Through nine games this season, the Heat found a way to become one of the league's biggest surprises thanks to consistent defense, a stunning superstar and a more productive supporting cast.

No one ever called the Heat physically intimidating, however.

The Oklahoma City Thunder can be exactly that. With 6-11 Kevin Durant leading a long, athletic and talented group, the Thunder dismantled the Heat 100-87 on Tuesday in a relatively empty AmericanAirlines Arena.

``They came in and set the tone right from the top of the game and they outplayed us with their athleticism, with their length, with their energy,'' Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ``We never could put together sustained, long moments of solid play.''

That's largely because Durant was unstoppable at times, getting a clean shot off at will on his way to 32 points, nine rebounds, five assists, a steal and a blocked shot. Second-year Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook added 24 points, 18 of them coming in the second half, and seven assists.

The best the Heat could counter with was Jermaine O'Neal's 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Daequan Cook's 17 points in a late flurry. Dwyane Wade scored more, finishing with 22 points, but the Heat's franchise guard was affected by the length of the Thunder, finishing just 6 of 19 from the floor and committing six turnovers.

POOR TIMING

With the Heat hoping to get off to a quick start, Wade picked a bad time to have arguably his worst quarter of the season to open the game.

His shot appeared way off from the beginning, leading to a 2-of-7 shooting performance in the period. He compounded that by missing his only two free-throw attempts, committing a turnover and then fouling Durant with 0.7 seconds remaining while he was launching a desperation three-pointer. Wade disputed the call so vehemently that he was given a technical foul. Durant hit all four free throws to turn what had been a mild four-point deficit into a 25-17 Oklahoma City lead entering the second period.

``I don't think we gave our best defensive output,'' Quentin Richardson said. ``I feel like they got a lot of open shots where we normally would run out and at least contest them.''

The Heat showed the most fight in the second, when it was able to dissolve a 37-26 lead with 6:11 left in the half to a three-point halftime deficit.

O'Neal was almost part of a literal fight late in the period, after Westbrook committed an offensive foul against Mario Chalmers.

O'Neal appeared to attempt to steady a stumbling Westbrook by grabbing him beneath the shoulder. Westbrook, though, thought O'Neal was pushing him and shoved back, even appearing to throw a pair of punches while being pulled away from O'Neal.

The two exchanged angry words, but all that resulted in was a double technical foul.

Once the half ended, so did the Heat's fight.

After Miami scored the first points of the second half to close within a point, the Thunder went on a 20-6 run to extend its lead to 65-50 with 3:08 remaining in the third period.

Durant did much of the damage in that third quarter, scoring eight points with three rebounds, two assists and a steal to show off his ever-expanding game.

PRAISE FOR DURANT

``He's 6-11 with a 7-foot wingspan,'' said Michael Beasley, a childhood friend of Durant's who managed only eight points in 23 minutes. ``There's not a whole lot you can do. He looks over the defenders, moves like he's 5-10. He's just playing unbelievable right now.''

The Heat tried to rally in the fourth behind a finally healthy Cook. The shooting guard hadn't hit a three-pointer since the second game of the season against the Indiana Paces, one game after suffering an injured shoulder in the opener against New York.

But he hit 4 of 9 Tuesday, three coming in the fourth quarter, when he scored 14 of his 17 points.

Cook's lone two-point bucket narrowed the Heat deficit to 10 points, and a pair of O'Neal free throws brought the Heat to within eight with 2:18 remaining.

But the Thunder ended any possibilities of a Heat comeback on its next possession. Nenad Krstic hauled in an offensive rebound off a Durant miss, and reserve forward Nick Collison effectively ended the game with a three-point play to extend the lead to 96-85 with 1:38 remaining.

The arena emptied soon thereafter, but there weren't many people in it to begin with. With the balcony level already covered with a black curtain, entire sections of upper-level fans were ushered to the lower bowl during the game to create a better atmosphere.

Not that it affected the Heat's performance at all.

``We needed to play better,'' Richardson said. ``No excuses.''