What they’re saying: The national (over)reaction to Game 1

The national reaction to a Miami Heat loss is as reliable as the sun rising each morning. Not only do you know it’s going to happen, but you know exactly what it looks like also.

Today’s reaction to Miami’s Game 1 loss to Oklahoma City was no different, with national writers finding solace in the same commentary they dished out when Miami was down to Indiana 2-1 and on the brink against Boston after losing Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Here’s a sampling of what is out there:

Skip Bayless was up to his usual tricks on Twitter last night, declaring in the second half that it was official that Durant was a better player than LeBron. Who saw that coming?

Another high-wire reactionary writer is CBS Sports’ Gregg Doyel, who says that Dwyane Wade has gone from being all about winning, to being all about whining.

Doyel’s cohort at CBS is the much-respected Ken Berg. One of the top NBA writers in the game said that Durant won Round 1 of what is a great heavyweight title fight.

NBA.com’s John Schuhmann blamed the Heat’s troubles down the stretch on using a short rotation and the top guns wearing down. He may be on to something.

Fox Sports’ Jen Floyd Engel followed the standard template after a Heat loss in the playoffs, saying that Durant stepped up in the fourth while James wilted. 

Lee Jenkins of SI.com also touched on the Heat fading in the fourth as a usual storyline.

His colleague Ian Thomsel went with the obvious storyline of Durant outplaying James in the fourth quarter.

While the national media is owning the typical overreaction to this loss, the Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel stuck to the nuts and bolts of Game 1, saying that the gritty Thunder was the difference in this game.