Jan. 17, 2026Updated Jan. 18, 2026, 7:36 a.m. CT
Handing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the inbound pass, Alex Caruso quickly relocated beyond the perimeter. As the reigning MVP was immediately doubled, the 31-year-old had the chance to win it at the buzzer. Instead, his outside jumper came up just short.
The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered a heartbreaker in a 122-120 loss to the Miami Heat. More importantly, though, everybody awaits how long Jalen Williams will be out after he sustained a gnarly-looking thigh injury
“They played really well all the way around. Some of the shot-making. We had pretty good control of the game and they made some shots to get back into it,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “Adebayo’s shot-making. And the possession stuff I was talking about. I just thought they played a really clean, good overall game.”
Early on, both sides put up plenty of buckets. Gilgeous-Alexander made an unreal circus layup as he was squished between Simone Fontecchio and Nikola Jovic. The Thunder had a 37-30 lead after the first quarter. As the bench lineup has started to form some chemistry, OKC started to build up a double-digit lead.
Williams found Isaiah Joe on a trailing 3-pointer. The Thunder had a 52-40 lead with a little over six minutes left in the second frame. The vibes were good. Over the last couple of weeks, it’s felt like they’re back to playing their brand of basketball.
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And then Williams got hurt. Driving to the basket, the 24-year-old immediately grabbed his hamstring. He asked for a substitution. The Thunder called a timeout to make that happen. He hobbled his way to the locker room. A scary sight that had all of OKC feel its stomach drop.
You could tell that completely changed OKC’s vibes. It took them a while to get back into the game. In the meantime, the Heat quickly got back into it. Unlikely hero Myron Gardner helped with that as he came in and swished a couple of outside looks.
The Thunder scored 28 points in the second frame. They entered halftime with a 65-60 lead. But it felt like the opposite. Eventually, Williams was ruled out as Ajay Mitchell took his spot in the second half. The high-scoring game continued throughout the second half, but with different methods.
For the Thunder, they did it with elite shot-making. They sliced through Miami’s defense without any problems. Gilgeous-Alexander led the way as one of the most efficient 30-point scorers in league history. On the other end, the Heat dominated the possession battle and were hot from deep.
Bam Adebayo had one of his greatest games ever from beyond the perimeter. When he wasn’t doing that, he’d bully his way to the rim. Norman Powell eventually joined in on the fun. The Thunder scored 90 points in the third frame but were tied at 95 points apiece.
The fourth quarter saw both teams go back and forth. The lead tracker resembled a hospital monitor. Anytime one side created a little breathing room, the opposition matched it. While the Heat struggled to convert on their looks, a 30-plus shot volume advantage was the ultimate equalizer as they gobbled up offensive boards.
As clutch time approached, the Thunder needed Gilgeous-Alexander to carry them home. He scored on a pull-up 3-pointer. But Adebayo answered on the other end with a mid-range jumper. Tied at 116 points apiece with three minutes left, this game was going to come down to the final possession.
In what was otherwise a forgettable night for him, Andrew Wiggins ensured he’d continue to haunt OKC’s dreams. That’s been going on for a decade now across three uniforms. He hit the go-ahead 3-pointer as the Thunder were in a 122-120 deficit with 31 seconds left. Gut punch. But not over.
After the Thunder called a timeout, they tried to outsmart Miami. Caruso threw a dart on the inbounds pass as Holmgren rolled to the basket for an ambitious alley-oop. The experiment fell short as he failed to grab the ball and dunk it through.
Still having one possession guaranteed, the Thunder got the critical stop when Wiggins missed a 3-pointer on the other end. They had three seconds to work with. The Heat successfully forced the ball out of Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands. They lived with a Caruso make or miss from the outside. The ball clanked off the rim. OKC was on the wrong side of a bad clutch-time performance. They only scored 25 points in the final frame.
The Thunder shot 55% from the field and went 13-of-29 (44.8%) from 3. They shot 23-of-28 on free throws. They had 23 assists on 42 baskets. Four Thunder players scored double-digit points.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with an efficient 39 points and four rebounds. Holmgren had a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double. Mitchell had 15 points and four rebounds. Aaron Wiggins stepped up for 18 points.
Meanwhile, the Heat shot 37% from the field and went 20-of-50 (40%) from 3. They shot 20-of-28 on free throws. They had 30 assists on 41 baskets. Six Heat players scored double-digit points.
Adebayo led the way with 30 points and 12 rebounds. He made six outside jumpers. Powell finished with 19 points and four rebounds. Wiggins had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists. Pelle Larsson scored 16 points. Fontecchio tallied 13 points. Gardner came out of nowhere with 11 points.
Well, not going to win many games where your opponent puts up 34 more shot attempts than you. The Thunder should know that, considering their whole philosophy is to win the possession battle. They’ve done some nice patchwork with their rebounding woes, but Isaiah Hartenstein’s absence was slapped across their face. OKC was once again bullied on the glass. Doesn’t matter if you play great first-shot defense if you keep allowing second-chance looks. That type of shot discrepancy will end you.
Speaking of injuries, I think it was pretty clear that Williams’ injury took a moment to snap out of. Don’t want to play armchair psychologist, but that type of potential season-altering injury forces the game to take a backseat. At the very least for the moment. You could tell it clouded the rest of the game for OKC, as how they played before and after were stark differences.
