Oklahoma City – The Thunder are back home after spending the last four games on the road as they welcome the Miami Heat on a Friday night game. The road trip wasn’t exactly what the Thunder wanted finishing 2-2 but they continued to stay at the top of the Western Conference so it wasn’t terrible.
As they welcome the Heat, they knew they’d have to come into the game bringing the physicality. The Heat are one of the more physical teams in the league and if the Thunder let them dictate the physicality of the game it could be a long night. Bringing the physicality would make the Heat play on their terms instead of Miami’s.
That’s how they came into the game. They brought the physicality and made the Heat play their way. However, they were missing too many easy looks early on that allowed the Heat to stay in the game and even taking a two point lead into the second quarter.
The start of the second frame wasn’t really good for the Thunder. The Heat got very comfortable after the Thunder relaxed a little on the defensive end. The physicality they started the game with wasn’t the same they started the second quarter with. The Heat got to their spots very easy and that went with the thunder also not getting the best looks on the offensive end. The combination of those both led to the Heat taking a 14 point lead in the quarter and a 10 point lead at halftime.
Whatever head coach Mark Daigneault said to the team at half though really worked. They came into the second half with a different kind of energy. They played connected defense making the Heat veery uncomfortable. There was a stretch of about four minutes where the Hfeat didn’t get a single good look.
That continued into the fourth quarter. Thunder held the Heat to 42.1% from the field in the second half and 30.7% from three. Everything was really tough for them on the offensive end. With the Thunder blistering defense and getting good looks (a lot just didn’t fall), it was enough to get a 107-100 win.
Here are the reasons for the victory
Dictation
It is extremely hard for a team to dictate how a game goes. Have to be very disciplined.
The Thunder were able to dictate the way this game went most of the night. First, as mentioned above, it was important for the Thunder to dictate how physical this game would be because if the Heat did it could have been a very different outcome. The physicality the Thunder brought really changed the game. When the Thunder were the more physical team it was really tough for the Heat to get any good looks.
Then they dictated the size of the lineups. The Heat wanted to play small and with how good they are at playing small, a lot of teams would conform to them. Instead of them matching them going small, the Thunder went with a bigger lineup of Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams. It threw something different at the Heat and it was something they weren’t used to. It was a lineup that dictated how the end of the game went. It was clear that the Heat weren’t really comfortable going big in that moment and that was enough for the Thunder.
The Turnovers
Keeping turnovers low in any game is always important. Keeping them low against a good team in a 7 point win makes that much more important.
The Thunder only had 9 turnovers tonight. Although they only won the turnover battle by two, those two were extremely important. Being a team that can, more often than not, keep their turnovers low and win the turnover battle is going to prove very important for the playoffs.
Everything this team does from now on is setting their table for how they want to play in the playoffs so having good habits going in is going to be beneficial.
Effort
The effort the Thunder gave might be the single biggest reason the Thunder won this game.
It seemed like they won every single 50/50 ball. They were diving on the floor for loose balls and were very active on the offensive glass. 9 offensive boards led to 23 second chance points. That effort on the glass wasn’t just on the offensive end either. They did a great job on the boards as a whole and even won the rebound battle.
Again, everything they do from now on is just to create good habits for the playoffs. Giving effort like they’ve been giving lately to go with how good they are on both ends of the floor, it’s going to make them very hard to beat.
The Thunder were led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who had 37 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks. It was his 47th 30 point game of the season. Not only is that leading the league but it also tied Kevin Durant for the most 30 point games in Thunder history. He’s approaching rare air as he approaches 50 30 point games in a season. Jalen Williams added 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists while Josh Giddey added 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. Isaiah Joe was very solid off of the bench with 10 points and rebounds.
The Thunder will look to make it three in a row when they welcome the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.
