BASKETBALL:A decade and a half has passed since the NBA finals have featured the same match-up for two straight years. What seemed to happen frequently in the 1980s and the halcyon days of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird has not taken place since the Chicago Bulls vanquished the Utah Jazz in consecutive championship series in 1997 and 1998.
Judging from the Miami Heat’s 103-97 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Christmas Day, that rematch drought in the finals has an excellent chance of ending.
In a regular-season shootout that pulsated with play-off intensity, right down to the five technical fouls, Kevin Durant’s 33 points were not quite enough to stop his good friend LeBron James (29 points) and the Heat.
Durant and Russell Westbrook each missed three-point attempts that could have tied the score in the final 10 seconds as the Heat held on.
“It was on line,” Durant said of his shot from the left wing. “Whoever was guarding me put a hand up, and I could barely see the rim. I practice off-balance shots all the time, especially from deep. It looked good.”
Kendrick Perkins tapped the rebound to Westbrook, who missed as Dwyane Wade pressured him. Westbrook, who thought he was fouled, slammed his fist onto the scorer’s table and picked up the final technical foul.
The loss was just the second for the Thunder in the past month, the other coming last week at Minnesota to end a 12-game winning streak.
The Heat won for the seventh time in eight games since a second 20-point loss to the Knicks on December 6th.
Steamy June night
The last time these teams met, the Heat put the finishing touches on a five-game triumph in the finals. That was a little more than six months ago, on a steamy June night that offered the memorable image of James bouncing ecstatically in place on the Heat sideline, embracing his team-mates and coaches as the series’ final seconds ran out and his long-awaited championship was secured.
Christmas Day’s reunion pitted the two teams with the top winning percentage in each conference. A finals rematch is well within reason, although the Thunder would seem to face more potential hurdles in getting out of the Western Conference than the Heat might encounter in the East.
“They are absolutely relentless,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You cannot relax for a single possession against them.”
The Thunder attempted 38 free throws to the Heat’s 19. Oklahoma City also won the rebounding battle (39-34) but never led by more than four points after digging an early 12-point hole. Durant had just eight points while battling foul trouble in the first half but heated up down the stretch. He smiled when asked about a possible finals rematch.
Top scorers
“Of course you would love to see this match-up again,” he said. “I would love to see it, but you never know. We can’t think too far down the line. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. That’s one thing I’m preaching to the guys.”
Four of the NBA’s top 11 scorers entering Tuesday were on the court, including three of the top six, with the offseason workout tandem of Durant (third at 27.9 points a game) and James (fifth at 25.4) leading the way.
James turned and barked into Durant’s face a couple of times during the emotional showdown, but afterward, Durant smiled and said he was not listening. “Both teams have multiple once-in-a-generational players,” Spoelstra said. “You don’t see that too often.”
Wade added 21 points and Mario Chalmers 20 for the Heat. Westbrook scored 21 for Oklahoma City.
James has scored 20 or more points in the Heat’s first 25 games, a career best. Since the NBA’s merger with the American Basketball Association in the mid-1970s, the only players to open seasons with longer streaks of 20-plus points were Kevin McHale (28 games) in 1986-87 and George Gervin (45 games) in 1981-82.
James’ streak of foul-free basketball, dating to December 8th, ended at 254-plus minutes early in the game after he bumped Thunder centre Serge Ibaka. James also picked up a rare technical foul late in the first quarter.
The Heat and the Thunder will play once more in the regular season, on February 14th in Oklahoma City. After that, few would be surprised to see them meet again in June.
