seemed like yesterday when Miami Heat fans were rejoicing their team amidst consecutive strong wins. Now, they are back to dishing insults after another close loss to a title contender, this time against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Like Thursday night, Miami built a first half lead that was undone by a strong third quarter from Oklahoma City and highly contested fourth quarter. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 37 points, adding another star performance to his MVP-caliber season.
The Heat did well against Chet Holmgren, who only had seven points on 3 of 9 shooting. Unfortunately, Miami’s big man failed to get going as well, as Bam Adebayo finished 1 of 9 from the field for just five points with four turnovers. He collected most of the heat from fans after another night of poor shooting.
It was honestly difficult to find any discussions about the game outside of criticism toward the All-Star center.
“For years, I’ve wanted Pat Riley to sign a big next to Bam,” one user said. “Allowing second chance points is the consequence tonight. Spo & Malik Allen can lock up Bam in the gym; disappeared when we needed him on back-to-back nights. This team never disappoints in blowing leads. Pathetic.”
