Heat-Thunder Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON
Posted Mar 24 2012 6:51PM

The Miami Heat's Chris Bosh isn't placing too much importance on the race for the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs, but he understands how crucial it is for his team to have home-court advantage should it return to the NBA finals.

Bosh and his teammates can help themselves during two matchups against the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder over the next 11 days, beginning with Sunday night's visit to Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Miami (35-11) wasn't the No. 1 seed for last season's playoffs nor the top team in the Eastern Conference, but reached the NBA finals after winning two of its three games in Chicago during the conference finals. The Heat, though, also lost two of their three home contests against Dallas in the championship series.

Miami currently trails Chicago in the East but is percentage points ahead of Oklahoma City (36-12).

"It's important, but it's not the end of the world because there's only one (top) overall seed in the playoffs," Bosh said. "You can't say, 'Oh, well, we're No. 2. It's over.'

"I think once you get to a certain part in the playoffs, everybody's a good road team, everybody's a good home team, so it's kind of neutral a little bit. But if it does come down to it, for a Game 7, you'd rather be at home."

The Heat will try to take a step toward earning more home games by winning their fifth in a row and continuing their recent improvement on the road, where they're 15-9. Miami won its second in a row away from home Friday, 88-73 over Detroit, after dropping a season-high four straight.

Dwyane Wade had 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists to lead the way against the Pistons. After giving up at least 104 points in back-to-back defeats to Orlando and Chicago, Miami has allowed an average of 81.8 points and 39.5 percent shooting during its win streak.

"We're a pretty good defensive team," swingman Shane Battier said. "We know come playoff time that's going to be our calling card."

The Heat will have one of their tougher challenges in trying to contain the Thunder, the league's second-high scoring team (103.6 points per game).

Oklahoma City has averaged 112.1 points on 50.5 percent shooting over its last eight games but hadn't posted consecutive wins during that stretch until a 149-140 double-overtime victory against Minnesota on Friday. The Thunder outlasted the Timberwolves behind a career-high 45 points from Russell Westbrook and 40 from Kevin Durant.

Oklahoma City, 5-5 before its consecutive home wins, is facing a potentially important stretch of games as it tries to maintain its lead in the West. The Thunder will visit the Los Angeles Lakers, the No. 3 team in the West, on Thursday then host Chicago and Memphis before heading to Miami and Indiana.

"You always want to play good basketball against the best teams in the league and we have that opportunity ... to play playoff-type games in March," coach Scott Brooks said. "We're going to use that to our advantage."

The Thunder, 21-4 at home this season, have lost in two of the Heat's three visits to Oklahoma City but have won three of the past four overall matchups.

Durant scored 29 points during a 96-85 win in Miami last March and has averaged 32.2 over his last five games against the Heat. Westbrook, meanwhile, has shot 29.5 percent (13 of 44) during his past three matchups and averaged 15.0 points.

James has averaged 28.6 points in 14 career games against the Thunder and Wade has provided 28.6 per game over his last seven meetings. The Heat guard had a team-best 32 during a 108-103 victory in Oklahoma City on Jan. 30, 2011.

Thunder take down turnover-prone Heat 103-87

By JEFF LATZKE
Posted Mar 26 2012 12:12AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) With his All-Star point guard on the bench with three early fouls, two-time NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant took it upon himself to keep the Oklahoma City Thunder rolling.

After he did, even the mighty Miami Heat never could recover.

Durant had 28 points, nine rebounds and tied his season-high with eight assists, Kendrick Perkins added a season-best 16 points and the Thunder opened a difficult stretch in their schedule by beating Miami 103-87 on Sunday night.

The two title contenders opened the day tied for the second-best record in the NBA, three games behind the Chicago Bulls in the race for the top overall seed in the playoffs.

West-leading Oklahoma City edged ahead into second, with the rematch 10 days away in Miami.

"I think it was a good test for us," said Perkins, who has set new season scoring highs in two straight games.

"We came out and did what we needed to do and protected home court. ... Now, we've got to move on. I don't think we should ride a rollercoaster over this one win."

