I believe I was one of perhaps like four people who did not initially predict that Miami would be meeting Oklahoma City for the NBA Championship this season (see here ... or here, for example), and I attribute that reluctance to the doubts I had about the Thunder. Talented as all hell, sure, but still need another year or two of coming up short before they get to the Finals. Or so I thought.
Most of us who are not still blinded by the rage caused by the debacle known as "The Decision" can admit that LeBron James has arguably been the best player in the league for a number of seasons now, but these playoffs have allowed another player to possibly take over that title along with the Larry O'Brien Trophy: Kevin Durant.
While I typically say how the NHL playoffs are more entertaining than the NBA playoffs right around this time of year (or so it seems), this year has indeed provided some quite stellar basketball the past few weeks. It is now only appropriate that it come down to the Heat and the Thunder.
Just to be clear, Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals pulled in the highest rating ever for an NBA game on cable, and now with this level of starpower for all the marbles, we're talking about possibly the highest ratings of this century.
Brit's jolly cry of approval / SUN 3-16-25 / Florentine artist known for
frescoes / Frodo's enchanting friend / 14-line poem with only two rhymes
across three stanzas / Subway commuters, informally / Not-so-joltin' joe? /
Dug through for digital analysis / Hawkeye's real first name in the
"Avengers" movies / German soccer legend Manuel who innovated the
"sweeper-keeper" role / Cote quote? / Girl who's "sweet as apple cider,"
per an old song
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Constructor: Paul Coulter
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: "Have It Both Ways" — two Across answers share a common Down
segment—that segment reads one wa...
3 hours ago