Jan. 18, 2026, 11:30 a.m. CT
As Bam Adebayo matched up with him off the switch, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander squared up in a one-on-one situation. He calmly pulled up from deep and swished in the outside jumper. Usually, he’s one of the best when the pressure is at its highest. It felt like that would be the first of a handful of buckets to lead OKC to a close win. Instead, he faded.
The Oklahoma City Thunder couldn’t hit any big shots down the stretch in their 122-120 loss to the Miami Heat. Most folks at home were more concerned about Jalen Williams’ thigh injury that knocked him out in the second quarter.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 39 points on 12-of-19 shooting, four rebounds and three assists. He shot 2-of-3 from 3 and went 13-of-13 on free throws. He also had a steal.
Per usual, the Heat had no answer for Gilgeous-Alexander. He dissected their defense with ease. After being scoreless last first quarter for the first time in five years, he had 10 points right off the bat tonight. That continued the rest of the way as he crossed 30 points in just three quarters.
It was the usual mixture of his shot diet. Gilgeous-Alexander drove through several Miami defenders to the rim. He had some circus finishes included there. When that didn’t happen, he dribbled to his mid-range spots and drilled in jumpers. And when none of that happened, he got to the free-throw line with plenty of visits as the Heat resorted to fouls.
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In a tied game, Gilgeous-Alexander was set up to have another MVP moment. Down a couple of starters to injuries, the Thunder likely needed him to get an efficient 40 points to get the win. Slicing through for a layup and hitting an outside shot, it felt like we were on the way for that to happen.
Instead, Gilgeous-Alexander went quiet for the final three minutes. The most notable thing that happened with him in that stretch was a controversial offensive foul he was called for that will surely be changed in the L2M Report. Miami did a great job of ball denial. He didn’t even attempt another shot for the rest of the way. An unreal feat, knowing how determined OKC was for that to happen.
“They started running two at me. I have really good players on this team. I’m not the super-passive guy in those moments. But when they gave me no choice, they gave me no choice. At the end of the day, I got good looks for my team. Got good shots to really good players. They didn’t go down,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “How it goes sometimes, but you trust that process and their development. My teammates have been there more often than not.”
All that said, the last couple of inbound plays have been met with online scrutiny. While the alley-oop play was a fingertip away from working, it felt like a moment where the Thunder might’ve overthought things. And if OKC was going to leverage Gilgeous-Alexander’s gravity on the final possession, maybe they could’ve found a better inbound passer that would’ve taken advantage of the semi-open outside look.
Either way, Gilgeous-Alexander did more than enough to come away with a win — even if you consider his quiet final three minutes. Just a shame OKC couldn’t see anybody else step up in crunch time when Miami made it obvious that was going to be its gameplan.
“We didn’t turn them over tonight, so we didn’t get the possessions back in the turnover battle, and then they got the possessions on the rebounding battle. That’s like a double plus for them,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I think it turned the game, but that’s on us.”