Oklahoma City had one of its worst shooting nights of the NBA season. The way the Thunder played defense, hardly anyone noticed.

Except the Miami Heat, that is.

Kevin Durant scored 29 points on 12 for 21 shooting, Russell Westbrook added 18 and the Thunder frustrated Miami’s offense all night on the way to a 96-85 victory over the Heat on Wednesday night.

James Harden scored 12 points for the Thunder, who have won five straight. Oklahoma City shot just 40 percent, and had been 7-13 when connecting on less than 43 percent of its chances this season.

It didn’t matter Wednesday after holding the Heat to 38.5 percent shooting, plus having a dominating 24-10 edge in second-chance points.

Chris Bosh had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Dwyane Wade scored 21 points and LeBron James finished with 19 for the Heat, who had won three straight and were averaging 114 points in their last two games.

And the Heat were hopping mad as this one slipped away.

Miami had a chance with 3½ minutes left, Wade getting the ball in transition and the Heat down by seven. He missed a layup and contended he got fouled — replays showed he clearly had a case, with Serge Ibaka grabbing him from behind — but nothing was called.

That is, until Wade overreacted.

He slammed his hand into the padding around the basket support, an unusual display for him, and Greg Willard responded with a technical after Harden made a 3-pointer. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra earned a technical as well, Durant made one of the two free throws, and the Thunder lead was 11 with 3:11 left.

The loss reduced the almost-nonexistent margin for error Miami has in the Eastern Conference, where the No. 3 seed looks like it will be reality entering the playoffs.

The Heat (46-22) are now three games behind Chicago and Boston in the race for the No. 1 seed, but in actuality, the gap is wider than that. Chicago and Boston both are four games ahead in the loss column, plus hold tiebreakers over Miami.

Oklahoma City (44-23) stayed 3½ games ahead of Denver for No. 4 in the Western Conference.

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I know from personal experience (8 life-time concussions from football, snowboarding and rugby) that concussions are nothing to mess with. The athlete never fully overcomes this life-altering injury and in terms of the NHL, the game is being negatively altered as well.

There has been a threefold increase in games lost due to concussions suffered through accidental collisions in the NHL this season, an alarming trend commissioner Gary Bettman noted before the NHL SuperSkills competition at RBC Center on Saturday.

“The ideal number of concussions would be zero,” Bettman said. “Our objective would be to come as close as possible to get that result without changing the fundamentals of our game. We are doing whatever possible to limit the amount of concussions.”

Concussions suffered in fights and through hits delivered to the body where a player’s head then strikes the glass, boards or ice have also increased this season. Bettman refused to disclose the specific numbers.

He added that the number of concussions from blindside hits to the head was down, largely due to the rule implemented last March that barred such collisions. Hits to the head deemed legal under NHL rules have also resulted in fewer man games lost, according to Bettman.

The All-Star weekend lacks arguably its biggest star in Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby, who was forced to skip Sunday’s game as he recovers from a concussion likely suffered in a collision with Washington Capitals forward David Steckel in the Winter Classic on Jan. 1. Steckel was not penalized either during the game or by the league in the aftermath of that hit.

“As all hockey fans, I’m unhappy with the fact we have players who are not at the All-Star Game because of concussions,” Bettman said. “I don’t like the fact any players miss game because of concussions.”

The league’s general managers will meet in March and could propose changes in rules to further protect players.

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