Thunder clinch NBA finals berth with game 6 win

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night 107-99 to clinch the franchise's first NBA finals appearance since moving to Oklahoma City from Seattle.  Kevin Durant played all 48 minutes of the game and had another sensational performance, scoring 34 points with 14 rebounds and 5 assists and even drawing his first charge of the season on Manu Ginobili.  Russell Westbrook gave Durant plenty of help, finishing with 25 points, 8 boards and 5 assists.
Tony Parker had 17 points and 5 assists in the first quarter as San Antonio took an 18 point lead.  Durant provided the Thunder with a momentum swinging jolt by knocking down a buzzer beating, contested 3-pointer at the end of the half to cut the Spurs' lead to 18.  The Thunder dominated the second half, outscoring the Spurs 59-36 and playing frenetic defense.  OKC refused to back down or accept that it would have to return to San Antonio for a game 7.
With the win the Thunder moved one step closer to completing the journey from NBA doormat to champion.  General manager Sam Presti deserves much credit for building a team that has become the envy of most of the league.  After drafting Durant 2nd overall in the 2007 NBA draft, and selecting Westbrook 4th overall in 2008, the Thunder began the 2008-09 season, the franchise's first  in Oklahoma City, with a 3-29 record.  From that point on the team has rapidly progressed into a title contender and one of the league's most respected organizations.  The Thunder made the playoffs the following year before bowing out to the Lakers in the first round, reached the Conference Finals last season where the team was defeated by the Mavericks, and now has earned the right to play on basketball's biggest stage, the NBA finals.
Kevin Durant's selflessness and unique nature for a superstar has allowed the Thunder to blossom into an NBA title contender well ahead of schedule, despite being such a young team.  Durant and Westbrook are only 23 years old and James Harden and Serge Ibaka are each 22, yet the team plays with maturity and a singleminded pursuit of victory.  Because Durant values winning much more highly than individual accolades and statistics, his teammates love and respect him, and have adopted his team first mindset. Oklahoma City has put together a special group of elite young talents who play together unselfishly, and has finally broken through to what the organization hopes will be the first of many trips to the NBA finals.

Celtics win game 5, one win away from NBA finals berth

The Boston Celtics defeated the Miami Heat 94-90 to take a 3-2 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.  In Winning their third consecutive game, Boston moved to within a win of returning to the NBA finals for the third time in the past five seasons.  Kevin Garnett continued his phenomenal postseason by posting another dominant performance and finishing with 26 points and 11 rebounds.  Garnett has turned back the clock this postseason, playing as well as he has since joining the Celtics five years ago.  Paul Pierce scored 19 points for the Celtics, and despite struggling with his shot all evening, drained a huge 3-pointer over Lebron James with under a minute left in the game to put the Celtics up by 4.
The Heat received 30 points from James and 27 from Dwyane Wade, including 14 in the 4th quarter, but the supporting cast did not show up ready to play.  Throughout the series Boston has repeatedly had role players like Mickael Pietrus, who had two crucial 3-pointers in the waning minutes of the game, step up and contribute, while Miami has relied on solely Wade and James.  Chris Bosh made his return to the Heat's lineup, playing for the first time since game 1 of the Conference Semifinals, and was effective scoring 9 points in only 14 minutes of playing time.  He will have to be able to play for longer stretches of game 6 for the Heat to have a chance to extend the series.
Throughout the game the Heat looked lost in their half-court offense, failed to get back on defense to stop the Celtics' fast breaks and struggled to make the correct defensive rotations.  Much credit has to be given to Boston head coach Doc Rivers for outcoaching his Miami counterpart Erik Spoelstra, and for electing to confound the Heat by switching between zone and man-to-man defenses in the 4th quarter.
At the All-Star break Boston had a 15-17 record and was considering trading away key components of the team's core.  Since then the team has a 35-17 record and is proving that it is not too old to compete for a championship.

Russell Westbrook Shirts and Lensless Glasses

Russell Westbrook is one of the top point guards in the NBA, but recently he has been making headlines for his fashion choices as much as for his on court dominance.  Here are some pictures of the outfits Westbrook has worn to his post-game interviews this postseason:

 

Thunder win game 5 to take 3-2 series lead

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the San Antonio Spurs 108-103 in game 5 of the Western Conference Finals to take a 3-2 series lead, heading home with a chance to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals with a victory in game 6.  The Thunder were lead by Kevin Durant who, following an unusually quiet first half, scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half.  The Thunder also scored 28 points off of 21 San Antonio turnovers, providing the team with a chance to show off its athleticism in transition.  Despite OKC's youth, the team played with great poise, confidence and intelligence, and appears to be maturing on the big stage in front of a national audience.
The Thunder overcame early adversity when the team was called for three fouls in the first minute of the game, including two on Serge Ibaka the team's starting power forward.  Despite the team's early foul trouble the Thunder weathered the storm and was able to take a 14 point lead in the 2nd quarter.
Manu Ginobili, who Spurs' head coach Gregg Popovich elected to start, played an absolutely breathtaking game, leading all scorers with 34 points, including 5 three pointers, and almost singlehandedly keeping the Spurs in the game.  After multiple big plays down the stretch from Durant, Russell Westbrook who had 23 points and 12 assists, and James Harden who scored 20 points off the bench, the Thunder built a commanding 13 point lead with under 5 minutes remaining in the game.  The Spurs then went on an 11-0 run to cut the Thunder lead down to two, setting up a fantastic finish to the game.
With the Thunder nursing a 2 point lead with under 30 seconds remaining in the game, Harden knocked down a contested step back three pointer to put the Thunder up 5.  Ginobili then missed a three with 4 seconds left that could have tied the game, sealing the Thunder's victory.

