National Basketball Association
Oklahoma City 115, Miami 93
When: 7:30 PM ET, Monday, April 9, 2018
Where: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Officials:
#41 Ken Mauer, #31 Scott Wall, #3 Nick Buchert
Attendance:
19600
By Field Level Media
Russell Westbrook recorded his NBA-leading 25th triple-double to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder into the playoffs with a 115-93 win over the host Miami Heat on Monday night.
Westbrook scored 23 points, grabbed a season-high 18 rebounds and dished off 13 assists. Paul George had a game-high 27 points, and Jerami Grant added 17.
Josh Richardson led Miami with 18 points, and Hassan Whiteside added 16 with eight rebounds. Tyler Johnson and Justise Winslow scored 12 apiece.
Oklahoma City took its first lead at 85-84 with 10:28 left in the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 18 in the contest.
The Thunder outscored the Heat 39-12 in the final period.
The Thunder, who entered the game in seventh place in the Western Conference standings, qualified for the postseason for the eighth time in 10 seasons since relocating to Oklahoma City from Seattle.
The Thunder have won seven of their last eight games against the Heat, including four of the last five at South Beach.
Oklahoma City won both games in the season series, beating Miami 105-99 on March 23 at home.
Miami dropped its second straight game after losing 122-98 to the Knicks in New York last Friday.
The Heat clinched a spot in the playoffs last week, but they slipped from the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference to seventh on Monday. Miami trails the Milwaukee Bucks by one game with one game to play, but the Heat hold the tiebreaker.
Miami opened the game on a 12-0 run -- its best start to a game this season -- and went up 23-5 as Oklahoma City missed its first 10 shots from the floor in a span of 7:13.
However, Oklahoma City used a good run of its own -- 16-3 -- to battle back and pull within 27-21 after one quarter.
Westbrook scored all of his 10 first-half points in the second quarter. The Thunder trailed 52-49 at halftime despite shooting just 34 percent and being outscored by 30 points in the paint.
The Thunder tied it at 76 with two minutes remaining in the third, but Miami scored the last five to take an 81-76 lead.
Oklahoma City concludes the regular season back home against Memphis on Wednesday. Miami closes at home against Toronto on Wednesday.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Oklahoma City |
|
Miami |
|
Paul George 27 |
Scoring |
Josh Richardson 18 |
|
Russell Westbrook 13 |
Assists |
Goran Dragic 7 |
|
Russell Westbrook 18 |
Rebounds |
Justise Winslow 9 |
|
Jerami Grant 9 |
Free Throws Made |
Bam Adebayo 4 |
|
Corey Brewer 4 |
Steals |
Tyler Johnson 3 |
|
Jerami Grant 2 |
Blocks |
Hassan Whiteside 3 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Oklahoma City
|
115 |
43.2 |
14-35 |
31-38 |
21 |
43 |
4 |
9 |
10 |
| Miami
|
93 |
46.0 |
5-22 |
8-14 |
21 |
43 |
4 |
6 |
15 |
Upcoming Games
-
Miami will play their next game at home against Toronto. The Heat have a W/L % of .488 after a win and .579 after a loss.
-
Oklahoma City will play their next game at home against Memphis. The Thunder have a W/L % of .617 after a win and .529 after a loss.
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