The Oklahoma City Thunder were not able to overcome history in a 112-111 loss to the Miami Heat.
In their first game on national TV in over two years, the young Thunder impressed as they battled the short-handed Miami Heat.
The catalyst for the Heat’s win happened while the game clock was stopped.
The Heat went a historically perfect 40-of-40 from the free-throw line. This broke the 1982 Utah Jazz’s record for most team free-throws made without a miss at 39.
The 40th free-throw was a poetic one as Jimmy Butler — who made 23 of the Heat’s 40 free throws — gave the Heat the one-point lead with 12.2 seconds left.
This came after Kenrich Williams — a career 52.9% free-throw shooter — missed a pair of free throws that could’ve extended the Thunder’s two-point lead.
The Thunder were unable to answer on the other side and fell short.
Butler also made individual history as well, as he registered the first regular season game in NBA history history where someone scored at least 35 points on six or fewer made shots.
The trio of Butler, Victor Oladipo and Max Strus carried the offensive load for the shorthanded Heat as they combined to score 76 of the Heat’s 112 (67.9%) points.
The Heat were without their starting lineup minus Butler due to several injuries. Ten Heat players were listed on their injury report heading into the game.
Butler finished with 35 points on 6-of-17 shooting and 23-of-23 from the free-throw line. Strus finished with 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting. Off the bench, Oladipo finished with 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
The Herculean efforts from these three — specifically Butler — were much needed. The Heat had nine available players to start the game. By the middle of the second quarter, that number dropped to eight as a result of Dewayne Dedmon’s ejection for throwing a massage gun onto the court — yes, that’s a real thing that happened.
For the Thunder, it was a sloppy game on offense. The Thunder shot 44-of-91 (48.4%) from the field and 9-of-35 (25.7%) from 3. The Thunder also committed 18 turnovers and although the Heat had 19 of their own, it’s still bad basketball security.
The saving grace in the Thunder’s loss was the individual performances of their young backcourt, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey. Both were phenomenal and provided a national audience a glimpse of the future.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.