Thunder falls to the Heat 110-100

The first quarter was just... Let's just not talk about the first quarter......just kidding.

AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

Kendrick Perkins scored OKC's first four points, something that was both unexpected and ironic, considering how much big Perk is criticized for his ineffectiveness against the Heat, but he certainly came out to show he could play. The score was 13-17 in the Heat's favor, before Miami went on a 10-0 run at the 5:00 mark to jump out to a 28-13 lead.

Oklahoma City would finish the quarter shooting just 31% and turning the ball over 4 times for 8 Heat points. The Thunder allowed 6 offensive rebounds to Miami, and continued to struggle with boxing out and losing the lose balls. Kevin Durant struggled immensely in the first quarter, going just 0-4 and not scoring until there was just 1:04 left in the quarter with a free throw. Russell Westbrook carried the offensive load at the start, though only shooting 2-5 from the field he managed to get to the foul line twice and finished the quarter with 7 points. KD would take a nasty spill at the end of the first quarter, and the entire Chesapeake Arena went quiet, it was a very scary moment indeed - watch it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2F4osOYCnQ&feature=player_embedded

Kevin Durant's shooting slump continued in the second quarter, going just 2-6, but managed to get to the foul line for 7 easy points, and finished with 12. Oklahoma City's passing was just bad, really bad. They were not able to score on their isolation plays, which is usually their forte. They would force bad passes that would either fly out of bounds - or they would land right into a Heatle's hands.

The Heat scored a total of 12 points off of 10 turn overs, and were able to pound the ball inside - scoring 8 points in paint in the second quarter. The Honey-Badger was much more efficient in the second quarter, going 3-6 from the field and finishing with 13 more points. He finished the half with 20 points on 5-11 shooting(10-11 from the line).

AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

No one could guard Lebron James, as he was dropping 20 foot jump shots in everyone's face. First it was KD who took the punishment, as LBJ knocked down a 25 footer right in his face. Then it was Thabo, a 22 foot step back, looking into the crowd's eyes after wards letting them know who won the Championship last june. The crowd continued to taunt and roar at Lebron, so who sank a 20 footer again, this time right in Kendrick Perkin's face, it was just ugly.

Miami continued their steam role of the Thunder to start the third, building a lead up to 23 at one point. Oklahoma City wasn't able to cut the lead besides a small 6-0 spurt to cut the deficit to 17 to end the third, as they continued their poor shooting and poor ball handling.

Turning the ball over three times in the third, Russell Westbrook struggled to help the Thunder find their offensive rhythm, but he's not the only one to blame. Miami's defense was superb tonight at denying Kevin Durant the ball, and forcing the Thunder to make risque and unnecessary passes.

AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

The fourth quarter was Oklahoma City's quarter by far, out scoring the Heat 31-22 - behind Kevin Durant's 22 points on 8-10 shooting. It was all too late by then though, and every time the Thunder would make any sort of run, Lebron would quiet the crowd and send the Thunder back to the drawing board on how to approach a come back.

KD was relentless attacking the basket, something he should have been doing since the start of the game. He made a couple floaters in to exchange baskets with the Heat, cutting the lead down to 8 with just 50 seconds to play, but after being forced to foul Ray Allen - they weren't able to do much more than that.


Thunder Essentials:


Limit the role players - D

Miami's bench out scored the Thunder's 26-16, and the Heat's perimeter players always seemed to be wide-open from deep. They always made the extra pass, knocking down money balls every time the Thunder would spurt some sort of run.


Interior Defense - C

The Thunder did a decent job at protecting the paint, allowing just 42 points and scoring 38 of their own, but the points in the paint weren't the problem, it was the rebounding. Oklahoma City allowed 13 offensive rebounds and just seemed oblivious to players that should have been boxed out. The Heat would win the lose balls that Bosh or Battier would tip out, and they finished with 14 second chance points because of it. It absolutely kills a team's momentum during a run when you fail to get defensive rebounds, and that's just what happened to the Thunder tonight.


Thunder's bench - C 

OKC continues to try find stability in the scoring department coming off the bench. Kevin Martin posted 9 points on 2-5 shooting in 27 minutes of play, something that needs to change soon for the Thunder to be successful. He can score, but he really doesn't do much else. James Harden was a facilitator as well as a scorer, something that the Thunder miss dearly. The Thunder bench only scored 16 points in the contest, so that means 94 points came from the starters, and that's just not going to work - especially against a defensive team like Miami.

 
                                                Some Thunder Thoughts:

                                                           1st Quarter
OKC Started off in the first quarter with too many turn overs that led them to give up too many points early into the quarter that could have led to them winning the game. Not to mention the poor shooting by Thunder, Mostly Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant went 0-7 at one point in Field Goals and that's just not acceptable.


                                                           2nd Quarter
The 2nd Quarter Thunder started playing better compared to the 1st quarter but it just wasn't enough, They committed way too many fouls - with Kevin Durant and Westbrook both ending the game with 5 personal fouls each. Not to mention the bad passing that led Thunder to give more turn overs.


                                                            3rd Quarter
The 3rd quarter started out almost the same as the first, Thunder was having trouble scoring early, but started to score later into the quarter to only lose the 3rd quarter by 2 points. Thunder needs to figure out a way to stop Lebron James, If they double teamed him he would just get the ball to someone that isn't defended very well and would get points on the board easy.


                                                            4th Quarter
In the 4th quarter Kevin Durant started out with 2 back to back and-ones. The crowd finally started to make some noise, That helped Thunder to get rolling and to rally against the heat, but by the time they trimmed the lead to 8, it was too late.



Thanks to Chris Adcox for the Thunder notes. You can follow him on twitter @chrisadcox1