MIAMI – Thirty-seven times the lead changed hands on Thursday night, in addition to 11 ties. Unfortunately for the Thunder, the 38th lead change went the way of the Miami Heat, with 1.5 seconds left in the contest.
In a 97-95 loss to the Heat, the Thunder battled and battled, making runs and sustaining body blows by Miami at the beginning and end of the third quarter. Still, neither team led by more than six points in this one, which made the possession-by-possession nail-biting for everyone in the arena in the final few minutes an inevitability.
Miami’s Dwyane Wade scored in transition twice off of two of the Thunder’s 16 turnovers to help the Heat take a 93-91 lead with 2:39 remaining. Out of a timeout, Andre Roberson grabbed a huge offensive rebound and kicked the ball to Kevin Durant who drove, got fouled and made one free throw. After a stop, Russell Westbrook hit Durant for 3-pointer on the right wing as a rolling Serge Ibaka drew the attention of Durant’s defender.
That put the Thunder up 95-93 with 1:45 to go, and Head Coach Billy Donovan’s group forced another missed shot to give itself a chance to go up by two scores. Durant missed a walk-up 3-pointer, giving Miami an opening.
“Sometimes they’re going to go in, sometimes they’re not. Tonight they didn’t go in,” Durant said. “I just try to stay calm and worry about the next play.”
Wade craftily drove to the front of the rim and willed it into the basket to tie the game at 95 with just under 30 seconds to go. With the game clock winding down, Durant hung onto the ball out top, and with under 10 seconds left, he shimmied and stepped into another 3-pointer, which hit iron and ended up in Chris Bosh’s hands.
“There were 29 seconds to go. We don’t want to shoot a shot early,” Durant explained. “We tried to get the shot clock down as low as we could to take the last possible shot we could. I had him shifting a little bit and I shoot 47 percent from three. I got a wide open look, I just missed it.”
“When he gets off a clean look you always feel good about it,” Donovan said.
On the ensuing possession Wade drove baseline, drew a foul under the rim and knocked down two free throws, and the Thunder’s desperation 3-point attempt with 1.5 seconds to go found only the backboard.
While it would be easy to focus on the final two minutes and the shots that did and didn’t go in, Donovan’s group will analyze the entirety of the performance. At first glance, it was clear that the Thunder will need to do a better job defensively (it allowed Miami to shoot 49.4 percent) and that it must move the ball on offense in a better flow. Those 16 turnovers were only countered by 15 assists, and the Thunder shot just 4-for-16 from the 3-point line.
“We turned the ball over too much. That got them going,” Durant said. “It was a weird game. It feels like no team did anything great. Both teams were solid and they made more shots than us at the end.”
“Doing it on a more consistent basis is what I’m looking for. There are times when we do it really well and there are times when we get a little bit stagnant,” Donovan said. “When we do move it and get it from one side of the floor to the other, we’re better offensively.”
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By the Numbers
6 – Players for the Thunder who scored at least nine points, including 13 off the bench on 6-for-9 shooting by Dion Waiters
25 – Points for both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, who also combined to make 14 rebounds and 12 assists
38 – Lead changes in the game, in addition to 11 ties, as neither team led by more than six- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Last Word
“We lost the game late in the game. We have some stuff that we have to work on. We just have to learn from it.” – forward Kevin Durant