Thunder 124, Heat 112: The Day After Report

Box Score | Play-by-Play

Final: Thunder (33-7) def. Heat (20-19), 124-112

• The Thunder were as healthy as they’ve been in a minute, fielding their full rotation outside of Isaiah Hartenstein (out for his eighth-straight game with a soleus strain).
• Though Jaylin Williams returned to Oklahoma City's fronctourt, both teams were paint-hungry, slashing and driving with the kind of energy you'd expect from two of the modern NBA’s best team-building franchises.
• In the end, OKC weathered a blazing Heat shooting night and flipped the game from a back-and-forth affair to a comfortable win.
• Chet Holmgren helped keep Miami in check in the first half, racking up 3 blocks and affecting the Heat’s interior decision-making when they weren’t draining threes.
• Holmgren (16 pts, 10 rebs, 3 blks) and Jalen Williams (18 pts, 4 ast, 2 stl) were excellent throughout. They combined to go 9-14 in the first half and 7-12 in the second.
• So how did the Thunder end up down at halftime 59-54? The Heat held onto the ball and made more threes. Miami had just one more turnover and made six more three-pointers than OKC through two quarters. I know, shocking.
• And how did OKC take the lead for good in the third, converting a back-and-forth contest into a patented Thunder blowout?
• For one, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander exploded for 16 points and three assists on 5-8 shooting in the third. For the game, the MVP finished with 29 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and two stocks.
• The rest of the team put this one in the bag by hitting their own threes (8-19 in the second half) and keeping up the pressure. OKC outscored Miami by 16 on points off turnovers in the third and fourth frames.
• It’s pretty bad when 10-39 feels like a good shooting night. OKC has made 33% or more of their threes just once in the last seven games.
• While there’s not a ton of playing time to grant both, the shooting competency of Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe keeps the offense from looking space-starved.
• Ajay Mitchell has looked the part all season, but I'm still noting “this is real” moments each game. Tonight, those came when Mitchell blew by Bam Adebayo for a layup and when running a settle-down isolation with the game within reach and Shai on the wing.

One Key Takeaway: JDub’s wrist

Jalen Williams has been open about the adjustment to his surgically repaired wrist. He's been making it even clearer of late, acknowledging that his new limited, unfamiliar range of motion is more of an issue than pain in the wrist. He’s been adapting by turning down volume threes and hunting downhill looks and midrange shots instead. He donned a new heated glove during the Heat game, and talked more about the injury afterward.

He still describes the process as one for him to hurdle, not live with forever. And he's insisted that he needs to accumulate more in-game shooting reps to fully, eventually adjust. Wide-open reps are rare, but he’s also turning down threes he would have taken without hesitation last season—opting instead for more drives and midrange looks. The result: he's shooting career lows in both percentage (28.1%) and attempts (2.7 per game) from distance.

The sky is not falling. Concerns about his handle have been overblown. His defense, transition impact, and playmaking remain. With Mitchell absorbing much of OKC's on-ball burden, Williams can keep easing into a new shooting normal (hopefully without settling for so many mid-range shots). Will he re-calibrate to become the same lights-out shooter he recently was? That remains to be seen. But my money, like the franchise's, is on JDub long-term.