Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Two of the top teams in the NBA met on Thursday night in an NBA Finals rematch from a year ago, as the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder clashed under the league’s brightest lights.

Many expected the Thunder to come away with the win because of their impressive 23-3 home record going into the game and the Heat’s average 13-10 road record. With the Thunder at home, Kevin Durant and crew seemed to easily have the upper hand.

However, LeBron James and the Heat had other ideas, and they came in and stole one from their newly-appointed rivals. James has been as hot as anyone in the league, scoring 30-plus points and shooting over 60 percent from the floor in six straight games before having it broken on Thursday night. He shot 58 percent from the field and scored 39 points against the Thunder– what a failure, huh?

James and Dwyane Wade wanted to remind the Thunder that the NBA title still has to go through South Beach. The coveted trophy currently resides in Miami, and this impressive 110-100 road win showed why.

With the season series swept by the Heat, the Western Conference‘s elite Thunder will have to regroup and get back at it after the All-Star break.

Despite the series loss and crushing loss on Thursday, Durant praised James and the Heat as he told The Oklahoman:

“I love playing him. I love it. I love it. They bring the best out of everybody. They’re a great team. They’re a really well-coached team. They play well together, and they won a championship.”

This budding rivalry seems to have mutual respect, but that may need to turn into hate soon, or the Thunder will once again find themselves on the wrong side of an NBA title defeat.