[TyroberParticipant]

I suspect that Wade will cover him a lot of the time and will probably see LeBron on him too with Battier on Durant and Harden. It will be a nice little chessmatch.

[UNCbasketballbumParticipant]

This is such huge advantage in OKC’s favor, it is almost unfair.  The Heat don’t have anybody that can guard Russell Westbrook.  I expect a huge series from him.  This is one of the reasons why I have OKC winning the title. 

[JoeWolf1]

 Chalmers is a pesky on ball defender.  No, he doesn’t have the athletic ability to match Westbrook, but he’s not exactly a slouch on defense.  

He did a pretty solid job on Rose last year in the ECF even though they put Lebron on him down the stretch.  It’s not like he’s never played a PG of Westrbook’s caliber or athletic ability. 

Westbrook is 20.5 ppg against Miami this season, that’s below his season average.

[B-ball fanParticipant]

 Westbrook is a slashing guard and the Heat play great team defense.  It isn’t like Chalmers is going to defend Westbrook with no help.  Plus, Chalmers is a pretty solid defensive player.  The Heat are excellent against dribble penetration and force a lot of TOs, typically.  I doubt this will be a series in which Westbrook goes off. Rondo did have a lot of success against the Heat, but he is a very different style pg.  Westbrook may score, but I doubt he will avoid TOs the way he did against the Lakers and he won’t get easy baskets at the rim if the Heat play to their potential.  

Of course, I am assuming the Heat will play defense like they did in the regular season and early in the playoffs, not like they did against the Celtics.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

Other than LeBron, there is no one on Miami who can defend Durant. Battier isn’t going to be successful. It’s a small sample size, but during the two games they played this season, Durant obliterated Battier whenever he was matched up against him.

I think Westbrook is going to have a huge series. They can put Wade on him, but Wade has already been inconsistent enough as it is on offense. This would take even more energy from him at that end.

 

[SpacegrassParticipant]

Wade is going to have to guard either Westbrook or Harden down the stretch , Battier can’t check who is left and neither can Chalmers.  That means advantage OKC because any of those three guys can beat you themselves.  Also the Heat have no real interior defensive presence for Lebron and Wade to fall back on.  The thunder do have guys to guard the rim even though they are not great at pick and roll defense.  By game 6 and 7 Lebron and Wade I have a feeling are going to be burned out havint to chase around Durant , Westbrook and Harden.  Thunder have the better depth , thats is what will decide this series once we get past game 4.  The Heat need to be going back to OKC for game 6 up 3-2 if not they are done , plain and simple.

[B-ball fanParticipant]

 In the regular season, Westbrook really struggled against the Heat.  The Heat’s defense aggressively traps and forces ball movement.  Its specialty is preventing iso scoring and dribble penetration.  It is kind of modeled after that of the Celtics.  The Thunder need to continue to show improved passing like they did against the Spurs. Relying on one on one matchups against the Heat doesn’t work well.

[Bvilleballer21Participant]

 Completely agree with Indiana. Won’t see LeBron on Westbrook much, as Durant KILLED Battier this year (kind like Melo). Chalmers won’t be able to stay in front of him, but Heat’s quick bigs will make it difficult for him to finish consistently. 

[Jlv2012]

Pittman, doesn’t matter.  Heat won’t be able to contain the Thunder especially on the road. 

[benny15Participant]

i do agree that Durant has been very good against the heat this season, but along with Westbrook’s 20 PPG against the heat is attached less than 31% fg shooting and 4 TOs a game. lets not forget those numbers. Russell, as good as he is and im a big fan of his since UCLA, hasnt had the best of games against the heat this season. ive seen him force shots and not take things in the flow of the game. although you can argue thats how he normally plays anyway, its not like he’s having that great success with it against miami since thats less points, more turnovers and a much much worse shooting percentage than what he normally gets.

in fact, i believe its OKC that will have to make the bigger adjustment than the heat defensively to take this series and win the championship. the thunder has found great success in the play-offs, albeit because they’re built to disrupt and defend the post very well. the bigmen rotation of Perkins, Ibaka and Collison has been wonderfull against Dallas’ Dirk and Haywood, the Lakers’ Pau and Bynum, and had good success against Duncan, Diaw and Splitter. with the exception of Haywood, almost all the guys i mentioned are expected to score and make it easier for the team to get easy points on the board, wheather thats creating for yourself such Dirk, Pau, Bynum or Duncan, or catching inside passes and finished on plays like Diaw and Splitters roles are. the front court is a big part of their team’s offensive plans.

this is where Miami is different. sure, they get a ton of points in the paint, but its not comming from their big men but their wing men, more notably, their 2 biggest stars, Lebron and Dwyane. the sudden need of stopping the opposing team’s bigmen from scoring isnt that big any more and more focus will be needed on stopping the perimeter. wheather thats in the form of slashing from James or Wade, or catch-and-shoot chances for Bosh, Haslem, Chalmers or Battier, the perimeter is where Miami will thrive on offense, and the Thunder isnt built to stop perimeter oriented teams. Miami on the other hand, is. and the thunder, like the heat, get a huge chunk of their offense from the perimeter.

if i were westbrook and reviewed the tape and spoke to my coach on the game plan, i would volunteer to sacrifice my game. dont even try to dominate the game offensively. sure ill take whats given to me, but will create less and let Harden have a bigger chunk of the offensive responsibilities. I would concentrate my full energy on defense, which we know he can, and try to take Wade out of his game. if the price of making dwyane a non-factor is having the same effect on Russell, then so be it. the thunder is much better offensively than the heat, and having wade ineffective will be a bigger blow to miami than westbrook would be to the thunder in my oppinion.

[BasterdInABasketParticipant]

I wouldnt be too worried about Westbrook in the half court. Chalmers is a solid defender and Miami is a great half court defensive team. RW will get his hots it just depends if hes making those 15-20 foot jumpers. Miami’s transition D vs all of OKCs athletes including RW is what would worry me more. Miami gave up several fast break layups to Boston especially in their losses, and a lot of those fastbreaks were coming off made baskets which is inexcusable in any game but especially in the playoffs. Yeah they had Rondo but OKCs athleticism puts Boston’s to shame. Transition buckets and perimeter shots should be the keys to series.

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

The Heat will do best to keep Westbrook out of the lane. Make him shoot jumpers. Rondo was a killer in the last series but he got everyone involved. Westbrook is more of a score first guy.

Chalmers is a deep threat so Westbrook has to respect him on offense. If I were Miami I would try to get Chalmers going early. He could be a great fourth option from them and make double teaming LeBron and Wade less likely. I am picking the Thunder in 7 but Mario will be key if miami wants to pull it out. The Heat also need solid scoring from Battier to go along with his defense and rebounding. I think Shane needs at least 10-12 points from him. I think the Heat need to use Joel Anthony in this series for his shot blocking. The Thunder have a bunch of above the rim guys and slashers and Anthony could help with that. Then they need some quality minutes from Mike Miller off the bench. Get him good shots and maybe even run some offense through him. I think the Heat need at least two good games from Mike Miller.

[Sewok15Participant]

Chalmers best attribute could be his on ball defense. I am not saying he is going to shut down Westbrook but he is just as difficult to score on if not more so than Tony Parker was. The key to stopping Westbrook is help defense because no one player can keep him out of the paint. If his jumper is on he is almost unguardable and if that starts to happen that is when you will see the trapping take place.

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