Oklahoma City had a season-high 13 steals and forced Miami into 21 turnovers that led to 28 Thunder points. Miami's big three - LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh - combined for 15 of the giveaways.

"We will own this one," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "They jumped us. Everybody saw it. They had us on our heels and they were the aggressors."

Wade led Miami with 22 points but also committed a season-worst six turnovers. Bosh had 18 points and five turnovers, and James ended up with 17 points, seven assists and four turnovers.

"Some of it was attack turnovers and some of it was careless turnovers," James said. "We started the game with a turnover. From there on, we turned the ball over."

Oklahoma City took the lead for good in the first 4 minutes of the second quarter, then built on it after All-Star Russell Westbrook picked up his third foul with 7 1/2 minutes left before halftime.

Durant played a bigger role in orchestrating the offense, hitting a layup in transition and a foul line jumper but also setting up Perkins' two-handed slam and James Harden's fast-break layup during a 12-2 burst for the Thunder. Harden's layup bumped the lead up to 55-42 with 2:01 to go before halftime.

"KD was just phenomenal. I think he took the matchup well with LeBron, he did his job and he almost had a triple-double tonight," Perkins said. "That's what we need out of him every night."

The Heat made a brief 8-0 comeback spurt, fueled by back-to-back turnovers by Harden, and pulled to 91-83 after Shane Battier's second straight 3-pointer with 7:14 remaining.

Perkins put an end to that rally by getting open for two-handed slams on consecutive possessions, and Durant nailed a 3 with 3:20 remaining to push Oklahoma City's lead back out to 100-85. Spoelstra then pulled James, Wade and Bosh with 96 seconds left facing a 16-point deficit.

"They beat us in all facets of the game - from the beginning to the end," James said.

Serge Ibaka and Harden each scored 19 for Oklahoma City and Westbrook finished with 13 points, one game after going for a career-high 45 in a double-overtime win against Minnesota on Friday night.

The Thunder will travel to face the Los Angeles Lakers and host Chicago next Sunday in their tough 11-day stretch.

Oklahoma City shot 67 percent in the first half and never let Miami - the league's second-best defense, allowing opponents to shoot only 38 percent - piece together enough stops to mount a rally.

Ibaka had a two-handed slam, Durant followed with a right-handed jam off of Westbrook's alley-oop and the lead stretched to 68-53 following Ibaka's putback with 7:04 left in the third quarter.

Wade hit a pair of 3-pointers but couldn't spark a Heat comeback. Even when he finished the third quarter by hitting a buzzer-beater from four steps beyond midcourt, it didn't give Miami any momentum.

Wade sat out the first three minutes of the final period, then didn't attempt a shot after checking back in.

"I'd rather not comment on that," he said. When asked whether he wanted the ball in his hands, he said, "I don't want to talk about the offense."

Before the game, Spoelstra called Miami's stretch of three straight road games - and five of six - an opportunity to take a step forward.

"We've been disappointed in our play on the road in general since the All-Star break," Spoelstra said.

Instead, the Heat continued a rough patch with five losses in their last seven road games. During a 14-game home winning streak spanning the past two months, Miami is only 10-7 on the road.

"Our most important thing right now is to find a next level of basketball. We don't necessarily even know if we have another level or two but we want to keep on pushing to get to that point and find a better consistency than we've had the last three weeks," Spoelstra said beforehand.

"When we're playing on the top of our game, we feel we can win anywhere. But we're not quite there yet."

NOTES: The Heat are tied for the franchise's best start after 47 games at 35-12. ... The game included four of the NBA's top six scorers - Durant, James, Westbrook and Wade. ... Miami's season-worst turnover total is 22. ... Harden had a career-worst seven turnovers, two more than he'd ever had before.

