2012 NBA Finals

Background

Miami Heat

This was the second consecutive appearance for the Heat, after losing to the Dallas Mavericks in . This was also their second Finals appearance in the "Big Three" era, being led by superstar LeBron James, shooting guard Dwyane Wade, and power forward Chris Bosh. Their other Finals appearance was in , when they defeated the Mavericks to win their first NBA title.

In the regular season, the Heat finished with 46 wins, earning the second seed in the Eastern Conference. In the first round, they defeated the New York Knicks 4–1, marking the first time since 1997 that the Heat beat their arch rivals in the postseason. In the next two rounds, the Heat overcame major series deficits that nearly eliminated them from the postseason, but survived thanks to a string of victories. In the Conference semifinals, they defeated the Indiana Pacers 4–2 despite trailing 2–1 and losing Chris Bosh to injury. Then, the Heat survived a grueling Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics, winning 4–3 despite trailing 3–2. The Heat's comeback vs the Celtics was extremely notable thanks to LeBron James’ epic 45 point performance in Game 6, allowing the Heat to win Game 7 at home and advance to the Finals. The Heat also became the first team since the 1994–95 Houston Rockets to overcome multiple series deficits en route to the finals.

The 2011–2012 Miami Heat included several new players that had not played for the team during its 2011 Finals run, including Shane Battier, Eddy Curry, Ronny Turiaf, and rookies Terrel Harris and Norris Cole.

Oklahoma City Thunder

This was the Thunder's first NBA Finals appearance since the team relocated from Seattle to Oklahoma City in 2008. Including their seasons as the Seattle SuperSonics, this was also the club's fourth Finals appearance, and first since , when they lost to the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. The team was seeking their first NBA championship since .

The Thunder finished with 47 wins, placing them as the second seed in the Western Conference. During the playoffs, they defeated the last three Western Conference finalists in sequential order. First, they dethroned the defending champion Dallas Mavericks in a 4–0 first round sweep. Next, they dispatched the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference semifinals 4–1. Then, in the Western Conference finals, they defeated the top seeded San Antonio Spurs 4–2, despite losing the first two games, snapping San Antonio's 20 game winning streak in the process.

The Thunder entered the Finals as the second-youngest finalists in NBA history. In addition, Daequan Cook faced the team that traded him to the Thunder in 2010.

Road to the Finals

Main article: 2012 NBA playoffs

Regular season series

The season series was tied, 1–1, with both teams winning at their home floor.

Series summary

Game summaries

:All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)

Game 1

• No. 13 Monty McCutchen
• No. 14 Ed Malloy
• No. 9 Derrick Stafford The Thunder defeated the Heat, 105–94, in Game 1. Miami held the lead for most of the first three quarters, including a 13-point lead at one point during the second quarter. The Heat made five three-pointers to jump to a 29–22 lead by the end of the first quarter, but Oklahoma City kept on pace with Miami to keep the score at 54–47 by halftime. The Thunder then took the lead for good with 16 seconds left in the third quarter after Russell Westbrook made a free throw to make it 74–73. Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 36 points, while Westbrook had 27. LeBron James led the Heat with 30 points, but was held to one basket during the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter.

Game 2

• No. 43 Dan Crawford
• No. 25 Tony Brothers
• No. 49 Tom Washington

The Heat defeated the Thunder 100–96 in Game 2, tying the series at one game a piece and giving the Thunder their first home playoff loss of the season. Miami never trailed, building a 27–15 first quarter lead, and holding a 17-point advantage at one point. The Thunder attempted a comeback in the fourth quarter, and with 37 seconds left in the game, Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant made a three-pointer to cut the deficit, 98–96. Durant would miss a game-tying jumper in the closing seconds as Miami held off Oklahoma City for the Game 2 win. The play did not come without controversy however as many observers had felt that James had fouled Durant on the right hip during the shot, a potential sixth foul that would have taken the Heat superstar out of the game in the process. LeBron James led the Heat with 32 points, while Durant scored 32 of his own to lead the Thunder.

Game 3

• No. 17 Joe Crawford
• No. 19 James Capers
• No. 41 Ken Mauer

Miami won Game 3, 91–85, to go up two games to one in the series. Miami had a slim 47–46 halftime lead before Oklahoma City began the third quarter with a 10–4 run, eventually building a 10-point lead midway through the period. However, Miami scored the last seven points in the third quarter to regain the lead at 69–67. With 7:36 remaining in the game, the Thunder came back to retake the lead at 77–76, but the Heat then scored eight unanswered points to build an 84–77 advantage with 3:47 left. A 6–0 run by Oklahoma City pulled them within one point of Miami with 90 seconds left, but the Thunder could not score again for the rest of the game while the Heat made five insurance free throws. LeBron James led the Heat with 29 points and 14 rebounds, while Kevin Durant scored 25 points to lead the Thunder.

