The NBA's advertising campaign this season was built around one word: BIG. Oversized heads on the league's star players filled some of the commercials. Other promotional ads had giant words superimposed on highlights of game action.
But this year's NBA finals could be decided by who's better at playing small.
The Oklahoma City Thunder countered the Miami Heat's undersized lineup by benching their starting frontcourt players, Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka, for the final 14 minutes and were able to rally for a 105-94 victory in Game 1.
Now, the tinkering begins as the teams prepare for Game 2 on Thursday night.
The smaller quintet is nothing new for Oklahoma City, particularly since the signing of Derek Fisher in March, but it has paid dividends in the Western Conference finals and then in Game 1.
"We've played that way a lot this year," said Nick Collison, the only true power forward or center to play down the stretch for the Thunder. "We're very fortunate to have a 7-footer like Kevin (Durant) who can do it. That's an advantage we have."
Durant came into the league as a supersized shooting guard, moving over to small forward after Scott Brooks was promoted to head coach around Thanksgiving in 2008. Since then, he has played more frequently as a perimeter-oriented power forward.
Rome vs. Stern: Jim Rome says he thought he was asking a "softball question" about the NBA draft lottery that led
commissioner David Stern to ask the radio host if he had stopped beating his wife.Rome asked Stern whether the lottery was fixed. The New Orleans Hornets, recently sold by the league to Saints owner Tom Benson, won the No. 1 pick.
Stern responded that it wasn't, and after some debate over the legitimacy of the question, Stern said: "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?"
Rome said later Wednesday on his TV show on CBS Sports Network that he didn't take great offense, calling Stern's phrase a "rhetorical device."
TV ratings: The series-opener of the NBA finals was the highest-rated Game 1 ever on ABC. Citing ratings from Nielsen, the NBA announced that the overnight rating of 11.8 was the best for a finals opener on ABC, two-tenths of a point better than Game 1 of the Detroit-Los Angeles Lakers series in 2004.
Warriors: Former Ohio State star forward Jared Sullinger heads a list of six players scheduled to take part in Wednesday's pre-draft workout at Golden State's practice facility.
Other players set to attend are Michael Eric (forward/center, Temple), John Henson (forward, North Carolina), Bernard James (forward, Florida State), Marquis Teague (guard, Kentucky) and Andre Young (guard, Clemson).
Seattle arena: The effort to build a new arena in Seattle with the hopes of seeing the NBA return has added a big name: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Ballmer will be part of the investment group for both the arena and the acquisition of an NBA franchise, according to a letter sent Wednesday by hedge-fund manager and investment group leader Chris Hansen to King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.
Celtics: Kevin Garnett has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for failing to make himself available to the media after Boston's loss to Miami in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.
NBA FInals, game 2
THURSDAY: Miami at Oklahoma City, 6 p.m., ABC
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