bad shooting performances. Both teams live at the FT line. I don't see any mid-series chess match switch that could help the Thunder. Im not sure Perkins has much of a role at all.

Yeah, I like the Heat in 6.

You do realize Lebron has been 1st team all-defense for like the last 6 years while Marion and Artest have one foot in the AARP line, right?

 

[ChiefWhiteHorse]

Thunder in 6. OKC is too strong in the frontcourt for Miami to come out on top.

 

[CrimsonFan]

 

[romeo212000]

Thunder in 6. OKC is too strong in the frontcourt for Miami to come out on top.

This is what I was thinking. We'll see soon enough. If there's one thing we've seen it's that a series isn't decided in two games.

 

[ugafan6612]

Heat! I'll be the one man team on the board. Well wildturkey too.

I said Thunder earlier but I just don't give a shit anymore. I now somewhat want the Heat to win to piss off all the Lebron haters.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

You do realize Lebron has been 1st team all-defense for like the last 6 years while Marion and Artest have one foot in the AARP line, right?

Durant has the size advantage. He'll be able to get his shot off anytime he wants.

The biggest question for OKC is who do they have Sepholosha guard, Lebron or Wade?? Ibaka will give Bosh fits & defend the lane unlike the Celtics. OKC's defense is better than people think. Kendrick Perkins has had more time to heal so hopefully he'll be ready to go.

It's going to be a fun series to watch. I just think the Thunder are the better team.

 

[wildturkey]

Durant has the size advantage. He'll be able to get his shot off anytime he wants.

The biggest question for OKC is who do they have Sepholosha guard, Lebron or Wade?? Ibaka will give Bosh fits & defend the lane unlike the Celtics. OKC's defense is better than people think. Kendrick Perkins has had more time to heal so hopefully he'll be ready to go.

It's going to be a fun series to watch. I just think the Thunder are the better team.

What height advantage? Durant is 6'9 while Lebron is 6'8. If Lebron checks him (and that's not a given), he should give Durant fits. You won't see Durant score like 14 pts, because you don't shut down great players, but he'll certainly make him work for it. If he makes Durant expend energy just fighting for a shot and/or lowers his shooting percentage, he'll have done the necessary job.

Expect to see Sefolosha on Westbrook. Same gameplan they used on Parker.

Ibaka isn't as great a defender as a lot of people think. He is a great HELP defender. He gets most of his blocks rotating over onto another guy's man. But a straight up 1 on 1, he can be beat. Bosh has enough post moves to get by him and unlike Duncan, he's not hesitant to hit an 18 ft jumper in space.

OKC's best bet defensively is as a unit. Avoid transition and iso plays. Keep Miami out of the paint and make Miami shoot long jump shots with Wade and James, whose percentages aren't all that great from distance (especially Wade in the playoffs)

 

[romeo212000]

Sefolosha on Westbrook? They're on the same team.

 

[ChiefWhiteHorse]

All this bickering reminds me of my time in Vietnam...

 

[UTVolCountry]

Series is already fixed. Heat win!

 

[CrimsonFan]

I hope

 

[Jack_John_Mark]

Well somewhere on this here forum I predicted the Heat over the Thunder in the Finals..........it was back at the start of the season.

Got the two teams right..........so I better stick with the original prediction. Heat take it.

 

[ChiefWhiteHorse]

JJM... you act like predicting a heat/thunder finals was a tough call at the beginning of the year.

 

[wildturkey]

Sefolosha on Westbrook? They're on the same team.

Yeah, my bad. I was thinking about Wade but for some reason typed Westbrook. They'll use Sefolosha the same way the did on Parker by trying to slow down Wade getting into the lane. He gets a lot of his offense off dribble drives, but he's a pretty poor shooter from outside. No one bothers to mention it though. Anything past the FT line and he's pretty poor.

 

[ChiefWhiteHorse]

well Sefolosha is OKC's starting 2. I don't think they'd go out of their way to put the Matador on Wade.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

well Sefolosha is OKC's starting 2. I don't think they'd go out of their way to put the Matador on Wade.

I would definately put Sefolosha on Wade. Besides the Thunder have Harden & Fisher coming off the bench. Somebody on the Heat is going to have to guard Harden as well. This series has some great matchups. I might actually watch this year. It's been awhile.

 

[UTVolCountry]

I would definately put Sefolosha on Wade. Besides the Thunder have Harden & Fisher coming off the bench. Somebody on the Heat is going to have to guard Harden as well. This series has some great matchups. I might actually watch this year. It's been awhile.

Same here. Usually because it's always the Lakers and/or Boston.

 

[Clayton]

If Im David Stern, Im telling the refs to hide their whistles. This has a chance to be a great series or one of the worst all-time.

I still think this is a series the Heat want. If the Heat score 100 points this season, their record is solid. And Lebron really likes the underdog role.

 

[sooner78wakeboard]

Supposedly, Obama will be on in a bit On ESPN with Stephen A Smith and Skip Bayless to give his prediction.

BTW...Skip Bayless is an idiot.