NBA Finals Game 5
Miami Heat
vs.
Oklahoma City Thunder
9:00 p.m. ET
AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami, Fla
LeBron James and the Miami Heat could be hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy as 2012 NBA Champions in just a few hours.
Or they could be heading back to Oklahoma City for Game 6 (and potentially Game 7).
Having won three straight games, Miami has an opportunity to close out OKC in Game 5 to earn its first NBA title in the Big 3 era. After losing the opener, the Heat won Game 2 in Oklahoma City to sieze home court advantage. Back in South Beach, the Heatles have grinded two wins to take a 3-1 series lead.
LeBron and company came back from a 17-point deficit and withstood Russell Westbrook’s amazing 43-point performance in Game 4, thanks to the surprise help of point guard Mario Chalmers.
Will the Heat finish off the Thunder to win the NBA Championship? Or will Kevin Durant bounce back and force a Game 6?
Follow our live blog for updates.
After that dunk, Durant and Westbrook have a combined 17 points after the first quarter. LeBron, Wade and Bosh have a combined 17 points for the Heat.
Cole misses a 3 from the corner and Derek Fisher gets the rebound. Harden has the ball at the top of the key and gives it to Durant on the wing. He drives and throws down a ferocious one-handed dunk. Wow.
LeBron misses a 3 after trying to draw some contact on Harden in the final seconds.
31-26 MIAMI AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER
Foul was on Westbrook. Miami is in the penalty. Westbrook made two free throws. 31-24 MIAMI. 47 seconds left.
LeBron finds Cole on the right wing and he nails a 3 after drawing a charge. 31-22 MIAMI.
Haslem is called for a foul on the other end.
Battier is forced to put up a 3 with the shot clock winding down and misses.
Harden tries to drive through the lane but he is out of control from the start and barrels into Norris Cole for the offensive foul.
Durant drives on Miller, absorbs some contact and makes the running floater. Miller looked shaken up after that one. 28-22 MIAMI.
Kevin Durant misses a hard 12-footer over Bosh. But Collison makes the reverse tip in somehow.
Miller comes right back with another 3. That’s back to back 3s for Miller. 28-19 MIAMI.
Chalmers turns it over on Miami’s next possession after passing up an open 3.
Mike Miller hits a 3 from the right corner to make it 25-17 MIAMI.
Westbrook drives but misses the wild layup.
Collison enters the game for Ibaka. OKC wins the tip on that stuck ball.
Harden drives right at Bosh and makes the contested layup. That’s what they want from their sixth man
Westbrook takes a 3 from the right wing but the ball gets stuck in between the rim and the backboard. Don’t see that often.
@ NBA :
MIA shooting well in the early going (61.5%) holds a 22-15 lead in the 1st. LeBron has 7 pts, Bosh 6 pts, Westbrook 6 pts. #Finals
Bosh completely freezes Perkins with a pump fake on the baseline, drives right by him and throws down the easiest dunk he’ll get all game. 22-15 MIAMI. OKC calls timeout.
After the reply, Perkins looked incredibly lazy on defense and there was no help defense from Ibaka.
Ibaka only makes one. 20-15 MIAMI.
Mike Miller has entered the game.
Bosh drives left on Perkins, avoids the rejection and makes the tough layup.
Ibaka gets the ball down low on the other end, misses a couple shots but gets the rebounds and eventually draws a foul. Going to the line for two.
Durant tries a fadeaway on the baseline but misses. Miami tries to get out fast but Chalmers is called for carry.
Perkins gets it in the paint and makes a quick hook shot to cut the lead to 18-14 MIAMI.
Wade gets it on the baseline, takes a step-back jumper and swishes it right over Ibaka.
Durant makes a quick spin move around LeBron and throws down a two-handed dunk. 16-12 MIAMI.
LeBron missed the free throw. 16-10 MIAMI.
@ jadande :
It’s taken 2 years, but LeBron is going to the basket in the Finals.
Harden misses a running jumper and Heat get out in transition fast. LeBron uses a pick from Bosh, Ibaka was late with the help defense and James attacked the basket. He made a tough layup and got fouled by Ibaka. Another and-one.
Miami takes a timeout before the free throw.
Chalmers is finding his teammates extremely well right now. He just found LeBron cutting on the baseline, hitting him with a pass right under the hoop for the easy bucket AND ONE (foul on Sefolosha).
LeBron makes the free throw
14-10 MIAMI.
Westbrook drives to his left, jumps up and around Chris Bosh and draws a foul. Didn’t look like any contact was made though. Jeff Van Gundy thought he got him on the elbow but that didn’t look like a foul after watching the replay. Westbrook made both free throws. 8-6 OKC.
Mario Chalmers finds a lane and drives to the basket, draws a foul on Durant but misses the running jumper.
He made both free throws. Tied at 6.
Bosh draws a shooting foul on Perkins in the lane and makes both free throws.
But Kevin Durant gets his first field goal, swishing an 15-foot fadeaway over LeBron.
Shane Battier misses a 3 from the corner.
On OKC’s next possession, Perkins gets the ball on the low post and throws down a two-handed dunk. 4-2 OKC. Beautiful assist by Westbrook.
OKC gets a 2-on-1 fast break after Chalmers has his layup blocked but Westbrook misses the layup.
Wade gets the ball on the right wing, gets a WIDE OPEN shot, takes his time but misses. Maybe he was too open. Westbrook gets it on the other end and makes a jumper from the elbow.
Westbrook misses a long contested 2 from the top of the key. Went off the back of the rim. 2-0 MIAMI.
Ibaka misses a long 2 and Miami gets the rebound. LeBron draws a quick foul on the drive on Sefolosha.
Bosh drives the lane after the foul but gets blocked by Ibaka.
Foul is called on Wade on the other end.
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