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Miami Heat: Paul George and Russell Westbrook light up South Beach

By Zachary Weinberger

MIAMI, FL - FEBRUARY 01: Paul George #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dwayne Wade #3 of the Miami Heat swap jerseys after the game between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder at American Airlines Arena on February 1, 2019 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - FEBRUARY 01: Paul George #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dwayne Wade #3 of the Miami Heat swap jerseys after the game between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder at American Airlines Arena on February 1, 2019 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /
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The Miami Heat are continuing to disappoint leading up to the deadline with inconsistent play, however, they played one of the best teams in the NBA last night, so we can’t be too critical.

Even with the productive performance by Hassan Whiteside (12 points and16 rebounds), the Miami Heat fall two games below .500 as they get mauled by the Thunder 118-102.

While the whole world knew the Oklahoma City Thunder were no joke, it’s been a conspiracy theory that Miami does well against good teams (Boston, Portland) while being prone to falling to sub .500 teams (Hawks, Bulls, etc.). However, the dynamic duo of Paul George and Russell Westbrook (14 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists), made sure the Heat had no shot from the beginning.

Paul George had a sensational night scoring 43 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. But the more impressive stat? He was unstoppable from deep as he shot 10-16, which ties the most threes scored against the Heat.

“Paul George was tremendous tonight,” Head coach Erik Spoelstra said in his post-game conference provided by Fox Sports Sun. “We tried every coverage we had, zone, man, even trap defense but his pull-up three is dangerous, definitely one of the more impressive shooting displays all season.”

On the offensive side of the ball, the leading scorer for the Heat was none other than Kelly Olynyk who finished the game with 24 points and seven rebounds, which is a good sign for the future, as Derrick Jones Jr. is out for six weeks. Other contributions included Josh Richardson’s 18 point performance and the aforementioned double-double from Whiteside.

But, it wasn’t enough to match the rolling Thunder, who even got offensive prowess from sixth man of the year candidate, Dennis Schroder, who put up 28 points and 11-13 from the field. To put it plain and simple: The Thunder dictated the pace from the start and the Heat couldn’t handle it.

The Heat defense was easily the disappointment of the night as they let the Thunder as a whole shoot 48 percent from the floor and an impressive 53 percent from deep. It was evident that the Heat weren’t physical on the defensive side of the glass, letting players like George and Schroder get everything they want.

After this game, the question is: How can they improve tonight’s performance? Also, is their culture affected by tonight and last Wednesday’s loss against the Bulls?

“At these points, you lean on your character and culture, the majority of teams go through tough spots like we are,” Spoelstra said. “We have a resilient group, we’re not gonna be sorry for ourselves.”

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The Miami Heat (24-26) will stay home in their Vice Nights uniforms as they take on the Victor Oladipo-less Indiana Pacers (32-19) tonight at 7:30 P.M. Eastern.

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