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It was the LeBron James show for much of the game, but one misfire after another from both teams in an ugly fourth quarter allowed the Miami Heat to hold off a late run by the Thunder and win the first game at South Beach in the 2012 NBA Finals. 

James may not have extended his streak of 30-point games, but he did contribute across the board and made numerous big free throws in the final quarter. 

Kevin Durant's foul trouble and the inability of James Harden and Russell Westbrook ended up dooming the Thunder, who hope to rebound in Game 4. 

Until next time. 

Final Stat Leaders

Miami

Points: LeBron James (29)

Rebounds: LeBron James (14)

Assists: Dwyane Wade (7)

Steals: Mario Chalmers and Dwyane Wade (2)

Blocks: Chris Bosh (2)

Oklahoma City 

Points: Kevin Durant (25)

Rebounds: Kendrick Perkins (12)

Assists: James Harden (6)

Steals: Thabo Sefolosha (3)

Blocks: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka (2)

Russell Westbrook misses the three and that will do it as the Miami Heat take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals. 

Final Score: 91-85 Miami

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Thabo Sefolosha throws the inbounds pass away, which could very well seal the deal for Miami. 

Dwyane Wade is fouled and sent to the line, where he makes both. 

91-85 Miami with 13 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. 

LeBron James dribbles around at the top of the key and then misfires on a pull-up jumper from the right side. 

Russell Westbrook shoots a three-pointer with no one around him but it clangs off the iron and fuels way more unnecessary Westbrook hate for the next few days (I'm assuming). 

James Harden tries to flop and gets called for a block, which sends LeBron to the line way too late in the shot clock.

LeBron misses the first and drains the second to make it a two-possession game.  

89-85 Miami with 16.2 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. 

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A great lob pass from LeBron James puts Chris Bosh in perfect position to either finish the play or draw a foul. Bosh does the latter and goes to the free-throw line. 

The velociraptor lookalike hits the first, takes a second to gather himself and knocks down the second one as well to extend the lead to three points. 

88-85 Miami with 1:19 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

Thabo Sefolosha steals it from Dwyane Wade and hits an incredible spinning layup. Then, Wade misfires and Russell Westbrook knocks down a pull-up jumper to cut the lead to just a single point. 

This is shaping up to be another classic. 

86-85 Miami with 1:30 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

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After LeBron James makes another tough layup, Kendrick Perkins goes to the line. These are must-make free throws at this point and the man with the pharaoh beard does exactly that to cut the lead to a manageable five points. 

86-81 Miami with 2:07 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

An offensive rebound from Chris Bosh gives the Heat another shot clock to run down. Mario Chalmers has his shot blocked with 2.3 seconds remaining on the clock and Dwyane Wade can't get a shot off, resulting in another shot-clock violation. 

Miami has eight turnovers in the fourth quarter, but OKC is matching them step for step in that department. 

84-79 Miami with 2:33 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

"You guys thought I couldn't do it again?"
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Another turnover from James Harden and LeBron James goes barreling down the court, finishing over a sliding Kevin Durant for a three-point play of his own. 

For the second-straight game, Durant will be forced to play crunch time while worrying about fouling out. And for the second-straight game, James is coming up big as the fourth quarter runs down and making his charity shots. 

84-77 Miami with 3:44 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

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A terrible pass from James Harden, missing a wide-open Kevin Durant on the cut to the top of the key, makes the job easy for Miami's defense. 

The offense can't capitalize on the other end though. 

81-77 Miami with 4:00 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

The defense is just superb in this game. Neither team is scoring with any ease right now. 

And of course, as soon as I'm about to post that, Dwyane Wade hits a tough floater and draws the foul on Kendrick Perkins, completing the old-fashioned three-point play at the line. 

81-77 Miami with 4:50 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

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I think we've had more shot-clock violations in this game than the rest of the playoffs combined. 

78-77 Miami with 6:30 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

Before this series, if I'd told you that Kevin Durant would miss back-to-back free throws and then LeBron James would make his pair just one possession later during the fourth quarter of a close game, you wouldn't have believed me. 

You should now. 

78-77 Miami with 6:55 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

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It's kind of sad that not one player from Miami's five on the floor, except for James Jones, hustled back to beat Kevin Durant down the court on that fast break. This is Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Leave it all on the court. 

Durant misses both of his free throws though in uncharacteristic fashion. 

76-75 Miami with 7:35 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

Mario Chalmers makes his first basket of the game to extend the Heat lead out to three points, pending some more free throws from James Harden.

76-73 Miami with 8:10 remaining in the fourth quarter.  

James Harden holds off LeBron James as he dribbles to halfcourt and then throws up the alley to Kevin Durant, who slams home the oop. 

One-point lead for the Heat. 

74-73 Miami with 8:52 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

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Russell Westbrook should not be trying to front LeBron James. An easy entry pass results in uncontested swings around the perimeter and a wide open three-pointer from James Jones. 

74-69 Miami with 9:42 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

The fourth quarter picks up where the third one ended as Dwyane Wade hits Udonis Haslem for two points and then each team turns it over before Derek Fisher hits a running layup for his eighth and ninth points of the game. 

71-69 Miami with 10:45 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

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Stat Leaders Through 3 Quarters

Miami Heat

Points: LeBron James (21)

Rebounds: LeBron James (10)

Assists: Dwyane Wade (6)

Steals: Mario Chalmers (2)

Blocks: Mario Chalmers, Chris Bosh and Mike Miller (1)

Oklahoma CIty Thunder

Points: Kevin Durant (21)

Rebounds: Kendrick Perkins (11)

Assists: James Harden (4)

Steals: Thabo Sefolosha (2)

Blocks: Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka (2)

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

James Harden misses two shots at the end of the quarter and is now 1-of-8 from the field. 

69-67 Miami at the end of the third quarter. 

Nice work to overturn a call that sent the ball to the Thunder and Miami takes advantage as LeBron James nails a three-pointer from the left corner to take the lead for the Heat. 

He's now got 21 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in the game. 

69-67 Miami with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter. 

Beautiful shot by Dwyane Wade after a nice spin move. It feels like that's the first field goal made by Miami in the third quarter, even though that's not-so-obviously not true. 

As Wade breaks ahead and receives a nice pass in transition, he draws the foul and makes both free throws to cut the deficit to just a single point as LeBron James re-enters the game. 

67-66 Oklahoma City with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter. 

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How do you foul three-point shooters on back-to-back possessions in the NBA Finals? 

That's six free throws that Miami really didn't deserve but got because of inexcusable defensive plays by the Thunder. 

Shane Battier made all three of his charity shots and James Jones does the same to close the gap to three points. Could that come on a foul next possession? 

65-62 Oklahoma City with 2:45 remaining in the third quarter. 

No timeout can freeze Shane Battier. 

65-59 Oklahoma City with 3:00 remaining in the third quarter.