Posted on Wed, Jun. 13, 2012

With the nation watching to see which star shined the brightest Tuesday night between Lebron James and Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City’s All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook was barely visible in the first half.

Westbrook’s 9 points in the first two quarters was a big factor in the Heat’s 54-47 halftime lead as Miami’s trio of Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier and James rotated blanketing Westbrook early, forcing him to take awkward shots and even a few missed layups.

But in the second half, Westbrook began to break loose of the Miami defense, and as the minutes wore on, Westbrook’s athleticism began to show.

Westbrook scored 12 points in the third quarter on several twisting layups including a slam dunk on a called foul with just seconds left in the quarter. Westbrook made the free throw and gave the Thunder a 74-73 lead at the end of the period. It was lead the Thunder wouldn’t surrender the rest of the game.

Westbrook added six more points in the final period helping the Thunder to a 105-94 victory over the Heat in Game 1 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Westbrook finished the game just a shade off pace to reach his 21 point average for the playoffs with 27 points, alongside 8 rebounds and 11 assists.

Keeping Westbrook in check went a long way in quieting one of the NBA’s loudest crowds which feeds off one of the league’s most exciting players as the Thunder point guard was just 3-for-10 from the field including two missed three-point attempts in the first half.

Miami’s slowing of Westbrook wasn’t anything new, rather a continuation of a regular season trend. In their two contests this year, the Heat held Westbrook to his third lowest points output of the season against teams he played at least twice.

Chalmers countered Westbrook with 10 first-half points and five assists to erode what was thought to be a Thunder advantage at the position. But Chalmers simply couldn’t counter in the second half as he went scoreless in the third quarter and scored just two points in the fourth.

Along with losing Game 1, the Heat lost their first half lead and their brief advantage at the point guard position.

While Westbrook overcame his slow start, the Heat did shut down NBA Sixth Man of The Year James Harden for most of the night. Harden had just five points in the game and one three-pointer.

But if Chalmers can regain the momentum gained from a strong series with Boston Celtics, and the Heat can regain their trend of slowing Westbrook down, the point guard showdown could get interesting.