Warming to the Heat
It wasn’t really clear which Miami team we’d see tonight: the one that won seven of its first nine games, or the one that beat the lowly New Jersey Nyets by one. On the basis that it’s never safe to bet against Dwyane Wade, I figured it would be the former. The Thunder had other ideas, holding D-Wade to 6 of 19 shooting on the way to a 100-87 victory.
Not that Wade was ineffective: he knocked down 22 points and delivered six assists. But Oklahoma City in general, and Thabo Sefolosha in particular, pestered him into half a dozen turnovers. Jermaine O’Neal was good for a double-double (19 points, 10 boards), and Daequan Cook paced the Miami bench with 17, including four from beyond the arc.
The Thunder outshot the Heat, 48 to 43 percent, and had a slight advantage in rebounds, 41 to 36. Where they shone was at the charity stripe, hitting 21 of 22, and in the sheer timeliness of their defense: whenever Miami put together a run, the Thunder shut it down. Kevin Durant had 32 points; he and Sefolosha pulled down nine boards each. And this was one of Russell Westbrook’s better nights: 24 points, seven dimes. Radio guy Matt Pinto noted that the Thunder outscored the Heat 55-45 in the second half, quantitatively the same thrashing they administered to the Spurs last Saturday.
Tomorrow will be interesting. It’s the second night of a back-to-back, a condition that has not been favorable for the Thunder of late; on the other hand, it’s at Orlando, and OKC has already thumped the Magic once this year, which tends to build confidence. And the Thunder, 6-5 overall, is 4-2 on the road but only 2-3 at the Ford. It’s almost enough to make you hope they don’t hurry home.
