1. Lebron James
Forget the stats - as impressive as they were - the most telling image that will stand out in my mind was the last meaningful possession of the game when he stopped Durant, ended up with the ball and knocked down two free throws to win the game. During this postseason, James has started to erase the ghosts of playoffs past - despite a lengthy absence from Bosh and inconsistent effectiveness from Wade.
2. Kevin Durant
Another dominant 4th quarter to be sure - but he needs to assert himself earlier so that the Thunder don't need 4th quarter theatrics to pull out the win. Another alarming trend has reared it's ugly head - Durant - more than any other dominant player in recent memory - struggles to affect the game if he's not scoring. We're picking knits here to be sure - but these two issues will determine when Durant will get his first championship - 2012 or sometime in the future.
3. Dwayne Wade
Wade nicely regained his footing - although it is starting to appear doubtful that we'll see him make the top 2 of this list going forward. Wade set the tone for the Heat early, coming out aggressive at both ends of the court and sending a message that he was out to avenge his sub-par Game 1. I stand by my trade comments from Game 1.
4. Russell Westbrook
File his game in the 'stats don't tell the whole story' cabinet - that was about as awful a 27 point, 8 rebound and 7 assist performance as you can possibly have. His first half was abysmal as he forced shots, took the Thunder out of their offense single-handedly and dominated the ball - taking it out of Durant's hands, eerily reminiscent of last year's playoffs.
5. Chris Bosh
Speaking of bounce back games...holy Bosh! The last time he was this effective was last year's conference finals when he made Carlos Boozer his bitch. The best part of tonight wasn't that he had a 25 point 10 rebound game - it was that he was a physical presence inside, hauling down 16 boards, playing outstanding interior defense and successfully occupying the paint offensively.
6. James Harden
On a per minute impact, he would be #3 on this list, but Scott Brooks' incompetence limited Harden to 30 minutes. The Thunder should never be down 16 by the time Harden first enters a game - and he single handedly kept the Thunder from getting KO'd n the first half. One must wonder if Brooks will play Harden greater minutes in Game 3 as an adjustment.
7. Shane Battier
Robert Horry 2.0. Wow.
8. Serge Ibaka
The Thunder 's 2nd best player in the first half, Ibaka was tremendous in protecting the paint from numerous Heat defenders and it felt like he saved the Thunder about 20 points.
9. Mario Chalmers
His offensive game wasn't as effective as it was in Game 1, but his defensive efforts against Westbrook were invaluable - had he not rendered Westbrook completely ineffective early, the Heat likely would not have withstood the Thunder's late surge.
10. Oklahoma City Fans
Right now Oklahoma City is Megan Calvet to Seattle's Betty Francis - except if Betty were actually likeable and Megan was never likeable, sexy or funny. No one wants to like the mistress and she will always have a negative stigma associated with her; but these fans have created the same feel at Chesepeake Arena as the crowd at Yum Center has for Louisville men's basketball. At least we the tax payers didn't fund that...oh wait. We're going to stop this now before I start sounding like my Dad does about Lucas Oil.
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