Another fourth-quarter scoring drought dooms Heat in loss to Thunder. Takeaways and details
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 115-101 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder (44-9) on Wednesday night at Paycom Center to begin a quick two-game trip. The Heat (25-27) closes the trip on Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center (8:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) on the second night of a back-to-back set before entering the All-Star break:
The Heat was one quarter away from arguably its best win of the season. But then another late-game collapse happened.
This was a game that the Heat was projected to lose by double digits, entering as a 14-point betting underdog.
After all, the Thunder entered with the NBA’s top record, and with the league’s best defensive rating and sixth-best offensive rating.
But the Heat actually controlled most of the game, not trailing through the first three quarters. The Heat even entered the fourth quarter with a 93-83 lead and still ended up losing by double digits.
That’s because the Thunder locked in and took full control down the stretch, opening the fourth quarter with 24 unanswered points to not only take its first lead of the night but also to turn a 10-point deficit at the start of the period into a 14-point lead with 6:27 to play.
The Heat didn’t score its first points of the fourth quarter until Bam Adebayo hit a three with 6:13 left in the period. That means Miami went the first 5:47 of the quarter without scoring.
The Heat never recovered, as the Thunder dominated the fourth quarter 32-8 on its way to the 14-point comeback win.
While the Thunder exploded for 32 points on 13-of-23 (56.5 percent) shooting from the field and 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) shooting from three-point range in the fourth quarter, the Heat shot just 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) from the field and 2-of-10 (20 percent) shooting on threes while committing six turnovers in the final period.
“They got momentum,” Adebayo said. “I feel like that was the difference in the game. I feel like the whole game, they would go on a run, our offense would hold up. Obviously, they got momentum in the fourth and kind of took off from there.”
The only two Heat players who scored in Wednesday’s fourth quarter were Adebayo (five points) and Andrew Wiggins (three points).
“It got really ugly offensively for us and then we stopped doing the things defensively,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I still don’t know if that would have guaranteed it. But we fell apart defensively, as well.”
Unfortunately for the Heat, its fourth-quarter issues aren’t new.
There have been four single-digit fourth quarters in the NBA this season and the Heat has three of them (eight fourth-quarter points in a Dec. 21 loss to the Orlando Magic, eight fourth-quarter points in Wednesday’s loss to the Thunder and nine fourth-quarter points in Friday’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets).
Wednesday’s fourth-quarter struggles also negated one of its most complete halves of the season.
The Heat led by as many as 21 points in the first half behind 38 paint points over the first two quarters (most paint points for the Heat in any half this season). But the Thunder limited the Heat to just eight paint points in the second half (second-fewest paint points for the Heat in any half this season).
Wednesday marked the Heat’s eighth loss this season after pulling ahead by double digits in the second half.
MVP front-runner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 32 points, five rebounds, nine assists and two steals. He scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field in the fourth quarter.
Adebayo put together another double-double performance for the Heat, finishing with 27 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block.
Heat All-Star guard Tyler Herro added 14 points, six assists and two steals. But he shot just 1 of 6 from three-point range in the loss and was held scoreless in the fourth quarter.
The Heat has now lost three straight games and is two games below .500 for the first time since it stood at 5-7 in mid-November.
“Right now, I’m going with what I saw in the first three quarters,” Spoelstra said, focusing on the Heat’s strong play through the first three quarters of Wednesday’s defeat. “We’ve made some progress in the last 24 hours from our session last night and in the shootaround. And then we weren’t able to sustain.
“I see a lot of positives that we can build on. It’s not about moral victories. But right now, we’re trying to build this thing fast.”
The stomach bug continues to spread through the Heat’s locker room.
First, Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. missed Monday’s home loss to the Boston Celtics because of a stomach illness.
Then Duncan Robinson and Terry Rozier were held out of Wednesday’s loss to the Thunder due to a stomach illness.
The positive news is that Herro and Jaquez were available to play on Wednesday after missing one game because of a stomach bug.
Herro and Jaquez didn’t travel with the team to Oklahoma City on Tuesday, but they felt good enough to take a separate flight on Wednesday morning to rejoin the team in time for Wednesday night’s game.
“Just a little stomach bug,” Herro said. “I was dealing with a little stomach bug. I had to miss shootaround in the last game and then I flew here this morning. I just wanted to give myself an opportunity to get out here and finish off these last two games before the All-Star break.”
Along with missing Robinson and Rozier, the Heat was also without Josh Christopher (G League), Keshad Johnson (G League), Kevin Love (personal reasons), Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League) against the Thunder. That left the Heat with 11 available players.
With another game set for Thursday in Dallas before entering the All-Star break, the Heat’s hope is that the stomach bug doesn’t continue to spread through the roster.
“Just make sure you wash your hands. Don’t put your hands on your face,” Adebayo said of his advice to teammates. “Basically the things you teach kids, as you can see, always applies to not only kids but adults, as well.”
With Herro back, the Heat went with what could become its new preferred starting lineup.
When the Heat’s newcomers made their debuts with the team on Monday, Herro was unavailable because of a stomach illness. So, the Heat started Alec Burks, Davion Mitchell, Wiggins, Adebayo and Kel’el Ware in Monday’s loss to the Celtics.
But with Herro available on Wednesday, the Heat was able to go with the starting lineup of Herro, Mitchell, Wiggins, Adebayo and Ware against the Thunder.
It marked the 13th different starting lineup that the Heat has used this season. But the expectation is the Heat will likely make this its preferred starting lineup moving forward until the coaching staff deems a change is necessary.
This debut of the Mitchell-Herro-Wiggins-Adebayo-Wiggins group went well at the start, as the Heat opened Wednesday’s game with a 16-9 run before turning to its bench for the first time with 7:23 left in the first quarter.
But by the end of Wednesday’s loss, this lineup was outscored by two points in 12 minutes together.
For the first time in Jaquez’s young NBA career, he did not play in a game that he was available for.
After playing in each of the 75 regular-season games that he was available for last season as a rookie, Jaquez also played in each of the first 45 games he was available for this season.
But that impressive streak ended Wednesday, with Jaquez receiving the first DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) of his NBA career.
Instead, the Heat went with a bench rotation of Nikola Jovic, Burks, Pelle Larsson and Haywood Highsmith against the Thunder.
Spoelstra said part of the reason that Jaquez didn’t play on Wednesday was because he was still dealing with the lingering effects of the stomach illness that kept him out of Monday’s loss to the Celtics.
“He was available,” Spoelstra said of Jaquez. “But his situation is a little bit different than Tyler. He’s been dealing with that for several days. Tyler dealt with it for 36 hours. Could Jaime have been out there? Possibly. But he hasn’t done anything really physically for several days.”
Jaquez has averaged 9.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 43.7 percent from the field and 29.7 percent on threes in his second NBA season.
Jaquez’s scoring and efficiency have dipped from last season when he was named to the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team. He averaged more points while shooting a better percentage from the field and from behind the arc as a rookie.
On top of that, the Heat has been outscored by 7.2 points per 100 possessions with Jaquez on the court this season.
The only other available Heat player who did not get into Wednesday’s game was Kyle Anderson, who was among the three players dealt to the Heat in last week’s Jimmy Butler trade.
But the other two players who the Heat acquired in the Butler trade made an impact.
Wiggins and Mitchell have started in both games they have played for the Heat, and they produced solid minutes on Wednesday.
In Wiggins’ second game with the Heat, he recorded 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 shooting on threes, four rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 34 minutes.
In Mitchell’s second game in a Heat uniform, he finished with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting on threes, three assists and one steal in 35 minutes.
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 10:32 PM.
