Thunder unable to contain Wade, Heat

Bryan Gutierrez -

BOX SCORE

The Thunder once again fell short down the stretch. Dwayne Wade turned back the clock as he scored the final eight points and finished with a game-high 28 points for the Miami Heat en route to a 97-95 victory over the Thunder. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to score 50 points in the losing effort.

With the game tied, Wade was fouled with 1.5 seconds remaining while he was essentially trapped under the hoop on an attempted layup. Three players for the Thunder surrounded Wade, but Serge Ibaka didn’t remain vertical on his attempt to contain Wade. The Heat guard drilled both free throws. Westbrook’s desperation 3-point attempt went errant and the Thunder suffered their second consecutive frustrating loss. All five of OKC’s losses with Kevin Durant being active have been by six points or less. Thursday’s game saw 38 lead changes and 11 instances where the game was tied.

At age 33, Wade has become a high variance player, meaning there will be nights where he will dominate and then there will be nights where he’s a shell of his former self. This was on full display in the game against OKC. He seemed to be invisible at times, but then felt like he had to assert himself and take on the challenge of keeping the scoring pace with Westbrook early in the game and then Durant late in the game. To his credit, Wade looked like the Wade of old as he closed the game out.

Westbrook scored 15 of his 25 points in the opening quarter. Westbrook was able to produce like that for the Thunder due to the fact that Durant was called for his second foul at the 7:30 mark of the opening quarter. Keep in mind, there was a monster 17-point performance in the fourth quarter of the Thunder’s previous game against the Atlanta Hawks. That’s 32 points in two quarters of action.

It was startling to see how stagnant the offense got in the second quarter. Durant checked back into the game, and Westbrook got a well-deserved trip to the bench. The halfcourt offense was atrocious. Making matters even worse, the disposition on defense wasn’t strong, allowing the Heat to stay within striking distance. Westbrook checked back in at the 5:56 mark of the quarter and the offense seemed to come back to life.

While Westbrook got his early, Durant got his late as he was able to work through the early foul trouble. He scored 11 in the third quarter . On top of the scoring, Durant chipped in with a game-high-tying nine rebounds. The performances by both players and how they produced those points in this game will only add more fuel to the fire on finding the right method to the madness of managing minutes between the two players.

What’s also somewhat maddening was the execution down the stretch for OKC. They made only one field goal in the final 4:53 of the game, missing seven of their final eight shots. Six of those eight attempts were 3-point shots. Durant was cooking in the second half and had two clean looks from 3-point range in the final minute of the game but missed both. It’s hard to fault a player as skilled as Durant for taking shots that are clean looks, but you’d like to see something more geared towards attacking towards the basket and creating contact, getting to the free throw line. Meanwhile, Westbrook took just three shots in the final quarter. All three attempts came from 3-point range, and he missed all three.

We’re approaching the quarter mark of the regular season. While the Thunder are highly skilled and their ceiling is incredibly high, it’s apparent they still have a lot to work on going forward.

NOTES:

  • The Thunder had two days off between the game against the Atlanta Hawks and this game. That’s a luxury in today’s NBA. One of the things coach Billy Donovan wanted to correct: the team’s performances in the first quarter. They had trailed in their last three games after the opening quarter. Falling into a hole, no matter how big it is, forces you to exert more energy, leaving you potentially out of gas late (see: the last game game against Atlanta). Mission accomplished with a stronger start, but they still lost the game. OKC moved to just 5-4 on the season when leading after opening quarters.
  • More on the opening quarter: OKC scored 28 points in the opening quarter. They ended up going 12-of-13 from the line in the opening quarter. What probably will haunt the Thunder with this game is the fact that they went to the free throw line just 11 more times for the final three quarters of the game.
  • Donovan decided to sit both Durant and Westbrook to start the fourth quarter. OKC needed someone to step up, and Dion Waiters proved to be the one who would keep things afloat. He scored six critical points to start the period to help keep the lead for OKC. Waiters ended up scoring nine points in the period, but might been seen as the goat as he was the primary defender on Wade on the final possessions.
  • The Thunder were minus-3 in the near six minutes of action without Durant and Westbrook. In most cases, you’ll take that and run if you’re Donovan. Unfortunately, three points proved to be the difference. The decision to sit both stars to start the quarter wasn’t the death blow to the Thunder though.
  • The matchup proved to be an example of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. OKC came into the game ranked second in the league with an Offensive Rating of 107.3, while Miami ranked third in the league with a Defensive Rating of 95.5. In the end, the pace was more in Miami’s favor as the game started to slow down late.
  • Goran Dragic had been struggling as late for the Heat, shooting 38.8 percent over his last 10 games, and shooting 23.7 percent for the season from 3-point range. “The Dragon” found his groove as he finished with 14 points on 6-of-11 from the field and 2-of-2 from 3.
  • Westbrook attempted a lob pass to Durant with 2:44 left in the first half. The pass was errant, but what was more surprising was the fact that Durant got into a heated conversation with Dragic. Durant thought Dragic intentionally undercut him. The two had words, but Durant was hit with the technical foul. Technicals are a tricky situation because you can assume one team is going to respond to it, but you don’t know exactly which team will. It proved to be the Heat as they went on a 7-2 run after the technical.
  • Gerald Green started in place of the injured Luol Deng and scored just five points in 28 minutes of action. His performance Thursday was a far cry from his performance against the Thunder two seasons ago where he scored a career-high 41 points.

Next up: A home game against Sacramento on Sunday.