This Wednesday, the (13-15) Miami Heat will travel to Oklahoma City, OK to take on the (11-16) Oklahoma City Thunder. Tipoff will be at 8:00 PM EST inside the Paycom Center. This will be the first matchup between these two teams this season, but I am still expecting a battle in this one.
The Miami Heat are coming into this matchup after taking down the Indiana Pacers, 87-82. They were incredible on the defensive end of the floor, as they held the Pacers to 35.4% shooting from the field. They will have to replicate that performance in this one if they want to pick up a win on the road.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are entering this matchup after losing to the Dallas Mavericks, 121-114. They were not efficient on the defensive end of the court, as they will have to contest more shots if they want to keep this game competitive at home.
This game was written/published before last night's results.
The Miami Heat are currently in 10th place in the Eastern Conference Standings, as they trail the Boston Celtics by eight games. They are also (6-4) in their last 10, as they will be looking to heat up in this one. On offense, they are scoring 107.9 points per game and they are shooting 45% from the field. This is the least amount of points scored per contest and the 26th-highest shooting percentage in the league. According to dunksandthrees.com, Miami has an adjusted offensive rating of 109.2, which is the 27th-highest rating in the NBA. Bam Adebayo has continued to lead the way on the offensive end of the court, as he is scoring 20.8 points per game on 52.9% shooting from the field. The Heat have also struggled to step behind the arc and knock down deep threes. They are only shooting 33.7% from behind the arc, which is the 24th-highest three-point shooting percentage in the league. Luckily, they have been lights out at the charity stripe, as they haven't allowed these free looks at the basket to go to waste. They have Ade 83.2% of their shots at the line, which is the second-highest percentage in the league.
On the defensive end of the court, the Heat have held their own. According to dunksandthrees.com, Miami has an adjusted defensive rating of 110.8, which is the seventh-lowest rating in the league. They are currently holding their opponents to 109.3 points per game and they have only shot 47.1% from the field. This is the fifth least amount of points surrendered per contest and the 17th-lowest shooting percentage allowed. Miami has also shown that they will contest shots near the rim and on the outside, as they have continued to close out on open three-point shooters. Their opponents have only shot 35.7% from behind the arc, which is the 16th-lowest three-point shooting percentage allowed in the NBA. The Heat is also snatching 41.3 rebounds per game, which is the 27th most in the league . They will have to crash the defensive glass if they want to keep the Thunder from scoring second-chance points.
Injury Report: Gabe Vincent PG (Knee) is listed as questionable for this game. Omer Yurtseven C (Ankle) is out.
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