Miami wastes a sublime shooting display from Wiggins vs the Thunder

The Miami Heat have lost their 3rd straight game after falling to the NBA’s best Oklahoma City Thunder. Miami played an excellent first half, but the Thunder turned it up in the second half to pull away and win by a final score of 124 – 112. This loss drops the Heat’s record to 20 – 19 and keeps them 8th in the Eastern Conference standings.

Andrew Wiggins – Grade: B+

Andrew Wiggins played a good game for Miami. Despite the loss the Heat as a team shot 54% from the field and 53% from the three point line. Wiggins was a big reason for the three point shooting as he finished the game 7/10 from behind the arc. He had an excellent play at the end of the first half where he got a steal and quick three to give the Heat momentum. Wiggins did have some bad passes that were costly and led him to have 6 turnovers. If he took care of the ball better, he could of received an A-, because he did most other things well. It is unfortunate that the Heat were unable to pull out a win with Wiggins having this performance. His final stat line was 23 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 turnovers, 2 steals and 1 block.

ANDREW WIGGINS GETS THE INBOUND STEAL AND GOT THE 3 BEFORE THE QUARTER ENDS 🔥 pic.twitter.com/v1WKJCX9f0
— Heat Clips 🎬 (@MiamiClip) January 12, 2026

Jaime Jaquez Jr. – Grade: D

Jaime Jaquez Jr. should win the 6th Man of the Year award, but he was far from that level today. He, like Wiggins, was caught by the turnover bug. This unfortunately is not abnormal for Jaquez Jr., but it stands out even more when he is not making up for it. He was not his aggressive self, and I think it hurt the team. They need his pressure and drives to compromise the defense. Jaquez Jr. was unable to give the Heat a lift off the bench. The Thunder have the best defense in the NBA, and they made Jaquez Jr. uncomfortable all night long. He finished the contest with only 3 shot attempts. His stat line was 5 points, 0 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 turnovers, and 1 steal.

Kel’el Ware – Grade: D

This was a disappointing game for Kel’el Ware. There has been a noticeable difference in Ware since going back to the bench. He has been unable to find the same level of production when not starting. In this game though, he showed some of his flaws that make it hard to trust him at times. His effort was uninspiring and simply seemed lazy at times. One play stands out in particular, he did not even try to box out Alex Caruso, and this led to a Thunder basket. He did have a few plays of good positioning to get an easy pass. This led him to shoot 4/8 from the field, but there were other opportunities missed as well. Maybe the most eye opening stat was that in his 16 minutes he only managed to pull down 1 rebound. If he wants to force Erik Spoelstra to inject him back in the starting lineup, he will need to play more inspired basketball consistently. Ware finished the game with 8 points, 1 rebound, 0 assists, 1 turnover and 1 steal.