Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat fall apart in the fourth quarter, visiting the defending champions

The Heat valiantly challenged the Thunder on the second night back-to-back, but OKC’s horsepower and stellar shot-making broke them down.

Teams typically raise their intensity by 100° in the game after they humiliate themselves, and it was the Heat’s turn this time following the Indiana catastrophe. They ended the first quarter ahead 34-32 thanks to big contributions from Andrew Wiggins, nailing three treys, and Tyler Herro making four shots in the lane. 

Still, they were sloppy with five early turnovers, and they coughed it up five more times in the second quarter. The inside action cooled off for a while, and OKC’s advantage in second-chance scoring extended to 15-0. On top of that, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ripped up schemes from inside and out, but the Heat maintained a five-point lead at intermission in large part because the Thunder couldn’t drain makeable deep shots.

SGA and Williams followed up torching the lane, and the Heat countered in their interior while they could. It resembled two fighters swinging wildly for the body in a boxing ring, but the Thunder were like a heavyweight who eventually overwhelmed a cruiserweight with their power, and eventually created an eight-point lead with the help of three treys to close the quarter.

Turnovers remained a problem, and Jaime Jaquez Jr., on cue, lost the ball twice more at the start of the fourth because of OKC’s ball pressure, pushing the total to 17. The team even gave up consecutive baseline cuts before coach Erik Spoelstra called a timeout. It didn’t do much as the Thunder continued to present an unsolvable problem for the defense.

The Heat lost 124-112. They were also outscored in second-chance scoring, 25-0. They went winless on the road trip (0-3) and will not be practicing on Monday. They didn’t play the Chicago game on Thursday because of a condensation issue at the United Center. The Heat will play the Thunder again on Jan. 17 in Miami. 

Takeaways:

• The Heat’s transition attack was derailed to 80 points per 100 transition plays, good enough for the eighth percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. They also did as much as they could to match the Thunder’s intensity for three quarters, but great teams can separate themselves when they decide they want to. 

• Coach Erik Spoelstra said the turnovers diffused any momentum the Heat had. He also said the team needs to be mentally tougher the next time they see the Thunder. “They forced us into a lot of mistakes.” 

• Bam Adebayo was most affected by the pressure, misfiring seven of his 10 shots. He got schooled a couple of times, but guarded well and was a big factor on the glass, recovering seven of his 14 rebounds in the first half.  The next player bothered by OKC’s defense the most was Jaquez, finishing with five points and five of the team’s 23 turnovers. All of those giveaways helped push the Thunder in transition and they were miles better than the Heat in the open court.

• Without Norman Powell, the team’s top player this season, they lacked the extra scoring on and off the dribble. But defense was what the Heat needed more of, as they had shot well through three periods while still within striking distance before the fourth began. 

• SGA is an unreal weapon, who drains jumpers on the move. Half his shots connect at 3-10 feet and an astonishing 59.1% fall at 10-16 feet from the cup. The Heat’s strategy was to double him so others would have to beat them, but that couldn’t happen every time. To give a better idea of his shooting prowess, consider how he isolated Adebayo on the right side, burying a long two in his eye.

• The Heat made five 3-pointers in the first quarter, surpassing the four logged in Indiana on Saturday. They totaled 17, and Wiggins made the most (7) and was the team’s leading scorer with 23 points on 50% shooting.