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?

【新闻快讯】北京时间6月13日上午9时，2011-2012赛季NBA总决赛首场比赛在美国俄克拉荷马城举行，由西部冠军俄克拉荷马雷霆队迎战东部冠军迈阿密热火队。

在西部的征程中，雷霆队先后击败了科比·布莱恩特领衔的洛杉矶湖人队和拥有“GDP”三巨头的圣安东尼奥马刺队。而热火队在东部决赛中和波士顿凯尔特人队进行了7场大战。

热火队当家球星勒布朗·詹姆斯在东部决赛中场均33分，在关键的第六场比赛中，詹姆斯在凯尔特人主场拿下45分，15个篮板和5次助攻的惊人数据。

在2011年总决赛输给达拉斯小牛队之后，今年迈阿密热火队卷土重来。面对年轻强大的雷霆队，热火队和詹姆斯的表现会怎样？让我们拭目以待。