okc played against cleveland in the nba finals.
okc played against cleveland in the nba finals.
who did okc play in the nba finals?
cleveland
the 2011 heat finished with a 58–24 record, third best in team history and a second overall seed, behind the chicago bulls, who had the nba's best record. additionally, the heat finished 5th in the nba in attendance with 810,930 behind mavericks, cavaliers, trail blazers, and bulls in that order (100.9% capacity). the heat faced the philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the nba playoffs and eliminated them in five games. in the eastern conference semifinals, the heat defeated their rival boston celtics in five games, winning a dramatic overtime game 4 in boston and a come-from-behind game 5 victory at home to finish the series. in the eastern conference finals, the heat faced the chicago bulls. after being blown out by 21 points by the bulls in game 1, the heat took home-court by defeating chicago in game 2, and winning their home games 3 and 4, the latter of which came in overtime. in game 5 in chicago, the heat made a historic comeback; after being down 77–65 with 3:14 left, the heat went on an 18–3 run to win, 83–80, capped by a key four-point play from dwyane wade and clutch shooting from lebron james. the heat advanced to the 2011 nba finals to face the dallas mavericks, who had defeated the portland trail blazers, los angeles lakers, and oklahoma city thunder. the series was a rematch of the 2006 nba finals, in which dallas won the first two games and then lost four straight to miami. the heat won game 1 in miami, 92–84, but in game 2, the heat were leading the mavericks by 15 points with 6:20 left in the fourth quarter before the heat were outscored 22–5 and lost, 95–93. the heat won game 3 in dallas 88–86 with the game-winning basket scored by chris bosh. the mavericks won game 4, 86–83, holding lebron james to a career playoff-low 8 points. the mavericks won game 5 and took a 3–2 series lead with a 112–103 victory. that was the first time since march 6 that the heat had lost two consecutive games, including the regular season, playoffs, and the nba finals. in game 6, dallas defeated miami, 105–95, to win the 2011 nba finals in six games, 4–2. james's 17.8 points per game in the finals was the largest drop off in points from a regular season to an nba finals (down 8.9 points from 26.7) in nba history. he only averaged three points in the fourth quarters in the series, and he received the brunt of the criticism for the team's loss to dallas.
2010–11 miami heat season
bullet::::- the 1993 finals were jordan's last before his first retirement. the houston rockets would take the next two titles consecutively. the ratings for those next two finals decreased, but still had above-average views, and the 1995 finals even came to within .3 ratings points of the 1992 finals and featured superstar shaquille o'neal making the finals with the orlando magic, which were swept 4-0 by the rockets. after the two seasons, jordan returned. subsequently, and almost instantly, ratings greatly increased. jordan's first game back, a march 19, 1995 game between the bulls and the indiana pacers, scored a 10.9 rating for nbc, the highest rated regular-season nba game of all time. ratings for the finals (which the bulls played in the following three years) went up sharply as well. game 1 of the 1996 nba finals between the bulls and seattle supersonics, the bulls' 107-90 win at home in the united center earned a 16.8 rating and a 31 share on nbc. in addition, game 1 was viewed in a then record 16,111,200 homes. on june 16, 1996, game 6 of the nba finals (where the bulls clinched their fourth nba championship in six years) drew an 18.8 rating and a 35 share. the six games of the 1996 nba finals averaged a 16.7 rating which ranks second all-time behind the 1993 nba finals. the six games of the 1993 nba finals between the bulls and suns averaged a 17.9 rating. the next year, ratings for the bulls–utah jazz series were slightly better, before the 1998 finals blew away the 1993 record, averaging an 18.7 rating—one which will likely not be matched by the nba finals for the foreseeable future. the deciding game 6 (and michael jordan's final game with the bulls) registered an nba record 22.3 rating with a 38 share. the game was viewed by 72 million people, breaking the record set earlier that postseason by game 7 of the 1998 eastern conference finals between the pacers and bulls (that same game set a record for highest-rated non-finals nba game with a 19.1/33). the 1998 finals managed to best the ratings for that year's world series, the first of only three nba finals ever to do so.
list of nba finals broadcasters