Thunder win Game 1
Oklahoma City rallies against Heat to win opener of NBA Finals, 1,
OKLAHOMA CITY — First round to Kevin Durant.
Old questions for LeBron James.
Finally, the heavyweights of hoops were together, not in the promos, but in the flesh.
They took the court before tip-off, and you half expected someone to holler, “Let’s get ready to rumble!”
Durant wore the white trunks. James wore the red.
Durant scored 36. James scored 30.
Durant had 17 of them in the fourth quarter. James had seven.
A year after all those inexplicably quiet finishes vs. the Dallas Mavericks, James was haunted by his NBA Finals fourth-quarter ghosts, going 2-for-6.
Durant took over Game 1 as the arena — and maybe the entire state of Oklahoma — shook.
Durant won 105-94. James lost.
They were what everyone expected. They were the stars of the show. It is not quite that simple, of course.
Did you notice there were eight other players on the floor? Some of them had a lot to do with the evening’s events.
Russell Westbrook finished two rebounds shy of a tripledouble for Oklahoma City. Thabo Sefolosha furnished defense, Derek Fisher savvy.
“That’s why we’re here,” coach Scott Brooks said. “We have a good team.”
Meanwhile, Miami took a big early lead behind its scoring machine. That, of course, was Shane Battier. Thirteen points in the first half for the guy from Duke. “I don’t even know if I’m on the scouting report,” he told ABC at halftime. The Heat lost with five players scoring in double figures, even though they basically played only six.
Durant vs. James is absolutely delicious. Only basketball among team sports can give us a moment like this. We never really get Tom Brady going against Peyton Manning, or Alex Rodriguez vs. Albert Pujols. But Durant and James were eyeball to eyeball, Durant guarding James for most of the night.
Still, this is not the NBA oneon-one Finals.
But in the end, the Thunder got what they needed in the fourth quarter from Durant and ran away with the night.
“They keep on coming,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They’re relentless.”
James played nearly 46 minutes. Maybe there was not enough left in the tank. Spoelstra has some thinking to do about his rotation for Game 2.
So the LeBron quandary goes on. His time is now. Or it isn’t.
When the series ends, his critics will be silent. Or they will be louder. You like him. You loathe him. You cheer at his feats. You chortle at his failures.
He’s the New York Yankees and Notre Dame and Duke. There is anti and there is pro, and there is a no-fan’s land in between. He is not the Kansas City Royals or Wake Forest.
He’s a superstar, he’s an unkept promise. He is 27 and has won no championship.
Neither, by the way, had Michael Jordan at that age.
James has the experience of having played in two Finals before. He has the stigma of losing them both.
They were all his fault. Or maybe they weren’t.
Last year he said he was anxious. “I played too much to prove people wrong.”
This year he says he is at peace. “I feel like I’ve been here a couple of times,” he said Tuesday after the morning shootaround. “I feel more relaxed now. The first two times, I couldn’t sleep. Last night, I slept really well.”
He can prove all the fuss was worth it. Or he can’t.
“The Decision” made his world at once both grander and more hostile. The NBA Finals last season made his aura curiously more suspect. A young and longarmed phenom made life harder Tuesday night.
James can either endure it or show the detractors his championship ring. But first, he has to get one.
He will be different this year, or he won’t. The first game was not encouraging. It is Durant’s NBA Finals so far.