2012 NBA Finals: Oklahoma City vs Miami Heat – Game 5 Preview
By David Menze
Who?: Oklahoma City Thunder (2nd in West) vs Miami Heat (2nd in East)
What?: NBA Finals – Game 5
Where?: AmericanAirlines Arena (Miami, FL)
When?: Thursday, June 21 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 (3-1)
Streak: Thunder –> OVERALL: Lost 3 / HOME: Lost 1 / ROAD: Lost 2 …. Heat –> OVERALL: Won 3 / HOME: Won 2 / ROAD: Won 1
Oklahoma City Thunder: Cold.
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).
Game 4 – June 19, 2012 at American Airlines Arena
Miami 104 – Oklahoma City 98
Oklahoma City led 33-19 after the first quarter, but the Heat managed to outscore The Thunder in each of the second, third and fourth periods to take a 3-1 series lead…After trailing 83-90 at the 7:35 mark of the fourth quarter, the Thunder used an 11-2 run to take a two point advantage with 4:21 left in the contest. The Heat immediately responded by scoring seven unanswered points to take a five-point lead with just over two minutes left in the game…Russell Westbrook led the Thunder with a playoff career-high 43 points on 20-of-32 shooting. Durant (28 points; 9-19 FGs) joined Westbrook as the only other player to score in double figures. The duo combined to score 71 of the Thunder’s 98 points…Meanwhile, the Miami trio of LeBron James (26 points; 10-20 FGs), Dwyane Wade (25 points; 8-19 FGs) and Mario Chalmers (25 points; 9-15 FGs) each scored 20+ points for the Heat…The Thunder led by as many as 17 points in the first quarter and the game featured 12 lead changes and eight ties.
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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 (98) at Miami (104)
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