What I think of the 2012 NBA Finals

When the Miami Heat won it all against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 NBA Finals, there were some story lines that drew to a close. Kind of.

Lebron James dismissed all the bad blood between him and everyone who thought he wouldn't get a ring because he was too damn soft. Mentally, that is. One can argue that he's only got one, when almost everyone in the upper pantheon of NBA All-Time greats have multiple rings, but hey, he is just 27. He's just starting.

But he does look older. Kinda like...

"My precious."

Anyway.

KD and the rest of the Thunder cap their ascent of the Western mountain with a disappointing display when pitted against the Beast of the East (referring to Lebron, not Miami.).

Was it the matchups? Was it age? Was it stubbornness from Scott Brooks? Or was it really just Miami's time?

Just to answer: no, no, no, and probably.

They had an amazing amount of firepower throughout the playoffs, mainly from their top 3 players composed of Durant (28.5 ppg throughout the playoffs, 30.6 in the finals), Westbrook (23.1 in the playoffs, 27.0 in the finals), and Harden (16.3 in the playoffs, 12.4 in the finals).

Yeah, Harden dropped off a bit. In the series, he was kind of out of his element, play-making wise, and yeah, he wasn't hitting big shots or making big plays, nor was he defending his assignments (he wasn't really known for this anyway, but he got burned. A lot.) on the floor, and yeah, his buck-toothed grin and manly beard was throwing everyone else not in the game off...

"It fucking itches... please let me shave it off next season."

... but they still had the Serge Protector (Man-candy. Only Filipinos will get this.) and Kendrick "I-will-eat-your-children" Perkins down low to clog the paint, and a bench filled with veteran savvy (Derek Fisher, Thabo Sefolosha) and instant energy (Nick Collison, who represented all the energy in this series.).

That was a long sentence.

But again, the way Miami was shooting from outside the paint throughout the playoffs, plus the size disadvantage they gave to OKC, the battle down low (where most Finals are won) seemed like an OKC victory.

Matchups? Fuck no.

Age was, for the entire season not including the Finals, a non-factor for this Thunder squad. They faced a lot of adversity getting here, and they toppled the West's three-headed monster of Dallas, LA (Lakers. Still the Lakers), and San Antonio, the most veteran squads in the NBA.

Would've been awesome to see these guys in the finals. By the way,
when this photo was taken, James Harden was 10. He probably had a beard then.

When you're a team comprised of 20-something bastards, it gets easier acting older, because you don't have to be young for anyone. That makes some sense, I think.

Besides, KD kept hitting big shots in the playoffs, and the composure shown by the Thunder when they were down in games or even down in a series was a testament to how old they were in their heads.

They felt that their time was now.

"This one's for you, momma!"

Age? No.

Scott Brooks refused to change his starting lineup, even when the statistics showed that they were being outscored and out-hustled in the first quarter, where Miami built most of their leads in their 5-game series.

As a famous adage says: "Don't fix what ain't broken."

Like his beard. Honestly, Harden's facial hair is pretty fly.

Game 4's first quarter showed that with more hard work and focus, the first five could actually outscore Miami's. Adjustments made were internally, and you don't get to the Finals without knowing what works for your team.

Stubbornness? Not really.

From OKC's angle, it was more about what they refused to do that got them in trouble.

OKC refused to play for 48 minutes.

They refused to take advantage of their size.

They refused to hit their free throws.

They refused to focus on the game and instead focused on the calls.

They refused to go back to plays that worked for them.

And they refused to play defense. Which, as another adage would suggest, wins championships.

Check out his rings.

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Miami won because of three reasons: Paint Production, Freethrows and Threes.

This is weird for Miami. Their main source of paint points come in transition, their freethrows rely on two players who shoot below 80% on gimmes, and their top gunner came from T-Mac's school of giving-your-back-as-much-pain-as-possible.

Regardless, stats are always out the window come a new series, and the Finals became a coming-out party, not just for the stars, but the other guys as well.

Shane Battier is one such other.

He has always been known as a winner, even when the stats don't show it. A crafty and level-headed defender, Battier never really goes into a game thinking of being a star. He's the utmost version of a role player, someone willing to sacrifice his stats and his body for the win.

Bastard then shoots 15 threes in the series, with a 57.9% clip, all while being in KD's face. Literally.

Mike Miller dragged his ass off the bench for Game 5, and showed that white men still have a place in the NBA (ailing shooter).

And really, Chris Bosh belongs in this category, too. He may have made hustle plays and timely baskets, but he's been relegated to a screener and roller, plus the role of rebounder when LBJ and Wade aren't snatching those off the air.

Heat Coach Eric Spoelstra was just being kind when he uttered these words. But Bosh did show up. And he is one of the reasons why the Heat won.

He'll always be a Raptor to me.

Biggest reason though, has to be Lebron.

Lebron is unguardable when he has his jumper, but he never really found it during the Finals. He left it in Boston after game 6. After that, he realized that the paint was where it's at, and decided to build his fortress underneath the basket.

When you have a smaller man (Harden), a skinnier man (Durant), or a smaller and skinnier man (Sefolosha) guarding you, dude, every play down the floor should feel like Christmas.

"I gave that bitch his Christmas gifts early."

It was so different from last year, when JJ Barea basically just used puppy-dog eyes for Lebron to keep to the perimeter, and LBJ obliged. Given, his postgame last year stank to high heaven, but his lack of a killer instinct also took him out of the series.

This year, he was different. He attacked. He posted up. And for an aggressive player, he was patient. He tried to smell out the defense OKC was throwing at him. And I feel bad for LBJ because OKC's defense smelled like shit.

In photo: Thunder Defense

Miami's three winning points weren't just weird for them, it was also weird for OKC.

Let's start with the free throws. OKC kept their opponents off the free throw line, using their length and athleticism to great use on defense. Ball hounds Russell Westbrook and Thabo Sefolosha set the tone up top. They played honest D, moving their feet and sticking to their schemes.

They also close out pretty good on shooters, where they're top 10 in defending the 3.


They're in the top 5 when it comes to defense.


So what went wrong?

Help from Ibaka, Perkins and Collison was non-existent, a trait of the OKC wall that they were famous for. Post players such as Dirk, Gasol and even the great Tim Duncan had no answer to OKC's paint defense.

Iblocka. Serge Protector. Mutombo 2.0. Who comes up with these names?!

But then, maybe that was it. These guys were in the mold of the old power forwards: lumbering juggernauts who'd dropstep their way to two points. Don't tell me Dirk is a shooter. He made a living with his footwork in the post.

Lebron was a different animal entirely. He came from the perimeter, he cut from the weak side, freaking fast, strong, agile, and perhaps the biggest difference was that he passed... like magic.

This guy.

Although kind of like this guy, too.

There were no mental breakdowns for LBJ this year, no rumors of Mob Mentality, or shrinking away from the big moment.

He does deserve his first championship.

I'm just wondering if Miami deserved its second.

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photos courtesy of google images. No Copyright infringement intended