Thunder Gameday: Oklahoma City Kicks of Long Home Stint Against Heat

For the next seven games, the Oklahoma City Thunder will be at home. This comes directly after a long five-game road trip, so this is much needed for the young team.

To kick off this string of games at Paycom Center, the Thunder will host the Miami Heat.

Both teams are below .500 to this point, so a win would be a huge opportunity to turn things around for either squad. With that in mind, Miami is a much better team on paper and should ultimately have the upper hand tonight in Oklahoma City.

ODDS:

The Thunder enter the day as 3.5-point underdogs to the Heat, and the total over/under is 227.5 points.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

A big piece of the Heat’s struggles this season have been offensively. They’re bottom five in the NBA in field goal percentage, but do take good care of the ball. Regardless, they have a bottom five offensive rating.

Miami has been able to combat the struggles on that end by notching a top 10 defensive rating this season. This has been led by Jimmy Butler, who can take over a game at any given time on either end.

Bam Adebayo is a key player in tonight’s matchup, and he’s top 15 rebounder in the league. However, the Heat are a bottom five team on the glass which should play in favor of the undersized Thunder.

In Oklahoma City’s last contest, the defense allowed the Dallas Mavericks to knock down more than 20 3-pointers on the night. The Heat don’t take many triples relative to the rest of the league, but Max Strus is personally top ten in the NBA in shots made from beyond the arc.

RECORDS:

Oklahoma City Thunder (11-16) vs. Miami Heat (13-15)

WHEN:

Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022 at 7:00 PM CT

LOCATION:

Paycom Center - Oklahoma City, OK

TV/RADIO:

Bally Sports Oklahoma, NBA League Pass, 98.1 FM The Sports Animal

FINAL WORD:

Following tonight’s contest, the Thunder will have back-to-back games against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday and Saturday respectively.

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