The Heat took down the 76ers in the first game of the night to set up a highly-anticipated series with the Celtics.

The Spurs then needed a miracle shot from Gary Neal to force overtime. Tony Parker, who struggled early in the game, found his stroke in the fourth quarter to help the effort.

And then, there was the nightcap. The Oklahoma City Thunder sought to close out their series against the Denver Nuggets in front of the home crowd. It was a rough, physical game that included a number of heroic efforts. Most will turn to the huge offensive production put forth by Kevin Durant and heap praises upon him. I certainly don’t blame them, as Durant was his normally dominant self.

However, for this week’s FMC award, I’m offering a one-man clap for his teammate, Serge Ibaka. Ibaka scored a single point in Wednesday’s series-clincher (Durant had 41), but dominated the glass with eight rebounds while rejecting nine shots. That’s right. He swatted away nine shots and redirected countless others to aid the cause. Today, we salute the defense.

It was announced in a simple statement (via Twitter) that the superstar small forward (30.1 PPG in 2009-10) had quietly agreed to a five-year extension of his contract worth an estimated $85 million. There was no pageantry, no entourage, no grandiose posturing or billboards or primetime special surrounding the deal. He could have waited another year and brought the noise and funk to the losers of the 2010 free agent sweepstakes. Instead, Durant is expected to sign his new deal on Thursday and get back to work alongside Russell Westbrook.

The sequel to this summer’s madness will have other leads. Who will be the man in the seat opposite the man/woman in Larry King’s seat next year?

I like that it was done simply in the new world order.

Tell you what. Let’s make it more modern. Sound the vuvuzelas.

Sure, they were used for NFL games back in the day, but you couldn’t think of a better branding piece than that right now after watching The Big Spaniard, Pau Gasol, put back the game-winning shot with one-half second left. Seriously, the final minutes were a bit chaotic and sloppy. The Lakers did everything they could to lose the game after building a seven-point lead in the final minutes.

Defensive stopped Ron Artest went on the offensive and made two huge shots (one a three-pointer), but also chucked up another ill-advised three-point try that put the onus on the defense … and Lamar Odom delivered. Odom was an absolute beast in the low post down the stretch and helped set things up for that final clear-out possession.

Kobe Bryant received the ball in isolation w/ Westbrook and dribbled in before launching a jumpshot. Gasol worked his way into position for a put-back despite getting raked across the head and gave the Lakers the one-point lead.

As for Gasol, he didn’t have a huge game offensively (4-of-11 for nine points), but he absolutely owned the boards with 18 rebounds. Eighteen!

If you look further inside the box score, it isn’t pretty. Durant was harassed all day and converted just 5-of-23 shots. He made his impact with 14 free throws. Westbrook was only 7-for-20, but yet there the pesky, youthful, relentless Thunder were at the end.

Kobe led the Lakers on with 32 points on 12-of-25 shooting. Derek Fisher and Shannon Brown (off the bench) both added 11 points.

I know it wasn’t a classic dominant performance, but this is a type of win that defines a championship ballclub. It was not a pretty game whatsover. The teams combined to shoot 41.5%. You got the Thunder’s best shot for six games. They gave not an inch and came out slugging against the defending champs.

If there was any taste of complacency on the Lakers’ roster, the Thunder smacked it out of their mouths in this series.

That hunger will serve them well in Round 2.