“Some of it was their ability to take care of the ball. Which credit to them, I thought they played with really good space on offense. They spaced the floor well. They made solid plays. They didn’t play in a crowd,” Daigneault said. “They did a great job on their offense and they did a great job on the glass with offensive rebounding. They were crashing. Their effort level was great throughout the game. It gave them a ton of possessions and a lot of margin.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus
As Adebayo matched up with him off the switch, 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.
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.
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.”
Chet Holmgren: B-plus
Rolling to the basket with a clear lane, Holmgren was a solid hand-grip away from tying it up in the final seconds. The Thunder went with the 4D chess move by throwing an alley-oop on the sideline inbounds pass. The seven-footer had the ball within his radius, but couldn’t complete the outside-the-box play.
Holmgren finished with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 11 rebounds and two assists. He shot 0-of-2 from 3 and went 2-of-3 on free throws. He also had five blocks.
You would’ve liked to see Holmgren take up more of a scoring role — especially once Williams was ruled out. But at this point, you should make peace with the fact that he’s more of a game-flow scorer who can finish plays as a dunker and second-chance bucket threat. Can’t be too upset with his scoring, considering all of that.
Holmgren also did his part on the boards. He’s done well for the most part in that department since he became the full-time starting center. He also racked up plenty of blocks. That’s been a stat that’s trended upward over the last few weeks. To the point you wonder if he could catch up to the league’s leaders.
But no hiding the fact that Adebayo absolutely dominated this matchup. A complete contrast of their earlier date just a week ago. A hot night from deep has a lot to do with that. Holmgren was stretched out to the perimeter more than you’re likely comfortable with. You can’t let that happen as a one-on-one defender or your rim protection becomes secondary.
Let’s see how much longer Williams is out. If it’s for an extended time, Holmgren has to be more aggressive as a scorer. It’s not in his nature, but he will need to step out of his comfort zone out of necessity. Opposing teams will only continue to get more extreme with the number of defenders they throw at Gilgeous-Alexander’s way. He must force them to play an honest brand of defense.
Ajay Mitchell: B
With a chance to put the Thunder ahead by four with 40 seconds left, Mitchell’s outside jumper hit the front of the rim. No good. Miami’s bet paid off as it zeroed in on Gilgeous-Alexander and forced somebody else from OKC to step up in the final moments. Didn’t happen, to say the least.
Mitchell finished with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting, four rebounds and two assists. He shot 1-of-6 from 3 and went 2-of-2 on free throws. He also had a steal.
Even though Mitchell missed a critical catch-and-shoot look, he stepped up with seven points in the fourth quarter. Pretty good for someone who was suddenly handed a lot more on-ball possessions with Williams’ departure. He drove through Miami’s defense to get to the rim. When that didn’t happen, he stopped for pull-up jumpers.
At the halfway mark of the season, you could make a solid argument that Mitchell has progressed the most out of anybody else on OKC. He went from a nice piece to an important rotation player. If Williams is forced to miss time, his talents might get stretched to the max to see how much he can handle as a secondary scorer and playmaker.
Not ideal, obviously, but Mitchell has shown he can mostly hold his own. The Thunder don’t ever have to fear him getting shy. The shot-creator can hunt his baskets pretty easily from all spots on the floor. And when paired with Gilgeous-Alexander, they own some of the best two-man lineup data on OKC.
Aaron Wiggins: B-plus
Relocating to the top of the key, Wiggins received Jaylin Williams bail-out pass. He swished in the outside look. On a night where the Thunder desperately needed some of their secondary scorers to step up, the 27-year-old did so from deep.
Wiggins finished with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, six rebounds and one assist. He shot 4-of-7 from 3.
Offense wasn’t a problem for the Thunder in this one. The defensive side is what gets the blame for this bad loss. Wiggins roamed around the perimeter and received plenty of quality looks on kick-out passes. When he wasn’t doing that, he cut to the basket for several layups.
Really solid scoring night, all things considered. Usually, 120 points in regulation result in a Thunder win nine times out of 10. This is one of the latter times where it doesn’t matter. The math didn’t help them out in any way, as the Heat’s margin for error was endless thanks to running away with the possession battle.
“No team is going to be perfect and we understand that. In the same sense, we want to be as great of a team as we can. With losses, there’s lessons. Even with wins, there’s lessons,” Wiggins said. “Even if we win this game, there’s a lot we can take from it. Especially down the stretch. It being a loss adds more value to it because it shows how important some of the small things we can be better contribute.”
Considering how bad OKC’s outside shooting can get, you take this type of night in a heartbeat. Wiggins helped the offensive flow by cashing in on his looks. If Williams has to miss time, he’ll be relied on even more to be a scorer. Let’s see what happens with the injury first, though.
“Not to undermine the injuries, obviously, but the game goes on. You got to be able to keep moving on and try to get the win. Obviously, Dub is huge for us. Without him out there, we’re a different team. Still just trying to make plays and contribute to helping the team win,” Wiggins said. “I thought we were in a good position to make it happen down the stretch. A couple of small plays that didn’t go our way.”
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