MIAMI — In this long season, there have been games when the opponent was capable of tying or beating the Heat in one area or another, anything from cohesiveness to physicality.
But there aren't many teams that can match Miami's length, at least when it comes to the Heat's most prominent players.
And there's just one that can for sure.
That team, the Thunder, visited Wednesday, and that length was the long - and short - of its 96-85 victory against the Heat, a victory that ended Miami's three-game winning streak.
Oklahoma City's length manifested itself in contested shots even from in close, one of which resulted in a no-call that Dwyane Wade and Erik Spoelstra contested much too loudly for the officials' taste.
It manifested itself in 17 offensive rebounds, which resulted in 24 second-chance points for a Thunder offense that shot just 39.8 percent overall.
It may have manifested itself in the Heat's hesitancy when shooting seemingly open jumpers, as Miami made just 11 of 42 shots from outside the paint.
"That's as much athleticism and length as you'll see," Spoelstra said. "We have some of the best attackers in the game, that usually go over the top, and they were being met at the rim."
Well, not every time. Not during a second-quarter spree that was as spectacular as anything the Heat has produced this season, and inspired an uploading frenzy.
It started when Wade caught a pass to his right, staggered quickly to the left to dust James Harden, spun around Serge Ibaka, elevated above 7-foot center Kendrick Perkins while gripping the ball with two hands, then sent it down with his right.
It was the sort of vicious slam that would have made previous Wade victims Anderson Varejao and Jermaine O'Neal wince and cower on Perkins' behalf, and not just because Wade punctuated its uniqueness with an old-school Cabbage Patch dance. After LeBron James dunked twice - first after beating Kevin Durant on the baseline - and then on a break, the game was tied at 43.
The Heat had leaped right back into the game, and gotten fans to leap from their seats.
All Miami had to do then was start making some jumpers.
Except it never did.
Mike Miller open.
Miss.
Wade and Mike Bibby with three-point tries on the same possession.
Miss. Miss.
Chris Bosh?
"I missed a few easy 15-footers that rattled in and out on me," said the forward, who was 6-of-17 shooting overall.
"We couldn't make any shots," said James, who went 8-for-21, in tying Wade (7-for-21) for the team lead with 21 points.
For the game, the Heat was 3-for-17 from three-point range, with only Bibby's late uncalled bank making it respectable.
"We don't want to live and die by the three," Bosh said.
Wednesday, it would have breathed some life back into them, at some critical moments. It certainly wouldn't have made the Heat so reliant on the kindness of the officials.
It was 85-78 Thunder when Russell Westbrook dribbled off his leg. The ball was sent forward to a streaking Wade, who attempted to complete the same sort of left-handed layup attempt that James had blocked by Joakim Noah 10 days earlier. As his upper body leaned left, Wade contorted his bottom half to the right, so it scraped against the side of one of the league's springiest leapers, Ibaka.
The layup ricocheted off the backboard. Wade, expecting a call, unleashed a right cross to the stanchion, with all the force of his earlier slam. On the other end, James Harden sank a three.
Wade and Spoelstra were called for technicals, giving Durant (29 points) two extra foul shots, one of which he made.
The game could have been called right then.
"I don't comment on the refs," Wade said later. "It's an emotional game. You just move on from it."
No sense in dwelling long.
