Mario Chalmers is a young guy on a team of superstars. He’s done well to settle into his role on the Miami Heat. He’s the starting point guard on the team, but there’s no doubt about who runs the offense, and it isn’t him. With all that being said, his performances in Game 2 and 3 against the Oklahoma City Thunder were extremely subpar. He didn’t live up to the already low expectations that have been set for him.
Game 4 was a different story.
Super Mario found one of those flashing stars that make you invincible and went wild. Chalmers scored 25 points on 9-15 shooting and was a big part of why the Heat were able to walk away from that game with a 3-1 lead NBA Finals lead. After a couple games of less than mediocre play from Chalmers, the Thunder made some changes to their defense to steer the focus away from him, and Mario took advantage.
Kevin Durant kept getting in foul trouble guarding LeBron James, so the Thunder moved him to Chalmers so he wouldn’t have to work as hard. Chalmers took offense to that.
“Yeah, I took that as a little sign of disrespect,” said Chalmers. “For me, I worked too hard to be in the position I’m in now. Even though my offense wasn’t clicking three games in the series, I wanted to step up for my team, and I was able to do that.”
“It just kind of happened. I didn’t stop settling for the three. I knew with [Kevin Durant] on me, I was going to have a lot of open looks. I know the way they’ve been playing all series, they’ve been helping off of me and letting me have those shots, and I’ve just been missing them. I think they forgot about me and let me roam a little bit more [Tuesday].”
If the Heat keep getting contributions from Chalmers, and Shane Battier stays on fire from outside, on top of the three All-Stars playing at a high level, you have to consider them unbeatable. This team has come together at the right time and there’s not much the Thunder can do. It’s not a stretch to imagine this series coming to an end tonight.
