ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Miami Heat (17-21) paid a visit to #Roaracle tonight to face the Golden State Warriors (30-5). The Heat were without Dwyane Wade while the Dubs didn’t have Festus Ezeli once again. Hassan Whiteside, who has been playing well for Miami, got the start at center for the Heat ahead of “The Birdman”, Chris Andersen.
1ST QUARTER: Green Touchdown Flagged For Taunting
Stephen Curry picked up two early turnovers, one on the first Warriors offensive possession of the game, going with an over-the-head sling pass from the right side that sailed into the courtside seats of the left side. The second was a non-call by the official on a reach-in after driving past Shabazz Napier, and came after two straight three-pointers, one from the right corner assisted by a nice quick, precision touch lob by Andrew Bogut, and the other pulling up after crossing halfcourt as a result of a long rebound by Golden State following a miss by Luol Deng with the shotclock winding down.
The Dubs then capitalized on defensive blocked shots.
Harrison Barnes swatted Mario Chalmers, the race was on, and Klay Thompson executed a fly-by in his nonchalant manner, to put the Warriors up, 12-9, with 5:30 to play. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called timeout.
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Thompson then got a fastbreak dunk after Curry stole an baseline pass on defense, then delivered the outlet to Draymond Green, who immediately advanced the ball to Klay.
Marreese Speights subbed in for Bogut at the 4:21 mark and immediately delivered an assist to a cutting Green. That seemed to get Green going on the offensive end, as he converted this touchdown catch with an and-one warding off Napier and putting the Warriors up, 18-9, with 3:43 to go. However, the referee gave Draymond a technical for taunting:
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At that point, Golden State led Miami on fastbreak points, 11-0, after outscoring the Utah Jazz the night before, 22-3, in the same category.
The Warriors ended the quarter up, 26-18. Thompson led all scorers with 10 points, Curry added 9 points but committed 3 turnovers, and Chris Bosh led the Heat with 7 points and 3 rebounds.
2ND QUARTER: Bench Unit Pours Kerosene On Fire
The Warriors’ second unit started the second frame by forcing the Heat into three turnovers and a block. Meanwhile, Leandro Barbosa kept the tempo up, getting two layups that also saw a David Lee reverse layup and an Andre Iguodala jumper go in between them.
Here was Iguodala’s block on the seven-foot Whiteside:
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Even when the Warriors didn’t officially record a turnover or a steal, they got the result they wanted, such as a near-steal by Barbosa that ended up a late shotclock miss by the Heat, which then became a Justin Holiday jumper from the right baseline on the Golden State end.
Lee added a forced turnover at the Miami baseline by slapping the ball out and off a Heat player out of bounds, Iguodala added a dunk assisted by Bogut, and Holiday recorded a block as well during the onslaught by the bench unit, in which the Warriors reserves outscored that of the Heat, 21-6.
That prompted #DubNation fans to say things like, “Warriors are to the point where the starters are gonna have to get out there to get the second unit a rest. Ridiculous!”
Upon reentrance, the starters threw kerosene onto the fire.
Even though Barnes got blocked by Whiteside on a post up move inside, Barnes recovered and dished it out to Curry beyond the arc, who first faked a three, then dribbled in, only to dribble back out and nail the triple, a “vintage Steph” move:
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Speights added to the parade, getting a putback slam on a missed layup by Green, then another putback tip-in on an ensuing Barnes fastbreak layup miss after Deng missed a three for Miami.
To add insult to injury, Thompson closed out effectively on Chalmers at the buzzer, blocking his corner three-point attempt at the halftime buzzer.
Golden State led, 55-38, at the half. Curry led the way with 15 points on 5-for-8 field, 4-for-5 downtown, Thompson added 10 points, and the second unit contributed 25 combined points. The Warriors assisted on 15 of their 21 field goals made and blocked 5 shots. Meanwhile, Bosh led the Heat with 16 quiet points, going 6-for-12 from the floor. The rest of the Heat shot 8-for-26.
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