Notebook: Thunder 103, Heat 87

Posted Monday March 26, 2012 12:24AM

By Randy Renner, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: From the plains of Oklahoma to the sands of South Beach, Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder sent a loud and clear message to Miami as Durant scored 28 points and led his Thunder teammates to a 103-87 win over the Heat. Durant just missed a triple-double with nine rebounds and eight assists to go with those game-high 28 points. As big a night as Durant had, OKC's big men, Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka, were even more impressive. Ibaka had 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting and 10 rebounds. Perkins had a season-high 16 points on 8-for-11. James Harden added 19 on 6-for-7 shooting. Miami's Big Three led the Heat in both points and turnovers. Dwyane Wade led Miami with 22 points but also six turnovers. Chris Bosh had 18 points and five givebacks and LeBron James continues to struggle with his shot, scoring 17 points on 8-for-18 shooting. James turned the ball over four times. OKC's defense held the Heat to just 33.3 percent shooting in the decisive fourth quarter.

QUOTABLE: "We played about as physical as we can play, our bigs were really good, they were great on both ends of the floor. "
-- Thunder head coach Scott Brooks

QUOTABLE II: "We played with a lot of energy. I was just trying to set the tone and be the big brother to this team."
-- Perkins

QUOTABLE III: "They jumped us, everybody saw it. They had us on our heels and they were the aggressors. They played more to their identity than we did. They are much more physical and forceful, not only from a physical standpoint but from a mental standpoint. So we will learn from this and move on."
-- Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra

THE STAT: Miami committed 21 turnovers resulting in 28 Thunder points. ... In the second half Oklahoma City held Miami to just 38 points on 37.5 percent shooting and forced 10 turnovers. In the fourth quarter the Thunder defense was even better, limiting the Heat to 18 points on 33.3 percent shooting.

QUOTABLE IV: "Some of it was attack turnovers and some of it was careless turnovers. We started the game with a turnover and from there on we turned the ball over."
-- James

QUOTABLE V: "We locked the paint up and forced them to take contested jump shots."
-- Durant

TURNING POINT: After a tight first quarter, the Thunder jumped out to a 13-point lead on an 8-0 run in the second quarter. They maintained that lead into the fourth quarter when the Heat put together their own 8-0 run to cut the margin to eight points with 5:37 to play. The Thunder then clamped down on Miami's offense forcing the Heat into 1-for-9 shooting to end the game.

HOT: Oklahoma City started the game 5-for-7 (77.8 percent). ... Perkins was 4-for-4 in the first quarter and was the game's leading scorer at that point (eight points). ... Durant was 5-for-6 (11 points) midway through the second quarter. ... Durant (8-for-10), Perkins (6-for-7) and Harden (4-for-5) were a combined 18-for-22 (81.8 percent) at halftime. ... OKC was 24-for-36 (66.7 percent) at the break. ... Miami was 18-for-31 (58.1 percent) in the first 24 minutes.

NOT: Miami had 15 turnovers two minutes into the third quarter. ... Through three quarters OKC's Russell Westbrook was 3-for-13 (eight points). ... In the fourth quarter Durant was 1-for-5 (three points). ... Wade did not attempt a shot in the fourth quarter

INSIDE THE ARENA: A wild and rowdy playoff atmosphere as the sell-out crowd inside Chesapeake Energy Arena roared during almost every possession.

GOOD MOVE: In the first quarter Durant fights through James and takes a pass from Westbrook. Durant then drives into the lane and as the Heat defense collapses in on him finds a wide-open Perkins along the baseline for a slam.

BAD MOVE: Miami's defense continues to collapse on Durant as he drives into the lane but he keeps finding Perkins on the baseline. At halftime Durant had six assists, five on dishes to Perkins.

NOTABLE: Oklahoma City is now 30-2 overall and 19-0 at home when leading after three quarters. ... Though Miami came in averaging 101.5 points (3rd in the NBA), the Heat have failed to hit the century mark in 10 of the last 12 games.

UP NEXT: For the Heat, Monday @ Indiana, Thursday vs. Dallas, Friday @ Toronto. For the Thunder, Tuesday @ Portland, Thursday @ L.A. Lakers, Sunday vs. Chicago.

• Heat: Harris, Miller
• Thunder: Cook, Maynor

• Heat: --
• Thunder: --

• Lead Changes: 5
• Times Tied: 9

• Arena: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
• Officials: #24 Mike Callahan, #7 Kevin Fehr, #35 Kane Fitzgerald
• Attendance: 18203
• Duration: 2:22