Basketball World

For the second consecutive game the Miami Heat have seemingly imposed their will on the Chicago Bulls. The Heat’s speed on the defensive side of the ball, the fact that they switch everything and the success that they’ve had in keeping Derrick Rose out of the lane has given them a 2-1 series lead, winning Game 3 with a final score of 95-86, and Chicago’s decisive victory in Game 1 has long since been forgotten given their play over the last two games.

Chris Bosh, the proverbial whipping boy in Miami this season, turned in yet another outstanding game with 34 points; LeBron James chipped in 22 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds; and Dwyane Wade contributed 17 points and 9 rebounds. Udonis Haslem, the hero in Game 2, had another solid outing with 8 points and 4 rebounds in 24 minutes of play on the floor, but it was the team defense of the Heat that was the most impressive as they forced Chicago into shooting 41 percent from the field as compared to Miami’s blistering 50 percent.

For the Bulls, it was yet another struggle for Derrick Rose. He contributed 20 points on 8-19 shooting and in the fourth quarter he managed to score just 2 points on 2 field goal attempts. Miami’s scheme to keep him out of the lane has worked exceptionally well and Chicago still hasn’t figured out a way to adjust and make the game easier for him.

Carlos Boozer tuned in his best game of the postseason thus far with 26 points and 17 rebounds, but like Rose, Boozer shot just 8-19 from the field and continued to frustrate fans by missing countless layups at the rim for 3-point play opportunities. It’s hard to imagine a player putting up those kinds of numbers and still having virtually no impact on the game, but that was the case for Boozer in Game 3. Joakim Noah, who pulled a Kobe Bryant by making a homophobic slur directed at a fan behind Chicago’s bench after drawing his second foul in the 1st quarter, may have been amped up a little too much as he turned in a very disappointing line with just 1 point and 5 rebounds. He did have 6 assists in the game, but his contributions were sorely needed on the offensive and rebounding ends.

The loss Sunday night is only the second time this season that Chicago has lost back-to-back games. They’ll be looking to earn a split in Game 4 on Tuesday night in an absolute must-win game. Losing and going down 3-1 in the series to these Miami Heat will effectively mean that their season is over.






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The Oklahoma City Thunder lost Game 3 to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night, 93-87, and this time Russell Westbrook is not the man fans will point their fingers at. However, it will be interesting to see fan’s reactions to the loss since the man to blame for the Thunder’s woes is Kevin Durant.

Kevin Durant is the poster boy for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Even when Russell Westbrook or James Harden or Serge Ibaka is tearing it up on the court, fans still chant “GO KD!” Unfortunately for the Thunder, KD did not answer the fans calls in Oklahoma City on Saturday night and Dallas took a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals.

Kevin Durant only hit 7 of 22 shots on the night and did not hit a single 3 the entire game. The entire Thunder team failed behind the arch, only hitting one from long distance, but Kevin Durant was the one whose misses killed the Thunder. As a matter of fact, the NBA scoring leader only has one 3-pointer in his last 17 attempts.

"I was telling myself after the game, 'It's not like me to miss 12 or 13 threes in a row,'" Durant said after the game. "I get 'em up every day [in practice]. I work on it every day. It's just a matter of me being confident."

After scoring 40 and 24 in the first two games respectively, Kevin Durant finished Game 3 with another 24 point game but ten of those came on free throws and Durant even missed one of those.

"Frustrating," said Durant after the game. "It's tough to start a game, not make shots and you give teams easy baskets. That's like a backbreaker."

Russell Westbrook, on the other hand, rebounded from his ‘benching’ in Game 2 and scored 30 points with four assists and seven rebounds.

However, not all the blame can be laid at the feet of Kevin Durant. Scott Brooks should know by now that the Thunder need their bench to play strong to win games. In Game 3, Brooks played James Harden for 36 minutes and Nick Collison for 24 but that was it, save for short stints by Eric Maynor and Daequan Cook. After relying on the bench to pull out the win on Thursday, they only scored 16 points on Saturday.






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