OKC would not have beaten Miami in 2013 or 2014

[Real14]

MJ would be Demar Derozan level in todays NBA..

[Kvnzhangyay]

i might agree if the difference wasn't so severe - the Heat lost to the Spurs worse than anyone has ever lost, but OKC was missing Ibaka for the first two games and still took the Spurs to the 2nd overtime of game 6.

to ignore these factors is bias of the worst, cherry-picking kind.

At the same time, it once agains goes to matchups, though

For example, remember when everyone thought Boston was going to beat Miami in ECF? While OKC backdoor swept Spurs 4-2? Everyone thought Miami was going to get DESTROYED by OKC, but the matchups said differently

[TheBigVeto]

As long as OKC has Westbrook they aren't beating anybody in the finals.

[RagaZ]

Thunder were lucky af just to be in the WCF last season.

Clippers bottled that series.

[ninephive]

miami was practically a so-so team in 2014... they made the Finals only because the East is the weakest it's ever been... also, they made it in part because of their reputation.

teams played scared against the heat, mistakenly believing they were going to 3-peat (indiana's vogel mistakenly predicting lebron's ascension to 3-peat/jordan status).

but in reality, the jig was up... the spurs had made a couple tweaks to their gameplan from 2013 and figured out lebron-ball.. it's not like the spurs ADDED any personnel in 2014 - they just improved their gameplan, while lebron-ball stayed it's rigid, predictable self.

and now other teams are aware that lebron-ball can get destroyed, so they won't be mistakenly intimidated like vogel was last year.
.

The 2014 Heat were not a bad team. The Spurs played as good as they absolutely possibly could. Lebron still played very very good (incredible shooting from the field), but the Spurs went NBA Jam he's on fire mode. When a team shoots like 75% and most of those shots are outside jumpers, there's not just a whole lot you can do. The Spurs offense in that series was like nothing I've ever seen before (been watching basketball since the late 80's.

[ninephive]

As long as OKC has Westbrook they aren't beating anybody in the finals.

Exactly, his play looks spectacular, but at the end of the day his awful shooting from the field really hurts his team.

[SouBeachTalents]

At the same time, it once agains goes to matchups, though

For example, remember when everyone thought Boston was going to beat Miami in ECF? While OKC backdoor swept Spurs 4-2? Everyone thought Miami was going to get DESTROYED by OKC, but the matchups said differently

Even with Bosh coming off an injury, the Heat were definitely the favorites in that series

http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2012...s/heat-celtics

[russwest0]

Even with Bosh coming off an injury, the Heat were definitely the favorites in that series

http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2012...s/heat-celtics

Yup. Literally EVERYONE there had the Heat winning the series with only two having it going to seven games.

Bran stans trying to rewrite history though...

[Spurs5Rings2014]

Yea that 2012 WCF was a disgrace. The refs totally screwed over the Spurs

[KirbyPls]

Yup. Literally EVERYONE there had the Heat winning the series with only two having it going to seven games.

Bran stans trying to rewrite history though...

Better than KD stans' history based on "what ifs," when he's not even the alpha on his own squad.

2/5 > 0/1 (3/3:"what if things had been different ")