Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder Need to Win the NBA Finals

The 2012 NBA Finals are an interesting contrast of play styles, personalities and markets. The Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder could not play more similarly on the court, yet they have completely opposite forms of motivation, team management and egos. 

In one corner is the Miami Heat, the current villain of the NBA who is also the most interesting franchise in the league. To the casual fan, the Heat do things the "wrong way." They formed their team through a free agency coup that reeked of desperation, brashness and ego. The "Big Three" of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh announced their intentions to the world with a made-for-television press conference that came across as an early coronation for future championships that had yet to be earned on the hardwood.

The team features two of the five best basketball players in today's game, yet this pairing fails to compliment one another and has yet to be solved by either James or Wade. Miami's coach looks lost as he seeks a way to avoid the media scrutiny and seems to rely more on his superstars raw talents than on his ability to draw up successful plays and properly motivate his best players.

Miami is also a basketball franchise that plays in a city that is full of distractions, leading to numerous games in which the game's best players fail to draw a sell out. Miami is not a typical sports town that absolutely adores its sports team. Rather, it simply takes the team for granted.

Then you have the Oklahoma City Thunder standing in the opposite corner of the ring. As of this moment, they represent everything that is good with the NBA. This is a franchise that is embraced by the local fans, has a great cast of young talent and lacks the flashy media mobs that are attracted by the Heat.

Oklahoma City features two superstars in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook who compliment each other on the basketball court, unlike their Miami counterparts. Russell commands the point guard spot and keeps the team in the game during the middle quarters of each game. Then when it becomes crunch time, he defers to Durant, who is the premier scoring forward in the NBA and is as unselfish and efficient as any player in the league.

The Thunder were built through the draft rather than free agency. The team took its time, made well informed draft selections and saved its cap for long-term extensions of its key players while maintaining flexible spending levels. None of the players planned to come together on this team, but all of them have completely bought into the team concept. 

Management and personnel have struck gold on most of their personnel moves, especially the draft selections of Durant, Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka. When handling trades, they have been efficient instead of flashy, including a big deal that sent Jeff Green to Boston for bruising center Kendrick Perkins.

When the team has dabbled in free agency, they pick up players such as Derek Fisher, who is three games away from helping yet another team win a NBA championship.

Most of all, this city has some of the most passionate fans in the entire NBA, maybe even the most passionate. Every home game is a huge boost for the Thunder and a deafening wall of non-stop chatter for the opposing team. This is Oklahoma City's first professional sports team, and they have embraced the Thunder with open arms and loud vocal cords. No home court features the college-like atmosphere that Oklahoma City has.

All of this would be for naught if not for the team's main superstar player, Kevin Durant. It is remarkable for a 23 year old to possess such incredible poise and confidence at such a young stage of his career. In his first five seasons, Durant has already won multiple scoring titles and is now a few wins away from taking home a NBA title and a potential Finals MVP award.

He is such a contrast to the Heat's LeBron James, who was the league's poster child for years before leaving for Miami. Since then, James has become the most divisive player in the league. He plays spectacularly, but he says arrogant and brash comments that seemingly seem more and more dumb by the day. James also possesses one of the largest egos in the NBA and came to Miami in order to win rings the easy way.

Kevin Durant doesn't know what the easy way is. He simply understands that great players have to take over in the greatest moments to be remembered with the all-time legends. For example, Durant scored 17 points in the fourth quarter in Game One of the NBA Finals. Meanwhile, LeBron scored 7 quiet points in the same period.

These two star players are a great contrast in one another and will hopefully fuel a great rivalry for years to come between these two teams. In the meantime, the NBA and its fans need to root for the Oklahoma City Thunder to win this series and take home the 2012 Finals.