The Miami Heat were handed one of their most heartbreaking losses on Monday against the Detroit Pistons. An elite Jimmy Butler 35/19/10 triple-double performance wasn’t enough to take down the Pistons in overtime, as Cade Cunningham put together a triple-double of his own.
Following a few days off due to the in-season tournament schedule, the Heat now face another challenge against the OKC Thunder at home. Led by MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder come into the night owning the top seed in the Western Conference at a 21-5 record. They will be playing the second slated game of a back-to-back in Florida, after taking down the Orlando Magic on Thursday night.
The Thunder are winners of 9 of their last 10 games and looking dominant on both ends of the floor as of late. However, they are just ninth of offensively efficiency rating, which is only one spot ahead of where the Heat stand. OKC’s true identity comes defensively, where they own the number one defensive efficiency rating across the entire league.
They have plenty of size and length at all their positions, despite Chet Holmgren being sidelined due to injury. Gilgeous-Alexander poses as a legitimate matchup problem with his 6-foot-6 height running OKC‘s point guard position. The talented guard is averaging 30.5 points, 6.2 assists and 5.4 rebounds on 51.3% shooting.
As for the Heat, they are opening the first matchup of their own back-to-back set this evening. They are going to need bounce back performances from most of their rotation. Butler’s spectacular showing in Detroit put them in position to steal their last game, but inefficient shooting from the rest of the roster held Miami back all night. Tyler Herro stepped up in the fourth quarter for more late-game heroics, but shot just 9 of 25 from the field and 4 of 17 from 3-point range.
Look to see some more out of Bam Adebayo, who contributed a pedestrian 15 points and 8 rebounds. He seemed to be breaking out of his shooting slump over the Heat’s recent four-game winning streak, but didn’t have as much of an impact on the previous matchup. With Miami coming back from home to host the Thunder, they will look to keep turning the corner inside the Kaseya Center where they’ve won 7 of their last 8 games.
Miami is 6-2 in their last eight matchups against the Thunder, but 0-2 during last season.
Tonight’s game will tip-off at 8:00 PM EST on FamDuel SN Sun.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Nikola Jovic (ankle) QUESTIONABLE
- Pelle Larsson (ankle) QUESTIONABLE
- Josh Richardson (heel) DOUBTFUL
- Josh Christopher (g-league) OUT
OKC Thunder:
- Chet Holmgren (fracture) OUT
- Jaylin Williams (hamstring) OUT
- Nikola Topic (knee) OUT
- Dillon Jones (g-league) OUT
- Adam Flagler (g-league) OUT
- Alex Ducas (g-league) OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Tyler Herro, G
- Duncan Robinson, G
- Jimmy Butler, F
- Haywood Highsmith, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Detroit Pistons:
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, G
- Jalen Williams, G
- Luguentz Dort, F
- Cason Wallace, F
- Isaiah Hartenstein, C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 8:00 PM EST
- TV: FanDuel Sports Network Sun (Eric Reid & John Crotty)
- Radio: AM 560 Sports WQAM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson)
- Spanish Radio: WAQI 710 AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda)
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Beating OKC won’t be easy as their record speaks for itself. But, we are rested and they aren’t. Going to be an intriguing game.