OKLAHOMA CITY -- It's a potential preview of the NBA Finals.
It's one MVP candidate versus another.
It's Sunday night in Oklahoma City, which has quickly become one of the wildest places to watch a basketball game in the NBA.
As far as regular-season games go, it doesn't get any better than the Miami Heat vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Heat is back on track after losing four consecutive road games while the Thunder is coming off an emotional double-overtime win against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
"[Oklahoma City] is one of the best teams in the NBA," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "It's a very exciting team. It's going to be a great atmosphere for the fans. It's a great marquee matchup."
Last season, the Heat defeated the Thunder in Oklahoma City on a last-second shot by Eddie House, but more is at stake on Sunday than simple pride. The Heat (35-11) and the Thunder (36-12) have nearly identical records and a win at Chesapeake Arena for either team could possibly determine home-court advantage if the two teams meet in the NBA Finals.
The team with the best record during the regular season has home court advantage in the playoffs. Last year the Heat earned home-court advantage against the Dallas Mavericks on the last day of the regular season. Despite the game's potential significance, LeBron James tried to downplay the matchup on Saturday.
"For us it's just another opportunity to get a road win against the best team in the West right now," James said. "If we come out of this game with a win, it's not going to change their season and if we come out of this game with a loss, it's not going to change our season. We'll continue to just finish the season out at full strength."
James' just-another-game rhetoric aside, he was clearly excited on Saturday about the chance to play his friend and offseason workout partner, Kevin Durant. Both James and Durant are strong candidates for this season's MVP Award and James was in high spirits during the Heat's optional practice on Saturday at Chesapeake Arena. While players weren't required to attend, both James and Wade were among those who practiced their jump shots long after the official end of the session.
Afterwards, James put on a rare dunking exhibition for his teammates and the few members of the media who were in attendance. A between-the-legs, running jam was the highlight. James enters the game ranked third in the league in scoring (27.0 ppg) while Durant is second (27.9) behind league leader Kobe Bryant (28.5).
For his individual success, James gave partial credit to the time he and Durant spent together this offseason.
"Arguably these are two of the best seasons that we've had and that has a lot to do with it," James said. "We came into the season and it was like we didn't miss a beat. I'm not going to say we were in game shape … but we were above the curve and that has a lot to do with offseason training."
James' scoring numbers (18.5 ppg) have been down since injuring his elbow against the Suns on Tuesday and he used Saturday to work on his game. Soreness in his elbow limited him in the third and fourth quarters against Phoenix and Detroit.
"I'm in the gym today to try and figure it out," James said. "But I don't look too much into it. There's a couple games when I haven't shot the ball particularly well in the second half but we've won.
"For me, if I don't shoot the ball particularly well, it doesn't get me down because I've got other parts of my game. I just have to rebound more and get my guys involved and defend even more."
As for his shot, he said "it's not as great as I want it to be right now."
"I don't want to say it's bothering me, but I've been short on a lot of shots and hopefully I can continue to get treatment, continue to work my habits," James said. "I was able to get into the gym today and make a lot of shots, so that definitely helped.
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