However, this time they were able to stay focused. They didn't gas out. They kept the same intensity. They stayed aggressive.
And they were able to pull out a victory on the road, tying up the series at one apiece in a 100-96 victory.
LeBron James did his same old thing, having 32 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Same, similar statistics as Game 1, but he was able to come up when it counted in the fourth quarter. James also finally got help from his two companions in Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, both who were finally aggressive.
The game started out with the Heat jumping towards a huge 18-2 advantage for Miami in the first quarter. Miami had all their shots falling, with Shane Battier hot from behind-the-arc. Battier would hit five three's in the game, finishing with 17 total points. OKC could not land one shot, and if it weren't for James Harden, the Heat would have won this by an easy 20 points.
It was 55-43 heading into halftime, but Miami was able to stay close with the Thunder in the third quarter. In Game 1, Oklahoma City took over the third quarter, which led to their 105-94 victory. However, this time, Miami took control although the boxscore said otherwise (Thunder won the third quarter, 24-23).
However, once the fourth game, Oklahoma City was done as much as four points when Russell Westbrook made a huge layup on James with the foul to make it 85-81.
Miami kept it's intensity.
"We've been down. We've withstood rallies. The good thing about it, when they scored, we didn't get our head down. We just got back on offense and started to execute," James said. "It's a great team that we're going against. So we're going to need every effort, every play and it's going to take all the way down to zeroes on that clock to get a win."
The game was a block party overall. I could not keep count on how many blocks each team kept getting, but it was crazy. James had his share, Kevin Durant did as well, but especially Serge Ibaka. Ibaka went as far as to do the iconic finger-wag move designed by shot-blocking legend Dikembe Mutombo in the 90's.
If it weren't for Ibaka and Harden, who knows where the Thunder would have been in this game. However, it wasn't enough to stop the Heat's three-headed monster.
Bosh played like a totally different man. He already had a double-double heading into halftime and finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds. D-Wade finally brought aggressiveness, as he kept attacking the rim and kept showing signs of why he was called "Flash" early in his career. It was like we saw a 2006 NBA Finals version of him. He would finish with 24 points.
A quick dunk to Bosh in the fourth made it 98-91. The Heat had a comfortable lead, but out of nowhere, the Thunder came crawling back. Oklahoma City was able to get a big steal and found Durant. Durant took a crazy with a bit of a fade shot from behind the three-point-line and ended up sinking it in to make it a two-point game with 37 seconds left.
With it 98-96, Miami was in trouble. On the next possession for Oklahoma City with 13 seconds remaining, Durant decided to take it down low and take an off-balance shot. It appeared he had a foul on James, but there was no call. James would end up getting the rebound, shooting two huge clutch free throws and then it was game.
Westbrook was solid in the game as well, having 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Ibaka added seven points, four rebounds and five blocks while Harden had 21 points off the bench.
The game truly ended when James made it 96-91 when he hit a huge bank shot. Although Durant had that crazy three to cut the lead to two, the bank shot by James in my opinion really set the things for the Heat to victory. He's always responded so far in this year's playoffs whenever his team is down in the series.
"The clock is going really fast, but I tried to slow it down in my mind and get a good shot," James said of the play. "I had a couple turnovers in the fourth quarter that I didn't like because I wasn't aggressive enough. I was glad I was able to make a good bucket and some free throws down the stretch."
However, the Heat will need to learn to stay consistent. I notice they get slow once they have a big lead, and whenever they do that, the Thunder eventually come back in the game. If Miami builds a big lead once again, they need to learn to keep it that way.
We'll see if they can do that, along with the support of their fans, when they head back to South Beach.
Game 3 is on and this series just got more epic.
Josh Dhani is the founder of FootBasket. You can read more about him at his website. Follow him on Twitter @joshdhani.
