Seven Heat players scored in double figures, led by Herro with 26!!
The Miami Heat closed their longest homestand of the season with a 120-108 win over the shorthanded Oklahoma City Thunder (20-50) Friday evening, boosting to a season-high 23 games above .500 in the process.
Miami (47-24) raced out to an 11-2 lead courtesy of three Duncan Robinson triples. Eight straight from Tre Mann eventually gave the Thunder a 34-33 lead, but a 16-3 Heat run — featuring a Max Strus make from the logo — gave Miami the 55-41 advantage with 3:30 left before halftime.
Both teams traded buckets for the remainder of the half. With its 42-point second quarter, Miami entered the break up 15 — 69-54 — despite 37 combined first-half points from Mann (22) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (15).
The Heat never really looked back. Five of their first six second-half baskets came from beyond the arc. They outscored the Thunder 19-6 in the first 5:05 of the third, helping widen the lead to 26.
Back-to-back triples from Caleb Martin and Tyler Herro made it 103-74 with 1:46 left in the third quarter. Their once 29-point lead lead fell to 15 with 4:20 to go, but the notable Thunder run wasn’t enough to create any nervous energy late.
Miami shot 48.4 percent, canning 18 triples — 17 in the first 38 minutes of the game — at a 35.3 percent clip.
Tyler Herro continued his dominant post All-Star break stretch, leading the Heat with 26 points on 9-of-13 off the bench with seven rebounds and four assists. It marked his 11th game over his last 12 with 20-plus points, averaging 25.4 over that stretch.
Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson totaled 19 points apiece; Adebayo added nine rebounds and shot a near-perfect 8-for-10 from the floor while Robinson nailed a team-high five triples. Kyle Lowry posted 16 points with four dimes on 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Max Strus recorded 12 points with four triples; Martin had 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting with three 3s of his own.
Dewayne Dedmon did not see the floor and the results with Markieff Morris as the primary backup 5 weren’t bad. Morris tallied a plus-one in the plus-minus category — albeit the obvious one-game sample — with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the winning effort.
The Thunder netted 47.6 percent of their shots and 29.4 percent from 3-point range.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 26 points, seven rebounds and four rebounds on 9-of-17 shooting from from the floor. Mann had 25 points, shooting 10-for-19 — including 5-for-11 from distance; Aaron Wiggins tallied 17 points; Darius Bazley had 15 points while Aleksej Pokusevski notched a 10-15 double-double.
The Heat bench — who led the league in scoring (40.3 ppg) entering Friday — outscored the opposing bench for the 10th straight game, 64-40 — tying the fourth-longest streak in franchise history (record is 14). Miami’s bench units have now scored a league-leading 52.1 points a contest since the All-Star break, more than six points above the next-best team (Minnesota Timberwolves – 45.8 ppg).
Next up: Miami hits the road for a one-game road trip against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday before returning to FTX Arena for four more.