The Miami Heat were greeted by a sellout crowd of 18,203 Oklahoma City crazies who donned matching blue “One Thunder” t-shirts, remained standing for much of the first quarter and banged handheld clackers throughout the Thunder’s comeback victory in Game 1 of the 2012 NBA Finals.
But Heat forward Chris Bosh emerged less than impressed after the Thunder defeated the Heat 105-94 at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Tuesday night.
“Everybody keeps talking about how loud it is,” Bosh said. “It’s regular. We’ve been in a lot of other arenas and it’s about the same. Once it gets really loud, it’s all about the same.”
The Game 1 victory pushed Oklahoma City to 9-0 at home during the 2012 NBA Playoffs. During the regular season, OKC posted a home record of 26-7. The Thunder have sold out Chesapeake Energy Arena 65 consecutive times.
“They have a great homecourt here,” Bosh conceded. “The fans are very vibrant and they bring a different aspect to this game.”
Bosh finished with 10 points and five rebounds on 4-for-11 shoting in 33 minutes off of Miami’s bench.
It was noisy and jubilant all day long on Tuesday, with Thunder flags flying on cars, entire waitstaffs in local restaurants wearing Thunder gear and hundreds of fans gathering outside the arena in Thunder Alley hours before tip off.
The Oklahoma City crowd was a bit nervous as the game unfolded during the first half, with Heat forward Shane Battierknocking down three first quarter 3-pointers. The Thunder didn’t buckle, though, and All-Star forward Kevin Durant led a second half charge that saw OKC outscore Miami 31-21 in the final quarter.
“We have great fans who cheered us on, gave us some good energy in the second half,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “We won one game, that’s it. It’s the first game. We’re thankful we won the game. We played with a lot of good energy in that second half.”
WRITTEN BY Ben Golliver | NBA Blogger & FULL STORY HERE
