How the Miami Heat were able to handle the OKC Thunder

The Miami Heat found a way to surprise again after it seemed the surprises were over with, pulling out an unexpected win against the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, despite being without Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Davion Mitchell.

Here's some of the biggest reasons as to how the Heat were able to do it:

Second chances: How did the Heat win a game against the best team in the league despite converting just 37 percent of their field goals? A huge part of it was they finished with a whopping 34 more shot attempts than the Thunder did.

They did this largely with their effort on the glass. After getting out-rebounded by nine a week ago against the Thunder, the Heat grabbed 21 offensive rebounds to the Thunder's five in this one, leading to 33 second chance points.

The Heat finished the game with an 92nd percentile offensive rebound percentage in the half-court. Bam Adebayo (six), Kel'el Ware (five), Simone Fontecchio (four) and Andrew Wiggins (three) contributed the most in this aspect.

Turnarnound turnover battle: After an awful display of ball control in the last go-round against the Thunder to the tune of 23 turnovers, the Heat deserve the turnover chain for their performance on Saturday night.

They scored 21 points off turnovers but more impressively, only turned the ball over four times against the league's best defense (by far). For context, that is one-third the amount of turnovers that the best-in-the-league Thunder and Boston Celtics average per game.

Additionally, the Heat finished with 35 assists (four more than the league leaders average), meaning they finished with an astonishingly good 7.5 assist-to-turnover ratio. It's been well-documented how important these battlegrounds have been for the Heat in their wins this season, but this level of performance was not expected against one of the most effective defenses the league has ever seen.

Asked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander about the difference between the way the Heat defended them this time around after the Thunder’s loss in Miami pic.twitter.com/AqvJdjuKHG
— alex toledo (@tropicalblanket) January 18, 2026

Necessary shooting: The Heat made just 11 percent of their mid-range shots, 21 percent, 41 percent of their layups, 17 percent of their floaters, to go along with three missed dunks and eight missed free throws.

From a shot-making perspective, their one saving grace was their shooting beyond-the-arc, of which they converted 20 at a 40 percent clip. Adebayo and Norman Powell alone did the heavy-lifting here, combining to shoot 11-of-22 from three.

Also, Myron Gardner is deserving of a shoutout after making three threes in under a minute of game time and for giving the Heat some good minutes overall on both ends of the floor.

For more Miami Heat information and conversation, check out Off The Floor.

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket

How the Miami Heat were able to handle the OKC Thunder

For more Miami Heat information and conversation, check out Off The Floor.

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket

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