OKLAHOMA CITY _ Consider this a good start.
Coming into Friday's game 1-4 in their last five road contests, the Miami Heat's convincing 115-108 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first game of a two-game road trip won't erase the stench from their recent woes away from AmericanAirlines Arena.
But it provided a glimpse of the kind of team Miami can be on the road, especially on the defensive end.
The Heat stifled the Thunder, who have the league's 11th-best offense since Dec. 1, through most of the game before a late-game flurry nearly tarnished what had been one of the team's strongest defensive showings in nearly a month.
The Heat led, 105-83, with 8:01 left in the game before Oklahoma City stormed back with a 22-7 run to bring the Miami lead down to 7 with a little over two minutes left in the game. Miami held on, holding the Thunder to two points in the game's final two minutes to move to 29-12 on the season and 11 on the road.
Kendrick Nunn led the Heat with 22 points.
Bam Adebayo continues to prove why he should be strongly considered for the 2020 All-Star Game in Chicago, finishing with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists on 7-of-11 shooting with most of his scoring damage coming from the first half.
He scored 16 of his 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the game's opening 24 minutes.
Jimmy Butler added 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Heat (29-12).
The Thunder (23-19) were paced by Danilo Gallinari's 27 points.
