Heat vs. Thunder: Miami Won't Overcome OKC'S Explosiveness and Depth

It's hard to compare a team's performance from series to series in the NBA playoffs.  Sometimes teams play worse against bad teams and then raise their level of play in time to beat the best of the best.

That won't happen for Miami against the Thunder.

The Thunder are far and away the best team the Heat have had to contend with this postseason, and the scary thing is, they've gotten better and better as the playoffs have progressed. They are precisely that team that has elevated its game and made the necessary adjustments in order to keep dominating each and every round.

You give them the defending champs, they take care of them in four. You give them Kobe and the Lakers, they make an All-Star filled roster look like amateurs. You give them the hottest team in the NBA, they figure out how to neutralize that team's most dangerous player and it's game over. 

The Heat, meanwhile, have had a tougher time in the playoffs—not because they've played tougher teams, but because they've failed to play with the kind of consistency necessary to win a title. There is, of course, always time for that to change. In its final two games against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, Miami showed more character and toughness than it had at any point in the playoffs. 

But it's going to take a lot more than that to beat the Thunder. 

The Thunder have had one of the hardest possible roads to the playoffs of any team, particularly considering their youth and their lack of postseason experience. They didn't only beat the Mavericks—they swept the defending champs. They shut down Kobe Bryant and what had once been one of the most formidable frontcourts in the league. They took a Spurs team that looked like a lock to be the last team standing and made it look old, tired and completely ineffective.

And they were able to do it because they have too many weapons. If there is any pair that can contend with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, it's Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, two of the most athletic, explosive young players in the league. On top of them, the Thunder have one thing the Heat are sorely missing: the best sixth man in the league. The Heat don't have a single player who can consistently come in off the bench and dominate on both ends of the floor, and the Thunder have the best one.

During the Eastern Conference Finals, Miami capitalized on the Celtics' incredibly short rotation. They also capitalized on the fact that if they shut down just one member of Boston's first unit, the Celtics didn't have enough manpower to compensate for it. That won't happen against the Thunder. With the Thunder, there's always someone else who can pick up the load, whether its James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins or Derek Fisher. 

This is the deepest team the Heat have had to face thus far, and they're also rested, healthy and one of the best defensive teams in the league. LeBron won't be putting up any 30-point halves against them. This isn't the injury-depleted Eastern Conference anymore.

All of that being said, anything can happen. When the Thunder beat the Spurs in four straight games, they proved it. They proved that even a team that has won 20 consecutive games is capable of losing four in a row. They proved that no one is infallible and no one is too dominant. 

But they also proved that when their backs are pushed against the wall by the league's best team, they can always find another way to win, and they can do it with such dominance that it's hard to believe anyone can be better.