2012 NBA Finals: Oklahoma City Thunder vs Miami Heat – Game 4 Preview
By David Menze
LeBron James is easily the most talked about and scrutinized basketball player the NBA has ever seen. This season James is on a mission — to win that elusive first championship and to finally silence all the critics who say he can’t get it done.
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Who?: Oklahoma City Thunder (2nd in West) vs Miami Heat (2nd in East)
What?: NBA Finals – Game 4
Where?: AmericanAirlines Arena (Miami, FL)
When?: Tuesday, June 19 at 9:00 PM (ET)
How?: ABC (TV)
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Projected Starting Lineups:
Oklahoma City Thunder:
PG: Russell Westbrook | SG: Thabo Sefolosha | SF: Kevin Durant | PF: Serge Ibaka | C: Kendrick Perkins
Miami Heat:
PG: Mario Chalmers | SG: Dwayne Wade | SF: Shane Battier | PF: LeBron James | C: Chris Bosh
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Injury/Inactive Players Report:
Oklahoma City Thunder: Eric Maynor is OUT (torn right ACL)
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Current Records/Streak & Hot, Lukewarm, or Cold:
Records: Miami Heat leads Oklahoma City (2-1)
Streak: Thunder –> OVERALL: Lost 2 / HOME: Lost 1 / ROAD: Lost 1 …. Heat –> OVERALL: Won 2 / HOME: Won 1 / ROAD: Won 1
Oklahoma City Thunder: Lukewarm.
Miami Heat: Hot.
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Regular-Season Series:
The Heat and Thunder met twice this regular season with each team winning on their home court and will be facing each other for the first time in post-season play. Overall during the regular-season the Heat are 18-30 all-time against the Thunder franchise (11-13 record in games played in Miami; 7-17 in games played on the road).
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2012 NBA Finals Recaps
Game 1 – June 12, 2012 at Chesapeake Energy Arena
Oklahoma City 105 – Miami 94
The Thunder fell behind by 13 points in the second quarter, but the Thunder responded by outscoring Miami 58-40 in the second half to claim Game 1 of the NBA Finals…Leading 74-73 heading into the fourth quarter, Kevin Durant played all 12 minutes and scored 17 points (6-10 FGs) in the final period…Meanwhile, the Thunder limited LeBron James to seven points on 2-of-6 shooting in the fourth quarter…The Thunder outscored the Heat 24-4 in fast break opportunities while outscoring Miami 56-40 in the paint…Russell Westbrook recorded his second double-double in the last three games after registering 27 points to go along with a game-high 11 assists…The Thunder duo of Durant and Westbrook outscored the Heat by themselves in the second half (41-40), as the pair combined to make 14-of-27 field goals and 11-of-13 free throws…After scoring in double figures in the first 15 games of the postseason, James Harden failed to score 10+ points for the first time in the 2012 playoffs.
Game 2 – June 14, 2012 at Chesapeake Energy Arena
Miami 100 – Oklahoma City 96
Although the Thunder outscored Miami 53-45 in the second half, it was not enough to overcome a first quarter deficit in which the Heat outscored Oklahoma City 18-2 to open the game…After trailing by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, Kevin Durant missed what would have been the game-tying field goal with just under 10 seconds left in regulation…For a second consecutive game vs. Miami, OKC fell behind by double figures in the first half…During the first quarter, the Thunder committed four turnovers and shot just 25.0% (5-20 FGs) from the field. In the second through fourth quarters, Oklahoma City combined to commit just seven turnovers on 49.2% shooting (29-59 FGs)…James Harden came off the OKC bench and single-handedly outscored the Heat reserves by a 21-8 margin. In 35 minutes, Harden recorded 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting…After combining to score 15 points on 5-of-19 shooting in the first half, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to score 44 second half points on 58.6% shooting (17-29 FGs)…The Thunder never led during the contest as Miami outscored the Thunder in the paint by a 48-32 margin.
Game 3 – June 17, 2012 at American Airlines Arena
Miami 91 – Oklahoma City 85
Despite leading by 10 at the 4:33 mark of the third quarter after a Derek Fisher four-point play, the Thunder were outscored 15-3 to close the period as the Heat held off Oklahoma City to claim a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals…After trailing 79-86 with just over two minutes left in regulation, the Thunder trimmed the Miami advantage to a single point in the matter of less then a minute, but in the final 90 seconds of the game OKC went scoreless after shooting 0-of-3 from the field…The 85 points scored by the Thunder is the second lowest scoring output for the team during the 2012 playoffs…Miami outrebounded OKC 26-16 in the first half (including a 10-4 advantage on the offensive glass), but in the second half, the Thunder responded by outrebounding Miami by a slight 22-20 margin…In a game that featured 10 lead changes and eight ties, the Thunder went 15-of-24 from the free throw line (OKC missed seven second half free throws)…In 34 minutes of action, Kendrick Perkins recorded his first double-double of the 2012 postseason with 10 points to go along with a team-high 12 rebounds…Oklahoma City lost a second consecutive game in the 2012 playoffs for a second time despite holding the Heat to 37.8% shooting (second lowest opponent field goal shooting percentage of the 2012 postseason).
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POST-SEASON SCHEDULE
Game 1: Tues., 6/12 – Miami (94) at Oklahoma City Thunder (105)
Game 2: Thurs., 6/14 – Miami (100) at Oklahoma City (96) Game 3: Sun., 6/17 – Oklahoma City (85) at Miami (91)
Game 4: Thues., 6/19 – Oklahoma City at Miami 8:00PM (ABC TV) Game 5: Thurs., 6/21 – Oklahoma City at Miami 8:00PM (ABC TV)
**Game 6: Sun., 6/24 – Miami at Oklahoma City 7:00PM (ABC TV)
**Game 7: Tues., 6/26 – Miami at Oklahoma City 8:00PM (ABC TV)
**If necessary