For the Heat and its fans, getting back to the NBA Finals is all that really mattered.

The lockout-shortened season was like that leafed-over prologue to the book you have read a 100 times. The first three rounds of the playoffs were the equivalent of a symphony orchestra tuning its strings. Finally, the gray-haired conductor levels his baton against the well-worn music stand. Tap, tap, tap. At last, the house lights have been dimmed.

Redemption in the key of “please don’t be flat.”

After collapsing in the 2011 NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks, the Heat is back on the big stage, but this time it faces an even better opponent. Heat versus Thunder: It’s … Atmospheric.

The Mavericks defeated the Heat in 2011 with experience, poise and a big German named Dirk Nowitzki. The Thunder, the Western Conference’s new guard, knocked off those Mavs in the first round.

The Thunder then dispatched Kobe Bryant and the Lakers with relative ease in the Western Conference semifinals. For an encore, the Thunder took down the seemingly invincible San Antonio Spurs.

So, now, here’s the paradox: The Thunder is favored to win the NBA Finals, but the burden of expectations is on the Heat. On paper, the Thunder is perhaps the better team with the added benefit of home-court advantage. Still, the Heat remains the NBA’s blockbuster summer movie, the box-office smash that hints at a Shakespearian tragedy.

LeBron James enters the Finals playing the best basketball of his career. He averaged more than 33 points a game in the Eastern Conference finals and saved the Heat from elimination in Game 6 in Boston with a performance for the ages — 45 points, including 41 in the first three quarters, 15 rebounds and five assists.

Still, the most important questions remains: Can he do it in the Finals? Can he bury his failures of the 2011 Finals once and for all?

【新聞快訊】北京時間6月13日上午9時，2011-2012賽季NBA總決賽首場比賽在美國俄克拉荷馬城舉行，由西部冠軍俄克拉荷馬雷霆隊迎戰(zhàn)東部冠軍邁阿密熱火隊。

在西部的征程中，雷霆隊先后擊敗了科比·布萊恩特領(lǐng)銜的洛杉磯湖人隊和擁有“GDP”三巨頭的圣安東尼奧馬刺隊。而熱火隊在東部決賽中和波士頓凱爾特人隊進行了7場大戰(zhàn)。

熱火隊當(dāng)家球星勒布朗·詹姆斯在東部決賽中場均33分，在關(guān)鍵的第六場比賽中，詹姆斯在凱爾特人主場拿下45分，15個籃板和5次助攻的驚人數(shù)據(jù)。

在2011年總決賽輸給達拉斯小牛隊之后，今年邁阿密熱火隊卷土重來。面對年輕強大的雷霆隊，熱火隊和詹姆斯的表現(xiàn)會怎樣？讓我們拭目以待。