Heat vs. Thunder: Keys to Miami Attaining Finals Redemption

The Miami Heat have the ability to redeem themselves from last season's painful failure in the NBA finals. They just have to execute to pull it off. 

The Heat are underdogs in their matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder—Bovada has them listed at plus-145 to take the title—but this squad certainly has the talent and the ability to beat those odds. 

Here is what they need to do that. 

Big 3 Dominance

Miami is always going to go as far as their big three can take them. Against lesser opponents, a strong performance by either LeBron James, Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh is enough to carry them to victory, but against the deep and talented Thunder, they will need all of these guys to bring their "A" games. 

For James, he simply needs to bring the intensity and killer instinct he displayed against Boston in Games 6 and 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. 

Wade needs to find some consistency on the offensive end, and keep making an impact on defense and on the offensive glass. 

The big wild card here is Bosh. Bosh was still trying to get back in the flow after returning from injury last series. He looked solid in Game 7, and will have to continue that style of play. 

The Heat need Bosh to hit his open shots, but even more importantly, they need him to rebound. 

The Thunder have a nice edge in the paint, and it is going to be vital that Bosh commits himself to grabbing boards. 

Defense Wins Championships

The Heat played fantastic defense this season, and they are one of the few teams with the length and athleticism to match up with the Thunder in an up-and-down game. 

That said, the Heat's defense was sporadic against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. They were victimized in pick-and-roll situations, which was an area they had been strong in all season. 

They will need to clean that up against the Thunder, and create some turnovers along the way so they can get into the open court for easy buckets. 

Role Players Hitting Open Looks

The big three can't win this one alone. If they aren't getting any help from the supporting cast, the Thunder will pay extra attention to the Heat's stars and clog the lane. 

To keep this from happening, the shooters on the Heat must hit their open shots. They have to punish the Thunder for leaving them unattended—otherwise the Heat will not be able to space the floor. 

Knocking down open looks has been a sporadic result for the Heat this season. They have to get some consistency in this area in this series.