Thunder - Heat Game Four Top 50 Takeaways

Chris Bosh Can Swallow Anything

50) Scott Brooks moved Kevin Durant off LeBron James at the start of the game, because doing the obvious thing is what counts as great strategy in Game Four

49) Russell Westbrook started off hot, which meant the Thunder took an early lead for once

48) OKC went up 13-3 in the first four minutes, which meant that Heat Fan started checking their cell phones and pocket mirrors

47) So long as Serge Ibaka is getting a pass for being a new speaker of English, he really should let loose more

46) Ibaka's early foul trouble was more than a little predictable, given the pre-game quote

45) Westbrook missing at the rim was a 4-point play and led to Heat open court hi jinks, which is to say, the spark for the inevitable comeback from the early hole

44) I'm not sure that Kendrick Perkins can score 20 points in a game, no matter who guards him

43) The Heat got away with about a half dozen first quarter fouls before Mario Chalmers' hooking action on Durant got a whistle

42) When Dwyane Wade gets blocked at the rim by Nick Collison, it means that The Old Wade really isn't coming back

41) For people who aren't familiar with games when people run up and down the court quickly (i.e., Eastern Conference fans), this is actually how basketball should be played

40) Westbrook started posing after jumpers to the point where you wondered if he was going to get a cheap technical or anger the Karma Gods

39) OKC took their biggest lead of the series, mostly by having Westbrook play like he's capable of playing

38) Without Norris Cole, the Heat are down a lot at the half

37) Either of these teams can go on a 10-0 run before you can blink

36) Wade's three pointer to tie it, followed by the Durant make, Ibaka block and Harden three was the kind of seismic shift that this series just keeps delivering

37) Wade went down on his little pet leading leg play, then recovered like a soccer player

36) The pace and level of play here was as good as hyped, which is saying something

35) Chris Bosh really does have a future as a wrestling heel, given how much he celebrates hustle plays

34) Westbrook's dunk finish off the Thabo Sefalosha miss showed James forgetting his defensive responsibilities and avoiding a poster

33) It's hard to estimate just how valuable Battier has been for Miami this series, or just how much physical plays he's getting away with

32) When Chalmers is hot, the Heat are a pretty frightening beast

31) Durant's make with 4:10 left in the third on the baseline was Erving-esque, only Durant stays in the air longer

30) Derek Fisher knocked James over like he didn't outweigh him by 100 pounds

29) Westbrook and the Thunder really struggle with physical defense and ridiculously bad officiating

28) If Brooks lets Harden guard James again in this series, he should be placed in a small room with no sharp objects

27) Durant's first rebound came with 11:30 left in the game, which is one of those hidden problems that no one is going to bring up

26) OKC can only hope this series goes long enough for the real Harden to show up, or that the real Harden isn't permanently destroyed, a la Nick Anderson

24) Harden's miss after steal in the open court was his night in microcosm, cost the Thunder a lead, and changed everything

23) The subsequent Chalmers three had that "Of Course" feel to it

22) The Heat are one game away from a championship stained by questionable officiating, which is to say, just like their other championship

21) Wade's straight on three was a terrible possession and a huge result, which is why people mythologize basketball players

20) Westbrook's first free throw came in the 41st minute of this game, and he had three all night, which staggers the imagination

19) Westbrook scored 13 in a row to force a tie in a game that had no business being tied

18) James' cramp will be, by the time Game Five starts, the focus of a one-hour ESPN documentary

17) OKC actually took a lead after James' injury, just to make sure that we had maximum drama

16) If James is subject to cramps, the fact that the Thunder have not sent waves of bench players out to play full-court is one more flaming bag of turds to put on Brooks' doorstep

15) While everyone will want to fellate the Heat for winning without full LeBron, they looked like ass until he limped back on and made the go-ahead three

14) Westbrook's amazing game stopped with 4 minutes left, and then we got Bad Russ again

13) The Thunder did not target a limping James on defense, for some reason that none can fathom

12) If Kevin Durant goes on a three-state killing spree after this series ends, painting his victims in referee stripes before disemboweling them, I'd understand it

11) Wade's make to push the lead to 5 was a play where Westbrook fell asleep on him, and not in the top 5 of bad RW plays late

10) Harden's lack of interest in taking a wide-open shot late is the kind of thing that makes you wonder about a lot more than his shot

9) The Thunder are supposed to have the better and deeper bigs, but you'd never know from their lack of big rebounds late

8) Wade's block on Thabo Sefalosha in the corner, and subsequent save, is his signature play of the game

7) Bosh's flop for Durant's foul with 1:24 left is the kind of thing that a grown man should be ashamed of

6) The idea that we're not going to have a long series because of Mario Chalmers boggles the mind

5) Westbrook's unnecessary foul on Chalmers with 13.8 left could only be called Webber-esque

4) This has been an unforgettable series of pace, athleticism, momentum swings and mental breakdowns

3) The Heat shot well from the arc without a big night from Battier, which hasn't happened in a while

2) Teams that are down 3-1 in the NBA Finals are 0-30, but if this somehow gets back to OKC, you're going to have to wonder

1) If these two teams play against each other for the next 5 to 10 years on this stage, I'll be kind of OK with that