Heat vs. Thunder Game 3: Recap of Miami's Series Controlling Win

LeBron James simply will not allow his team to lose, at least not without a serious fight. He lead the Miami Heat to a 2-1 series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. The final score was 91-85, and this was another great game to watch.

Every time the Heat needed a shot of aggression on the offensive or defensive end, James was there to deliver.

It certainly wasn't as if James did all the work himself. The Heat received timely contributions from their bench, and both Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh played well. Wade finished with 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Bosh scored only 10 points, but he had 11 big rebounds and his interior defense was huge.

Kevin Durant paced the Thunder with 25 points, but he was limited by foul trouble. Russell Westbrook had 19, but James Harden struggled mightily. He had only nine points on 2-10 shooting. However, he did have six rebounds and six assists

Let's take a closer look at how this one unfolded:

The Numbers

Thunder Shooting Percentage—42.9 

As I mentioned in a piece I wrote prior to Game 3, the Heat had to take away the paint and force the Thunder to take and make jump shots. They did a good job of this in Game 3.

The Thunder made only 4-of-18 three-point shots and didn't live in the paint the way they did in Game 1. Chris Bosh protecting the rim was huge as you can see here with the block on Durant's drive.

Rebounding—Miami 45, OKC 38 

This was another one of my keys for this game and the series. So far the team that has won the battle on the glass has won every game. That trend stayed true to form.

Free-throw Shooting—Miami 31-35 (88 percent) OKC 15-24 (65 percent)

This is perhaps the biggest stat of the game. The Heat were aggressive, they got to the line, but more importantly, they made their shots. The Thunder looked like a young, inexperienced team for the first time this postseason.

They did not come through when they needed too, and surprisingly, that included Durant. He missed two big ones in the fourth quarter.

Moments of Sickness

This game wasn't full of amazing highlights, but this alley-oop from Harden to Durant was the Thunder's best play:

LeBron's reverse layup of sorts was a pretty and difficult finish:

The Turning Point

This game clearly turned when Kevin Durant picked up his fourth foul at the 5:41 mark in the third quarter. The Thunder had seized control of the game, they were up 60-54 when Durant went to the bench. But when they lost Durant's scoring, they fell apart in every facet.

Two terrible fouls on three-point shooters put Miami right back in the game. Durant sat for the last five minutes and change left in the third quarter. By quarter's end Miami had regained control, grabbing a 69-67 lead, and the Thunder never regained momentum.

Twitterage

This tweet is from CBS Basketball, and it references an article written by Matt Moore. In short, I couldn't agree more.

This is the clear separation between James and Durant. Defensively, Durant doesn't have a prayer against James, and he's destined for foul trouble if he remains on him.

James can guard any player as well as it's possible to guard said player. No one is going to stop Durant, he's simply too good of a scorer, but at least James can play him and stay in the game.

The Beast

LeBron James

James continues to play like a man with something to prove. He drove another point home in Game 3 with 29 points, 14 rebounds and another handful of clutch plays. He has just two more wins to capture to attain the ultimate prize.

Next Up

Game 4

This is truly the key game in determining what type of series we're going to see. If the Thunder don't win, it'll be hard to imagine them making it back home to Oklahoma City.

We'll see what happens.

For the gloves off image recap of last night's game, click here

Follow Brian Mazique and Franchiseplay.net for reactions, analysis and news from the world of sports and sports video games

Follow @BrianMazique

Follow @franchiseplay