At 8:30 a.m. Beijing time on January 11, the NBA regular season matchup is in full swing, with the Miami Heat sitting at home to face the Oklahoma City Thunder. Before this game, the Heat with a record of 21 wins and 15 losses, ranked 5th in the East, as last season's Eastern champions, the strength of the Heat team does not need to be said, their lineup is not luxurious, but the style of play is tough, disciplined, full of playoff experience, and the coaching level of head coach Spo is also the top in the league. It is worth mentioning that Coach Spo has just reached an agreement with the Heat for 8 years worth 1200 million early renewal contract, completed early renewal, with an average annual salary of more than 15 million, he also surpassed Popovich, for the first place in the coach's salary, I don't know how far he can lead this Heat team.
For the Heat, their star Butler is still in the swing stage, missing many games in a row, and in the interview, Butler also said: "Do you think I'm going to worry about any individual awards? I don't care if I don't win because I'm absent, the only award I care about, that's the championship, I told Spo that I told my teammates that it would go. "The Heat have reached the Eastern Conference Finals three times and the Finals two times in the past four years. On the other side of the Thunder team, before this game, with a record of 24 wins and 11 losses, ranked 2nd in the West, there is no doubt that the Thunder is one of the strongest dark horse teams this season, directly turned over, two years ago their winning rate was only 3 percent, with Alexander's rapid progress, the outbreak of Holmgren rookies, the Thunder team is expected to make a breakthrough this season.
In this game, the two sides are in the starting lineup, the Thunder sent Giddey, Dort, Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet, and the Heat sent Herro, Harkes, Jovic, Highsmith and Adebayo. At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, Adebayo jumped the ball to win, the Heat took the lead in getting the ball, Highsmith hit a three-point shot in the bottom corner, scored the first goal of the game, Harkes also had a confident three-point shot in the same position, Alexander made a mid-range back-to-back jumper, and also opened the door for the Thunder, Herro lightning counterattacked to the paint area, and the small throw was easy to win, Jovic scored another goal from the outside of the bottom corner, and the Heat started with an 11-2 attack wave. Giddey made a turnaround jumper to help the Thunder stop the bleeding in time, and Herro also scored a goal with a sideways throw.
Highsmith was a man with the ball, a smart layup and two points, Holmgren scored a strong dunk under the basket, Herro drilled through everyone and then fought against the layup to make it 2+1, and Lefu also had a single inside hook, the Heat maintained a lead of about 5 points in the first quarter of the game, and at the end of the first quarter, the Heat led the Thunder by 6 points 35-29. At the beginning of the second quarter of the game, Jayway ignored the defense of the mid-range jumper and hit the bag with a two-point jumper, Dort dribbled the ball at a 45-degree angle and made an easy layup, Holmgren ate cake inside, took off and dunked the skills of the four shocks, Wiggins scored a goal against the defensive mid-range, Richardson made a big empty three-point hole through the basket, Holmgren received the ball under the basket and took off to make a layup to continue to score easily, Adebayo turned over at the free throw line and shot hollow into the net, and the offensive efficiency of both teams in the second quarter was very high.
The Thunder also followed closely, and at halftime, the Heat led the Thunder by 4 points 69-65, and in the first half, Highsmith scored 13 points, Jovic scored 12 points, Herro scored 12 points, and Alexander had 12 points and 4 assists. At the beginning of the second half of the game, Yibian fought again, Jaylin Williams's arc top chased three points, opening the third quarter of the game, Highsmith was not to be outdone, and immediately hit a 45-degree angle large three-point shot back, Giddey also had a small throw in the paint area, Jovic flew to throw a strong hit, the Heat fell into a scoring drought at the beginning of the second half, and did not score a point for more than 3 minutes in a row, the Thunder seized the opportunity, Alexander and Holmgren launched a two-pronged counterattack to help the team overtake the score, and the third quarter of the game was over, The Thunder outscored the Heat by 3 points 99-96.
In the final quarter of the battle, without Butler's Heat, the critical moment is still a little weak, the fourth quarter came up and encountered a wave of scoring drought, four consecutive minutes without a point, the Thunder showed the style of the dark horse in the West, the final quarter of the game completely occupied the initiative, in the end, the Thunder defeated the Eastern champion Heat 128-120, with the Timberwolves losing in the same round of the regular season, the Thunder is currently only half a win away from the Timberwolves.
In terms of statistics, on the Thunder side, Alexander had 28 points, 2 rebounds and 8 assists; Jalen Williams 19 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists; Chet Holmgren 23 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks; Rüganz-Dort 14 points; Isaiah Joe 11 points and 2 rebounds; Carson Wallace 8 points and 2 rebounds; Kenrich Williams had 7 points and 6 rebounds; Josh Keady had nine points and six rebounds. On the Heat side, Bam Adebayo had 25 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks; Tyler Herro 17 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals; Jaime Hakes Jr. 21 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists; Haywood-Highsmith 19 points and 5 rebounds; Nikola Jovic 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists; Kevin Love 12 points and 5 rebounds; Josh Richardson had 8 points and 2 assists. Hundreds of spectators