Some of Gilgeous-Alexander's shots were taken from awkward angles. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said the All-Star has gotten better at figuring out when to take those kinds of shots.

“The shot making is great," Daigneault said. "He’s had the talent from day one. But what I’m most impressed with is the restraint he’s showing and the his ability to see the big picture, to leverage that talent for the good of the team while he’s still trying to accomplish individual things.”

😁That is creative coach-speak. Awkward shot taking is great only when it becomes great shot making "I'm gonna kill him I'm gonna kill him...I love him". "Trying to accomplish individual things": SGA is second in the league in scoring and took 25 shots, more than double any other teammate. When you make over 50% of your shots against Miami you can take as many as you want.

A frustrated Erik Spoelstra engaged in his own coachspeak:

“We’ll get better from this. There were a lot of good things to take away. None of us want to talk about it or feel that or whatever right now because we’re competitors. But by the time we get back to Miami, even the head coach can see that there are some good things happening in our locker room.”

😁"Good things happening in our locker room" is good and sweet to hear. Good things happening on the bottom line is better.

Jimmy tried to take over to win this one for the "Heat". He led us with 16 shots taken, making eight. Almost had a 3W with 20, 10 and 8. 

Bam was once again not particularly impactful, only five points. He did have 10 rebs. But as a team we were outrebounded 45-43. Against Allas Bam scored 14 and had nine rebs when we got killed on the boards.

+'s and -'s:

Both games Spoelstra went with a starting five of D-Ro, Niko, J-Buts, Bam-O, and T-Ro. In Allas, Jovic only played 16', only scored 4 points but had the third best +/- (0) on the team. The finishers (mins played) in that game were Terry, Jimmy, Bam, Caleb, and Duncan. Against OKC, the finishers were Jimmy, Terry, Bam and 3J tied, and Niko-Caleb tied. Four of the nine who played were in plus (unusual even in a close loss) with Patty Mills in his first game the leader with +13. Nikola and Caleb were second at +4. The "Heat" use a more sophisticated measure of individual effectiveness on the team than the blunt +/- in the papers but it is clear that Spoelstra sees Jovic has having a positive team impact beyond the box score, probably in floor spacing, which is why he keeps starting him. 3J and Caleb each had 13 points in Allas but while 3J was +2 Caleb was -11. Against OKC Caleb had only 7 points but was +4 while 3J had 25 points but was -9. Jaime's +-, however the "Heat" calculates it, is a big reason he does not start. Whether it is there to be seen or whether it is my 20/400 vision I see some tension, as there really is in general, between two concepts of effectiveness, what Spoelstra calls making winning basketball plays, and the +/- metric. "Everytime I look up..." I have seen 3J make winning plays, a key bucket, a key rebound. Conversely with Tyler Herro, which is also what Spoelstra has seen over Tyler's career. Winning plays, strung together enough, produce winning games, whereas Nikola's floor spacing (if that's what it is, and I have read that that's what it is) makes Nikola's teammates more effective but isn't a winning play itself and doesn't necessarily result in winning games, at least not on this road trip. The "Heat" need to win more games.

The "Heat" began both of these games hot but then were overtaken.