Game 4

• No. 48 Scott Foster
• No. 24 Mike Callahan
• No. 55 Bill Kennedy

Miami won Game 4, 104–98, to go up three games to one in the series. The Thunder jumped to a 33–19 lead by the end the first quarter, but the Heat rallied to cut the score to 49–46 at halftime, thanks to two huge three-pointers by Heat rookie Norris Cole. The two teams remained neck-and-neck throughout most of the third quarter, with Miami holding a 4-point lead at the start of fourth period. However, for the final 16 minutes of the game, Russell Westbrook (who led the Thunder with 43 points) and Kevin Durant (who had 28 points) were the only two Oklahoma City players able to score. With the other Thunder players struggling to make their shots, Miami was able to pull away in the end, largely thanks to late-game heroics from LeBron James, Mario Chalmers and Dwyane Wade. LeBron James led the Heat with 26 points, including the go ahead three pointer, but had to sit out during the final two minutes of the game due to leg cramps. Mario Chalmers scored 25 points and made two key plays to seal Miami's win: a driving layup around a well-positioned Serge Ibaka and two free throws after a rare mistake by Westbrook (he fouled Chalmers after the point guard recovered Shane Battier's tip on a jump ball with less than 1 minute left, thinking that the shot clock would reset, while NBA rules do not reset at that point in a 4th quarter if the team that previously had the ball re-gains possession off the tip).

Game 5

• No. 43 Dan Crawford
• No. 13 Monty McCutchen
• No. 9 Derrick Stafford

Miami won Game 5, 121–106, to win the series, four games to one. After keeping it a close game in the first half, the Thunder were outscored 36–22 in the third quarter, with Miami leading as much as 27 at one point. Miami was fueled by strong performances by their "Big Three" of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, as well as by Mike Miller, who was 7 for 8 for three-pointers, ending the night with 23 points. Miller only entered the game because Wade encountered foul trouble in the first half, with Coach Erik Spoelstra telling the variously injured veteran the Heat just needed him to hold the fort until the 2nd quarter began; when Miller hit two three-pointers, Spoelstra asked him if he could keep playing and Miller said yes, leading to 23 minutes on the court that were critical in blowing the game open for Miami. The team tied an NBA Finals record for most 3-pointers in a game with 14. With three minutes remaining in the game, both teams took their starters out of the game, with the Heat still leading by more than 20 points. With their Game 5 win, the Heat won their second NBA championship in team history, and the first for several Heat players, including James, who was named the NBA Finals MVP after averaging 28.6 points, 10.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists in the finals, capping it all off with his first triple double of the season in the final game. For the Thunder, Kevin Durant had 32 points, and 11 rebounds; Russell Westbrook had 19 points and 6 assists; and James Harden led the bench with 19 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds.

Rosters

Miami Heat

• Erik Spoelstra
• Bob McAdoo
• Keith Askins
• Ron Rothstein
• David Fizdale
• Chad Kammerer
• Octavio De La Grana
• Jay Sabol
• Bill Foran

Oklahoma City Thunder

• Scott Brooks
• Mark Bryant
• Maurice Cheeks
• Rex Kalamian
• Brian Keefe
• Maz Trakh
• Joe Sharpe
• Dwight Daub

Player statistics

;Miami Heat

;Oklahoma City Thunder

Broadcast

In the United States, the NBA Finals aired on ABC and Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy served as commentators. Local ABC stations for the competing teams were WPLG (Miami) and KOCO-TV (Oklahoma City). ESPN Radio aired it as well and had Jim Durham, Jack Ramsay and Hubie Brown as commentators.

Aftermath

After failing to agree on a contract extension with the Thunder, James Harden was traded to the Houston Rockets on October 27, 2012, along with Daequan Cook, Cole Aldrich and Lazar Hayward, in exchange for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two first round picks (which became Steven Adams in 2013 and Mitch McGary in 2014), and a second round pick (which became Álex Abrines in 2013). This move for the Thunder proved to be a mistake, as Harden would go on to become an MVP-caliber player in Houston, winning the award in 2018 and coming in second three times. The Thunder, however, did receive Steven Adams in the deal, who became a fixture at center for the team for a number of years. Harden's Rockets later defeated OKC in the playoffs in 2017 and 2020.

The Oklahoma City dynasty many fans and NBA analysts predicted did not end up coming true. They would win 60 games the following season, but a Russell Westbrook knee injury caused their season to stall in an upset to the Memphis Grizzlies in the second round. The core's last opportunity at a championship was in the 2016 playoffs. That year, the Thunder took a 3 games to 1 series lead on the 73-win Golden State Warriors. However, they could not finish the job and lost the next three games, in one of the best non-Finals series in NBA history. Following the defeat, Kevin Durant left the team for the Warriors in free agency a month later, which essentially ended their championship window with the Westbrook-Durant-Harden-Ibaka core. The Thunder would not seriously contend for a championship until the next decade.

Kevin Durant and LeBron James faced each other twice more in the Finals in the decade, although both players were on different teams. Durant and the Warriors defeated James' Cavaliers in 2017 and 2018, going a cumulative 8–1 in both series.

The Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals to win their first championship since moving to Oklahoma City from Seattle.

References

References

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