2012 NBA Finals

The 2012 NBA Finals will get underway on Tuesday night when the city of Oklahoma City hosts their first ever Finals game when the Miami Heat come to town. This is a fantastic chance for us to see the two best players in the world - sorry Kobe - battle it out for the chance to win their first title. LeBron James and Kevin Durant will get the chance to go after one another for the right to be called a champion, and perhaps the best player in the world. OKC comes in as the favorite. This was highly unlikely when the playoffs began, but the Thunder have looked awesome in compiling a 12-3 record throughout the postseason. They have beat the three teams that are responsible for the previous 13 Western Conference championships to get to this point. Miami has taken everyone's best shot, including the media. The Heat were down in each of the last two series and all but left for dead by the national media. They now find themselves appearing in the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year. There is still a chance for LeBron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh to win not four, not five, not six, you know the rest. But a young, exciting, and ultra talented Oklahoma City team stands in their way. All of the core players for the Thunder are 23 years old or younger. They are hoping to begin a dynasty of their own. Here is how I see the NBA Finals playing out, with a positional breakdown.



2 Oklahoma City (-160) vs. 2 Miami (+140)

How they got here:

Oklahoma City beat - Dallas 4-0, LA Lakers 4-1, San Antonio 4-2
Miami beat - New York 4-1, Indiana 4-2, Boston 4-3

PG - Russell Westbrook vs. Mario Chalmers
SG - Thabo Sefolosha vs. Dwayne Wade
SF - Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James
PF - Serge Ibaka vs. Chris Bosh
C - Kendrick Perkins vs. Udonis Haslem
Bench - Oklahoma City vs. Miami
Coach - Scott Brooks vs. Erik Spoelstra

There are some very intriguing matchups to watch in this series. The obvious one that is going to garner everyone's attention is LeBron vs. Durant. These two young men are arguably the two best players in the world right now. But some of the other matchups could play a bigger role in deciding who hoists the Larry O'Brien trophy. Like how bad will Russell Westbrook dominate Mario Chalmers? Can Thabo Sefolosha put the clamps on D-Wade like he did Tony Parker? Will the athleticism of Serge Ibaka bother an injured Chris Bosh? Can Miami get production of their bench to try to neutralize what OKC will get from James Harden and others? And will Scott Brooks run circles around Erik Spoelstra after getting the best of Gregg Popovich last round? Well the answers to these questions are very bad, somewhat, yes, not nearly enough, and probably. None of which bode very well for Miami. LeBron and Durant will get theirs. That means it is up to the others to make a difference. I feel like the Thunder have much more help for Durant than the Heat have for LeBron. The Thunder's time is now. They will prove much more likely to build a dynasty than Miami when the Finals conclude.

Prediction - Oklahoma City over Miami 4-3

Ringer's Playoff Record
13-1. I have picked the winner of every playoff series with the exception of Chicago-Philadelphia. But nobody could have forecasted Derrick Rose tearing his ACL and missing almost the entire series. Nonetheless I have been hot in the NBA playoffs.