LeBron James Scores 33 Points, As Miami Heat Defeat Oklahoma City Thunder In 103-81 Victory Rematch.
Three weeks ago, the Miami Heat suffered arguably their worst home loss this season at the hands of Oklahoma City Thunder. Kevin Durant and company came into South Beach without Russell Westbrook to blow out the Heat, netting 16 of their 27 from deep That was definitely Kevin Durant’s biggest statement game of the year, scoring multiple times when guarded by LeBron James; but the back-to-back champs kept that loss in the back of their heads.
Thursday Night, the Heat traveled to Chesapeake Energy Arena for their second and final meeting of this season against the Thunder and came out in straight beast mode.
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Russell Westbrook had been out of action since Christmas day, to make his return to the court after nearly two months. The game began with Westbrook scoring the first two points of the game, as the sea of blue would give him a thunderous ovation; but LeBron James would soon quiet the crowd. King James came out the gate scoring the Heat’s first 12 points and finished the quarter with 17. Along with Dwyane Wade scoring early points as well, the Heat would go soon go on an 24-9 run to push their lead to 17 at the end of one.
While Miami had a tough road win against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, the Thunder were playing their first game following the All-Star break; which signs of rust and early fatigue were visibly shown. Led by Russell Westbrook scoring 9 points in the last two minutes before halftime, Oklahoma City was soon down by single digits.
Their run would continue into the 4th only down 10, but Miami would have another run early in the quarter to end the Thunder’s hope for a late rally. LeBron would put the finishing touches on the game’s morale at the 6-minute mark when he drove by Serge Ibaka for a thunderous dunk (no pun intended), pushing the lead to 16. James was dazed by the dunk and would soon see his nose running of blood after colliding with Ibaka before his last score of the game.
The good news is that LeBron passed a concussion test and didn’t need X-Rays after early examination. Miami however, hasn’t released information whether he’ll be out of action, but we’ll keep you updated for any details regarding LeBron’s injury.