Heat vs. Thunder: Blueprint for Miami Heat Revenge in Game 2

After a second-half shellacking at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Miami Heat find themselves in a 1-0 hole to start the 2012 NBA Finals. Now, to avoid a 2-0 deficit in the series, the Heat must turn to Erik Spoelstra, rely on his tactical superiority and make the following adjustments.

Miami was leading the game at halftime, by a margin of seven points no less, before OKC turned up the heat and blazed ahead in the third quarter, winning the crucial period by eight points and then putting the game away in the fourth quarter.

Clearly, the Heat aren't too far away from winning a game in what should continue to be a closely-contested, hard-fought series.

That said, doing these four things would help them out quite a bit.  

Heat Must Go Bigger

Miami allowed 10 offensive rebounds and were out-hustled on the glass throughout the night.

Thanks to 10 boards from Nick Collison and another eight from Russell Westbrook—who shouldn't be getting that many against an athletic team as a point guard who begins plays on the perimeter—the Thunder crashed the boards to the tune of a plus-eight rebounding margin.

Keeping the focus on Collison, there's no way that a player with more desire than skill, more grit than glamour and more hustle than offensive technique should be able to score eight points and nearly record a double-double.

The Thunder's great interior passing and Collison's tenacity on the offensive glass allowed him to make four shots from directly at or under the rim.

Part of the reason the Heat lost the second-half battle was that they never established dominance in the size department. Remedying that is fairly easy.

Just start Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem and let Joel Anthony play more than two minutes during Game 2.

Plus, tell Bosh that he isn't a three-point shooter despite what he may think after his showing in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. Bosh cannot continue to be allergic to the painted area. 

Keep Russell Westbrook Contained

Kevin Durant dominated the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach, but it was Russell Westbrook who was the difference-maker throughout the game for the Thunder. 

The dynamic point guard neared a triple-double with his 27 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, coupling those numbers with a damage-minimizing two turnovers to put together a terrific performance.

Sure, he shot only 42 percent from the field, but he made up for that low percentage with charity shots and mental chaos on the part of the Heat. 

Durant is the best player on this team, no matter how well Westbrook plays, but Westbrook is not far behind the scoring sensation when value is discussed. The reckless abandon he plays with does more to create opportunities for Durant and his other teammates than anything else that happens on the court. 

Keeping Dwyane Wade on Westbrook is vital because Wade is the best perimeter defender who happens to line up at one of the two guard positions. However, in Game 2, Wade needs to do a much better job staying in front of Westbrook. 

Wade must play off Westbrook slightly more and force the point guard to hit the pull-up jumpers he loves so much at the beginning of the game. Only when Westbrook proves himself from distance should Wade respect the jump shot and allow himself to sneak within arm's reach of his opponent. 

Dwyane Wade Needs to Think it's 2006

Speaking of Wade, the Heat need to dress up in fashions from 2006, play top 40 songs from that year and do everything else possible to convince the talented shooting guard that we're playing this series six years in the past. 

During the 2006 NBA Finals, Wade was in no way able to be stopped and put together one of the most terrific individual series that the NBA has ever witnessed. The same cannot be said for the 2012 NBA Finals, although we're only one game in. 

Between his inability to slow Westbrook and his putrid 7-of-19 shooting from the field, a number that was boosted in the fourth quarter once the game was decided, Wade must play at a higher level.

His eight assists were impressive, but those were a result of a scorching performance from downtown in the first half by his wide-open teammates. 

Wade needs to call his own number early and often to get into a good flow, then stop settling for the difficult shot from the outside. As pretty as it looks when he makes the step-back, falling-away, hand-in-his-face floaters, those types of shots don't win games when the majority of them are missed.

When Wade is listening to his iPod and warming up before the game, only the following songs need to be on it: "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira (feat. Wyclef Jean), "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado (feat. Timbaland), "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter, "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire (feat. Krayzie Bone), "S.O.S. (Rescue Me)" by Rihanna, "Unfaithful" by Rihanna, "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, "Over My Head (Cable Car)" by Fray, "Temperature" by Sean Paul and "Me & U" by Cassie.  

LeBron James Needs to Guard Kevin Durant

Despite his poor shooting in the fourth quarter, LeBron James played a terrific, well-rounded game and should in no way be shouldering the majority of the blame for the Game 1 loss. 

He still needs to play better though. 

Spoelstra didn't have James attempt to lock down Kevin Durant until the fourth quarter rolled around, and by then, it was too late to slow the talented scorer. While the coach was trying to allow James to conserve energy on the defensive end, that's simply not an acceptable strategy. 

This is the NBA Finals. Go big or go home. If you can't muster up the energy and desire, then don't bother showing up. 

I don't care how tired James may be after Game 2 because he'll have an extra day to recover, seeing as Game 3 isn't until Sunday. He must give it everything he's got on both ends of the court, even if that means attempting to stop Durant throughout the game.