The Miami Heat are starting to look every bit as good as the odds on favourite bookmakers had made them to win the NBA championship last offseason. During the regular season you had to question whether the Heat deserved to be the favourite among the likes of the Lakers and the Celtics. But two games into the second round series against the Boston Celtics, the Heat are who bookies thought they were.
In game one it was D. Wade stealing the show with a magnificent 36 point performance. In game 2 it was LeBron’s turn to display those talents in South Beach. LeBron had the scoring touch dropping 35 and Miami’s big three completely outplayed Boston’s Hall of Fame cast en route to a 102-91 home-stand victory. The Heat now lead the series 2-0 and for Boston, injuries have been the story. Rondo, Allen and Pierce are banged up, then again who is really healthy at this stage in the playoffs? Boston hopes Shaq will be for game 3.
Out west, the Thunder returned to form in game 2 to even the series against the Memphis Grizzlies after being shocked by the Grizz in game 1. If you are a fan of watching traditional post players and NBA big men battle for every inch on the low blocks and crash body-against body on every rebound, then this series is a real treat. After getting bullied in game 1, the big men for the Thunder, namely Ibaka and Perkins came to play in game 2.
In game 2 the depth of the Oklahoma Thunder was on full display. It was because of the depth of Oklahoma that I believed the Thunder would be able to handle to Grizzlies, but in game 1, players like Maynard and Harden failed to show up. Game 2 the role players for Oklahoma returned to the form that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from them all year long.
Harden had 21 points and Maynard had 15 off the bench for the Thunder as they cruised to a 111-102 victory to knot the series at 1-1. If the Grizzlies can’t match the bench production of the Thunder this series could be over in 5 or 6 because you can almost guarantee that Durant is going to win at least one of these games by himself.
