Heat vs. Thunder Game 1: OKC Will Further Expose Miami's Flaws in NBA Finals

After Game 1 of the 2012 NBA Finals, it’s clear that the Oklahoma City Thunder are the better team.

As long as they continue to capitalize on the Miami Heat’s deficiency of depth, this will be a short series.

While the marquee matchup of the series will continue to be Kevin Durant against LeBron James, it is the benches of both teams that will settle this score.

The Thunder have backup players at every position that could come into a game and not be a liability; the same cannot be said about the Heat. With even starters lacking serious talent, Miami is really feeling the three huge contracts they have on the books.

Miami’s notoriously streaky bench started hot, but OKC knew exactly how to handle it. Durant told the Chicago Sun-Times after the Thunder’s Game 1 victory:

"

Well, those guys, they came out on fire. They were passing the ball well, knocking down shots. We just wanted to continue to keep playing. It’s a long game, and every time our coach was just saying play harder, play harder, and that’s what we did.

"

From Durant and Russell Westbrook to Nick Collison and Derek Fisher, every player on the team was going at 100 percent, even when adversity hit them early.

Miami could have put their foot on the throttle and taken over the game completely in the first half, but they stopped pressing the issue and started settling for jump shots.

Some of that success can also be credited to the strong interior defensive combination of Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka, though.

With all of the Thunder's parts working together in perfect harmony, the fact that the Heat look like a makeshift rec-league squad behind the big three will make it easy for them to be exposed by a team as talented as Oklahoma City.

Add in a clutch shooter like Durant who will not shy away from big fourth-quarter looks, and this team will run right through the Heat.

Thunder win in five games.

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