Thunder-Heat: Three things to watch

In what’s the most popular pick to be the eventual NBA Finals matchup, the Thunder and Heat square off tonight in Miami. Here are three things to watch:

LeBron vs. Durant, part III:

LeBron James and Kevin Durant are a close 1-2 in the MVP race, but Durant has gotten the better of James in their first two meetings of the season. Two weeks ago in Oklahoma City, the Thunder rolled over the Heat, 103-87, Miami’s worse loss of the year until their 19-point defeat in Boston on Sunday. Durant had 28 points, nine rebounds and eight assists—and played stifling defense—in that game, while James mustered just 17 points, seven assists and three rebounds and turned the ball over four times.

Their first encounter of the season was at the All-Star Game in Orlando, when they each scored 36 points, but Durant’s West team won, 152-149, and he earned MVP honors. While James was just as dominant through the first 47:55, he passed up an opportunity to take the potential game-winning shot and instead turned the ball over with five seconds remaining as he looked to pass to teammate Dwyane Wade.

James certainly doesn’t want to be outplayed by Durant for the third time in a row, especially at home.

Finding cracks in the Thunder:
Oklahoma City is 40-13, tied for first league-wide with Chicago (42-13) in the loss column, and had won six in a row before losing at home on Monday to Memphis. That’s not good enough for some people, namely ESPN’s Skip Bayless, who insists Russell Westbrook is not playing point guard the way the position should be played. Westbrook has taken just seven less shots than Durant this season, and he must look to pass more, says Bayless.

But the results don’t support that notion. The Thunder are 20-4 when Westbrook takes more shots than Durant, and are winning by an average of 12.4 points in those victories, The Oklahoman points out.

“We’re worse when I take more shots,” Durant told the newspaper. “... Traditionally, a point guard is not supposed to take more shots than everybody else on the team. But we’re better when he does do that and he’s aggressive. And I’m better when I’m out there facilitating, rebounding, defending and being more efficient on my shots with less shots.”

The more constructive knock against the Thunder is their trouble getting consistent inside scoring. Having a hard time getting easy baskets, the thinking goes, will hinder Oklahoma City’s postseason success. They took a step to dispel that notion in their first game against the Heat, as power forward Serge Ibaka and center Kendrick Perkins combined for 35 points on 16-for-21 shooting.

What we won’t learn:
Speaking of knocks, the Heat are struggling on the road—and badly. They’ve lost seven of their past 10 away from Miami, and have been outscored by 50 points—50 points!—in their past three road losses.

"We wish we could have another road game tomorrow," James told reporters on Monday, the day after being drubbed by the Celtics. "We can go back out there and redeem ourselves."

But they won’t get that chance tonight, since they have the Thunder at American Airlines Arena, where they’ve been pretty close to unbeatable. They own an NBA-best 22-2 home record and have reeled off 16 straight wins in Miami. The Heat are reluctant to pin all their issues to playing on the road, however. Asked about the team’s problems, Wade said, "How many hands do you want? I can put my fingers on a lot of things."

But whatever those problems are, they likely won’t reveal themselves again until the Heat’s current five-game home stand ends and they travel to Chicago on April 12.