fBasketballBlog

A win for KD and the Thunder would give many people hope... (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

It’s finally here, the way we wanted it and the way we expected it at the start of this strange NBA season: The Oklahoma City Thunder will lock horns with the Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals, a matchup that features seven of the top 50 fantasy basketball players in the 2011-12 NBA season (LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade, Serge Ibaka, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Chris Bosh).

The poll that’s been up on the home page of this site since the beginning of the season shows that 35 percent of you thought the Heat would win this season’s championship, while 14 percent thought the Thunder would. Granted, perceptions and realities have changed since then: the Thunder look more sure-footed and ready than they did earlier in the season, while LeBron is in full-on Hulk mode.

What strikes me about the matchup, among many other facets that have already been mentioned by others, is that this is a clash of the organic and the inorganic — the natural vs. the unnatural, the honest way vs. the shortcut. (continue reading…)

Make no mistake: Ibaka will be a beast next season. (Flickr/Keith Allison)

Depth chart:
PG: Russell Westbrook, Eric Maynor, Reggie Jackson, Nate Robinson
SG: James Harden, Thabo Sefolosha, Robert Vaden, Royal Ivey
SF: Kevin Durant, Daequan Cook**
PF: Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison
C: Kendrick Perkins, Nazr Mohammed, Cole Aldrich, Byron Mullens

** restricted free agent (continue reading…)