On Tuesday, the Miami Heat tied their Eastern Conference Finals series with the Indiana Pacers at 1 game each. On Wednesday, the San Antonio Spurs delivered a severe beating to the Oklahoma City Thunder to take a 2-0 series lead.
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade took over the 4th quarter for the Heat, to beat the Pacers 87-83. They scored or assisted on every point in the final quarter. James scored 12 of his 22 points, and Wade scored 10 of his 23 points in that 4th quarter.
Lance Stephenson led the way for the Pacers with 25 points. Paul George added 14 points, but only made one shot on 11 attempts in the first half. He also took a Wade knee to the head, that resulted in concussion testing, but he returned to the game.
“Bird man” Chris Andersen of the Heat led all players with a +25 margin, and had 12 rebounds. The Heat shot 51% compared to only 40% for the Pacers. The Pacers can’t expect to win against the Heat when shooting a much lower percentage than the Heat. Game 3 isn’t until Saturday night in Miami.
In the Western Conference Finals, it’s been all San Antonio so far. The Spurs have won the first 2 games of their conference finals by the largest combined margin in history at 52 points, after the 112-77 beatdown on Wednesday.
This game started to get away from the Thunder late in the 2nd quarter. A five-point deficit became a 14-point halftime lead for the Spurs. Then the rout was on in the 3rd quarter, with the Spurs outscoring the Thunder 33-15.
The Spurs shot 50% from the field, compared with only 39% for the Thunder. Danny Green of San Antonio went 7 for 10 on 3-pointers, while the Oklahoma City starters not named Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook scored a combined 4 points, to go along with their combined 5 points from Game 1. Needless to say, the Thunder need a lot more production from their other 3 starters.
The Thunder will be happy to get back home for Game 3 on Sunday night, but without injured shot blocking big man Serge Ibaka, this series shouldn’t last very long. Durant and Westbrook are bound to explode in one of the next 2 games at home, but I don’t see them getting past Game 5.
The Spurs who have been “too old” for a few years now, will be heading to the NBA Finals, for a rematch, most likely, with the Miami Heat, who will should take care of the Pacers in 5 or 6 games. Last year, the Spurs were so close to winning the title in 6 games, before Ray Allen hit a 3-pointer to keep the Heat alive, and they eventually won Game 7.
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