Player grades: Thunder comeback attempt spoiled by Tyler Herro in 110-108 loss to Heat

The Thunder had a poor final 25 seconds in their 110-108 loss to the Heat.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder were unable to snap their three-game losing streak as the Miami Heat escaped with a second consecutive road win, 110-108.

As was the case for the Thunder in their loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, the 3-point shot was the Heat’s friend on Wednesday. Overall, the Heat went 24-of-56 (42.9%) from outside, but most of their damage was done in the first half when they shot 16-of-29 (55.2%) — a franchise record for the Heat.

Trailing by as many as 21 points, the Thunder appeared headed to a rare blowout loss. But after halftime, the Thunder limited the Heat’s damage from outside; they went 8-of-27 (29.6%) from 3. The Thunder used a 32-22 third-quarter advantage to make it a competitive contest that came down to the final possessions.

Which deserves its own article if we’re being honest. Because oh boy — did a lot transpire in the final 25 seconds of this one.

With 25.1 seconds left, Tyler Herro took up the Jimmy Butler role and was given the chance to win the game for the Heat. As he began to drain the clock with a series of dribbles, Herro worked his way to the right side of the court and hit a contested 19-foot pull-up jumper despite Aaron Wiggins being on his grill.

The shot quieted the crowd. The Thunder had 5.1 seconds to work with to either send the game to overtime or win on a buzzer beater.

Instead, what transpired was a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed shot with questionable contact that went uncalled and a Josh Giddey reverse layup that ended with him on the ground too.

By the time the game clock hit 0.0, Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey were both on the ground petitioning for a shooting foul.

Alas, the refs bit their tongue and the Heat escaped with the two-point win as the crowd began to boo the officials. Victor Oladipo tackled Herro and the Heat celebrated a close win without their best player.

After the game, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault refused to blame the officials and said the crew is too experienced to question their competency.

“Here’s what I’ll say about that. In all honesty, Ed (Malloy), Brent (Barnaky), Leon (Wood) — those guys have done (over) 3,000 career games and have done 175 playoff games. And we do not get crews like that.

“That’s probably the most experienced, seasoned, trustworthy crew that we’ve had all year. And it’s one of the most trustworthy crews and experienced crews that we’ve had in two years. And I’m not going to complain about them one bit because we’ll take a crew of that experience level, we’ll take every night. We’ll take them again Friday. We’ll take them again Saturday. And they’re always going to miss plays, but you can’t replace having a steady hand on the game. I appreciate that — especially the last couple of years. I hope they’re here again Friday.”

In the end, the Thunder failed to complete the comeback and lost to the Heat, 110-108 and their losing streak extends to four games.

For the Heat, Herro led the way as he scored 35 points on 12-of-23 shooting and an absurd 9-of-17 shooting from 3. Bam Adebayo had 15 points and 13 rebounds. Kyle Lowry had 14 points and six assists.

Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.