[DaKCMan AP]

Hyde5: Can Shane Battier keep up this shooting streak?

By Staff Writer June 15, 2012 02:49 AM

1. Can Shane Battier keep this up? The Duke grad is big on the mathematical idea of "regression to the mean." Meaning, if a statistical number is out of line it will eventually return to its norm.

Well, Battier has scored an impressive 17 points each of the first two games of the NBA Finals. But he averaged 4.9 points this year. He also is shooting 69.2 percent on 3-pointers (9-13) in the first two games against Oklahoma City. He's shot 33.9 percent from distance this year.

Logic, not to say numbers, say this can't keep up. No one shoots that big a number from the 3-point line. Do they?

"I'm just doing what the guys here say - 'Just let it fly,' '' Battier said.

OK, one shot was luck. He banked in a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter Thursday.

"I was just trrying to hit the rim,'' he said. "The shot clock was winding down. I knew I threw it hard. I didn't see it - I got knocked down and was laying on the ground."

But the Thunder are leaving Battier unguarded in parts of the game. Serge Ibaka had him one series and just stayed under the basket as Battier rotated to the top. He knocked down a wide-open 3-pointer at that point.

He can't keep shooting 69.2 percent on 3's. But if he can keep knocking down some it's an added and overdue weapon to the Heat offense and something Oklahoma City eventually will have to adjust to.

2. The Heat reversed the pattern from Game 1 by winning rebounds and fast-break points. The margins weren't huge. But they were telling. In Game 1, Oklahoma City outscored the Heat on fast break by 24-4. They won by 11-10 in Game 2. The Heat had more rebounds this night, 40-36.

"Guys, they're playing harder than us,'' Oklahoma State Scott Brooks said in one time-out.

By the end, you couldn't say either team was playing harder. That was a change from Game 1.

3. The five Heat starters played at least 39 minutes. No one player on Oklahoma City played that much. There's a two-day break now so they get some rest. But the question becomes if the Heat got outscored in the fourth, 29-22, as Oklahoma City nearly stole the game because the Heat players are getting tired. Erik Spoelstra doesn't have a lot of choices. He got 13 minutes out of Norris Cole. Udonis Haslem played 16 minutes (four rebounds, 2 points) and five minutes from James Jones and one minutes from Mike MIller. In a long series, this is something to watch.

4. Retired referee Steve Javie said on ESPN the ref was out of positon on the final play of the game and so didn't see LeBron James foul Kevin Durant. "I missed the shot,'' Durant said

5. One of the interesting matchups this series is how the Heat are doing to Kendrick Perkins what teams typically do to Joel Anthony. They're not really treating him as an offensive threat. LeBron started on him in Game 1 so he could rove on defense. Shane Battier started him in Game 2. Perkins has a big strength and size advantage. But he's not much of a presence as he played 19 minutes Thursday with eight rebounds and four points on one-of-five shooting.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/spor...e_battier.html