Boston wins game 4 in OT to even series at 2-2

The Boston Celtics defeated the Miami Heat 93-91 in overtime to tie the Eastern Conference Finals at 2-2.  
The Celtics raced out to a 61-47 halftime lead and made 6 of their first 8 3-pointers, paced by Paul Pierce who had 18 of his 23 points in the first half and Rajon Rondo who had 10 of his 15 dazzling assists in the opening half.  During a half-time interview with Doris Burke, Rondo fired a shot at the Heat, claiming that what allowed Boston to achieve the commanding half-time lead was the Heat "complaining and crying to the referees in transition."
In the second half the Heat, playing the same small lineup that allowed them to almost come back from a 24 point deficit in game 3, furiously chipped away at the Celtics' lead, eventually tying the game in the 4th quarter.  With a chance to win the game Lebron James, who finished with 29 points and had just made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 89, drove into the teeth of the swarming Celtics' defense and was forced to throw an errant pass to Udonis Haslem who threw up an off balance shot that fell well short of the rim.
Both Pierce and James fouled out early in the overtime period.  Rondo scored the Celtics' last 3 points in the period to give the team a 2 point lead.  In the final possession of the game the Heat ran an isolation play for Dwyane Wade, who shot poorly throughout the game yet finished with 20 points.  Wade pump faked beyond the 3-point line, causing Marquis Daniels to leap into the air, but instead of jumping into Daniels to draw a foul and a trip to the free throw line with a chance to win the game, Wade regained his balance and took a 3-pointer that rattled off the rim.
Six Celtics had double digit points in the game, including Keyon Dooling whose infectious energy off the bench has been a huge factor all series long.

Thunder tie series win Spurs behind monster 4th quarter by Durant

The Thunder defeated the Spurs 109-103 Saturday night to tie the Western Conference Finals at 2-2.  Coming off a 20 point demolition of the Spurs on Thursday, the Thunder once again took care of business at home, surprising most pundits who considered the team all but eliminated after the Spurs raced out to a 2-0 series lead.  Kevin Durant continued to establish himself as the greatest closer in the NBA, scoring 18 of his 36 points in the final 7 minutes of the decisive 4th quarter.  Durant scored 16 straight points for the Thunder and showed off his full arsenal of moves, including a floater, 3-pointer, turnaround shot off a post up, a dunk off an alley-oop from James Harden and several midrange jumpers off the dribble on which he demonstrated his beautiful shooting stroke.  Durant played well in all facets of the game, finishing with 8 assists, 6 rebounds and excellent defense with the help of his 7'5" wingspan.  Durant received plenty of help from his front court teammates Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison who finished with a combined 49 points on 22-25 shooting, including 26 for Ibaka on perfect 11-11 shooting from the field.

Celtics win game 3 and cut series deficit to 2-1

The Boston Celtics cut the Miami Heat's series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals to 2-1 with a crucial 101-91 victory in game 3, despite coming off an exhausting and heartbreaking overtime loss to the Heat in game 2.  Boston withstood a first quarter offensive onslaught by Lebron James who had 16 points in the opening quarter and finished the game 34 points on 16-26 shooting.  After allowing the Heat to score several easy baskets in transition off of made field goals by the Celtics, Boston clamped down defensively, allowing the Heat to score only 35 points in the two subsequent quarters and building a 22 point lead.  Kevin Garnett scored 24 points and added 11 rebounds and helped the Celtics impose their will on the Heat in the paint.  Garnett showed off his legendary intensity in the second quarter after a hard foul in which he painfully landed on his back, by doing pushups on his knuckles.

Boston out rebounded Miami 44-32 despite being the worst rebounding team in the NBA in the regular season.  Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo set the tone for the Celtics offensively scoring 23 and 21 points respectively.  Rondo, who added 10 assists, did a tremendous job dictating the pace of the game, setting up teammates like Marquis Daniels who gave the Celtics a boost off the bench, and craftily making shots, including a beautiful layup off of his signature fake-behind the back pass.
The Heat made a comeback in the 4th quarter, cutting a 24 point deficit down to 8, while playing a small lineup featuring Lebron James at center.  Ultimately the Celtics were able to close out the game, boosting their confidence and setting up highly anticipated game 4 Sunday night.