The Miami Heat play at the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday
Game time: 6 p.m., Paycom Center, Oklahoma City
TV: FanDuel Sports Network
Betting line: Heat +14.5
VITALS:
The Heat and Thunder meet for the first of two regular season matchups. Oklahoma City has currently won four-straight against the Heat while Miami had won six consecutive prior to that. The HEAT are 30-44 all-time versus the Thunder during the regular season, including 16-21 in home games and 14-23 in road games. The Thunder holds the number one ranked net rating and the number one ranked defensive rating in the league through its first 39 games. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the 2024-25 NBA MVP, has appeared in 37 games (all starts) so far this season and averaged 31.9 points to go along with 6.4 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.40 steals in 33.3 minutes per game.
PROJECTED STARTERS
HEAT
G Davion Mitchell
G Norman Powell
C Kel'el Ware
F Bam Adebayo
F Andrew Wiggins
THUNDER
F Ajay Mitchell
F Jaylen Williams
C Chet Holmgren
G Jalen Williams
G Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
INJUY REPORT
HEAT
Tyler Herro: Available (toe)
Jaime Jaquez: Questionable (ankle)
Keshad Johnson: Available (back)
Nikola Jovic: Available (groin)
Terry Rozier: Out (Not with team)
Vladislav Goldin: Out (G League)
Jahmir Young: Out (G League)
THUNDER
Isaiah Hartenstein: Out (soleus)
Thomas Sorber: Out (knee)
Nikola Topic: Out: (Surgery recovery)
QUOTABLE
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on the loss to the Indiana Pacers: "We had plenty of opportunities to work our way back into it. It felt like, emotionally, mentally, physically, we were really ramped up and ready to play in Chicago. Tonight, I don't know if I had that feeling to start this game. They made us pay for it. We're playing from behind and in the mud the rest of the way. That's a level of inconsistency right now, not the entire season. Right now, we have to correct [things] to put ourselves in a better position to win."
Oklahoma City player Kendrich Williams on the win against the Memphis Grizzlies: “I don’t think that was a pretty game at all. We got outrebounded for sure. They hit a bunch of shots. I don’t think we hit that many shots early on. Down 20. Just finding ways like scrapping. No matter the situation or whatever was going on we just took it one possession at a time. Just a gutsy win. Big shoutout to everyone who played tonight.”
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of HeatRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com