Jan. 18, 2026, 4:50 p.m. CT
Adding salt to the wound, the Oklahoma City Thunder learned a new development in their miserable 122-120 loss to the Miami Heat. A couple of officiating mistakes compounded the two-point loss that came down to the final possession.
The Last Two Minute Report was released. The NBA releases the report anytime a game enters clutch time — which they define as a five-point game in the final five minutes. In it, there were two mistakes pointed out that went against the Thunder.
The first was a controversial one that went viral on social media. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was called for an offensive foul with 1:14 left in the fourth quarter. The critical turnover took away a scoring possession. The L2M Report says that it should’ve been called a foul on Pelle Larsson.
The L2M report states: “Larsson (MIA) is drawn into the air on the pump fake towards Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC), and contact occurs to Gilgeous-Alexander’s body during his upward shooting motion. Gilgeous-Alexander does not overtly jump towards Larsson to initiate the contact, therefore a shooting foul on Larsson should have been assessed instead.”
The other mistake went under the radar. Norman Powell got away with a backcourt violation with 0:18 left in the fourth quarter. That should’ve given the ball to OKC with a chance to either tie it or hit the potential game-winner.
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The L2M report states: “Powell (MIA) establishes positive frontcourt position, and his right foot makes contact with the midcourt line while he is in possession of the ball.”
Despite all of that, the Thunder had the chance to win it at the buzzer. With three seconds left, Gilgeous-Alexander’s gravity created a decent look from outside for Alex Caruso in the final three seconds. He missed the attempt.
The bigger story out of this game was Jalen Williams’ injury, though. He sustained a hamstring strain in the second quarter. Remains to be seen how much time he misses, but it’s a bummer as he started to pick up some momentum in recent games.