NBA Finals: Thunder report card from Game 3 loss at Miami

Lesson teaching: D. After a series of bad plays by Russell Westbrook in the third quarter, Scotty Brooks benched his point guard for the last five minutes of the third quarter. Bad timing. Durant had just gone to the bench with his fourth foul. A six-point Thunder lead withered to a one-point deficit by quarter's end. I know Westbrook can be exasperating, but the Thunder can't play in this series with both Durant and Westbrook on the bench.

Halfcourt defense: A. The Heat shot 37.8 percent from the field. The Thunder allowed Shane Battier just two 3-point shots (he made both). OKC held Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to a combined 11 of 34 shooting, and some of those Wade baskets were on breakaways. The Heat had more turnovers (15) than assists (13).

Foul shooting: D. Fifteen of 24. For a team that's been historically good at the foul line, 62.5 percent is unacceptable. For all that the Thunder did wrong, it might have won this game with a routine (80 percent) night. Durant missed two foul shots with Miami up 76-75 midway through the fourth quarter. Nick Collison and Kendrick Perkins also whiffed on trips to the line, though give Perk credit, he made four of six overall, which on this night put him way ahead of the curve.