Despite a very short-handed roster, the heroics of Jimmy Butler propelled the Miami Heat to a tight, 112-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on TNT.
Yes, you read that correctly…the OKC Thunder had a TNT game tonight - sure, it’s Tuesday but it’s significant nonetheless. But more about them later…
The night belonged to Miami after a 8-0 run to end the game - they trailed by 7 points with under 2 minutes left but didn't allow a single point the rest of the way. Playing without Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, Kyle Lowry & a few others, the aforementioned Butler had a monster night (especially at the charity stripe: converted 23!/23 attempts, MIA made an NBA-record 40! FTs without a miss) - 35!, 7 boards, 4 dimes & 4 steals. His tough and-1 layup w/ 12 seconds left proved the deciding factor.
Max Strus was very strong in just over 42 minutes (22, 7 & 3 dimes) and Victor Oladipo & rookie Jamal Cain combined for 31, 9 & 7 dimes off the bench.
Another nice, all-round effort, pushing their record to a couple games over .500 (22-20).
Back to OKC though…despite blowing a late lead, it was nice to see their young talent shine in front of a larger audience. Future All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 26, 4 boards, 4 dimes & 3 steals, while backcourt mate Josh Giddey had a trip-dub w/ 18, 15! & 10 dimes. Rookie Jalen Williams (12, 5 dimes & 2 steals) & vet Kenrich Williams (13 & 4 boards off bench) also stood out in their narrow defeat.
Miami’s next matchup is a home tilt (on Wednesday) v. the Milwaukee Bucks.
OKC gets after it again this Thursday (Jan. 12th) @ Philly.