It is finally here. The NBA Championship. The road has been long and it feels as though the NBA lockout was years ago. This year we see the young guns of Oklahoma City Thunder square off against the anointed “Dream Team” Miami Heat.
The biggest difference between these two teams is that Miami is more of a “workhorse” type of team, where they let Lebron or Wade shoulder the load. Their best team plays are on fast breaks when they pass the ball back and fourth until someone finishes with a tomahawk jam over a lost defender. Occasionally Chalmers, Miller or Battier will have their look at a 3-pt shot, but not too often. The game plan for Miami is simple… get the ball to a star.
OKC brings in a different approach. They have a bunch of guys who can score with the ball and they play very unselfishly. You can stop some of the OKC players some of the time, but you cannot stop all of OKC all of the time. Imagine how the Spurs felt when Serge Ibaka started nailing his jump shots? James Harden can hit the craziest shots over the toughest defenders and Russel Westbrook will pick up where Rondo left off.
I think the the unsung hero of this series will be Serge Ibaka. Miami loves to come into the paint for shorts shots, lay ups and dunks, but they do struggle at times against great low post defenders. The Bulls fueled a big comeback vs the Heat earlier in the season by playing Omer Asik for the entire 4th quarter, and Ibaka is a step up from him. He is going to force Miami to take their mid range jumpers.
This series is going to be a chess match. Lebron guarding Durant is basically a given, but OKC has much more fire power then just Durant. I think OKC has the better coach and will win this chess match in 6 games. You can bet on OKC to win the series at -180 right now, or you could save yourself some chalk and bet on Durant to win the Finals MVP at -110. Short of Durant getting injured or completely falling apart, he is the face of this team and will win the award if Oklahoma City wins.
As for Game 1 tonight, I like OKC -4.5. I know that they might have nerves since they are a young, but they are playing at home where they have not lost. I think they will come out and win pretty big.
As of right now, there are no players props available, but when they are released, I will post them in the comments. Good luck gentlemen.
