ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after going up the road to Sacramento to defeat the Kings, the Golden State Warriors (32-6) were back at home to face the decimated Miami Heat (11-28).
The Warriors were without Klay Thompson due to rest, who looked healthy before the game and was at the arena watching the game in the locker room. Thompson had missed practice the day before the previous home game. Damian Jones was on D-League assignment in Santa Cruz.
The Heat were without Chris Bosh (blood clot), Josh McRoberts (left foot stress fracture), Justise Winslow (right shoulder surgery), Josh Richardson (left foot injury).
Q1: Slow Start
Goran Dragic came out hot, getting a jumper, scissoring through the Warriors’ defense, and Hassan Whiteside chipped in with an and-one against Zaza Pachulia and a two-hand jam down low.
Stephen Curry answered with a jumper via Pachulia pick-and-roll, a three, then another triple in transition after Dragic tried to go coast to coast but was disrupted by both Draymond Green and Kevin Durant.
Durant was cold, though, and missed his first five shots before getting a two-hand slam down the lane to make it 20-13, Heat.
Out of a timeout from Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, KD hit a jumper from the top, but James Johnson came off the bench, got the step inside, and threw down a drive, giving Miami a 25-15 lead.
But Ian Clark immediately turned the tide with a runner inside, Johnson bricked a trey attempt, and Durant played interference and helped Curry get a pull-up from way up top against Tyler Johnson:
[protected-iframe id=”d233a102527eecec58a70e7059da42b5-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBA%2Fstatus%2F819031462888386560″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]Later, after Dragic got disrupted by JaVale McGee and KD went with a dribble-and-pop going left, plus the harm, and his and-one free throw pulled the Warriors to within 25-23 with 1:39 remaining.
Closing out the quarter, Dion Waiters got a scoop over McGee, Durant drew a push-off on Waiters, and KD dunk home his own miss after getting stopped at the rim by Willie Reed.
Steph then got to the line on a bumping foul by Tyler Johnson with 5.1 seconds left to tie the game 27-27, but James Johnson streaked back down the court and got an impressive two-hand dunk over Curry, who thought he had drawn a charge by being outside the restricted circle:
[protected-iframe id=”3ad73196d8fd95450fbb368548bb55d4-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FTheHoopCentral%2Fstatus%2F819037973463207936″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]The Heat took a 29-27 lead into the second stanza. Curry led all scorers with 10 points and Dragic had 9.
Q2: Whiteside Dominates
Without Thompson, Green got to run with the second unit early, and he sparked Golden State. After a Shaun Livingston jumper, Draymond got a bucket streaking down the court, then assisted Andre Iguodala on a layup, and Clark capped off a 9-0 run with a three from the left side, assisted by Livingston.
Spoelstra called timeout as the Warriors moved out in front, 36-31, with 9:24 to play.
Green scored again, but James Johnson and Whiteside answered back, and after Clark stepped on the sideline on a drive for a turnover, Dragic got past Draymond with a lefty and Golden State’s lead dwindled to 42-38 as Kerr called a timeout with 5:47 to go.
Green and Whiteside then traded disrupting drives…
[protected-iframe id=”1f801b814a86b2dc9baa2cbc790f2ae6-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBA%2Fstatus%2F819037263975706626″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]…Steph hit another triple over Tyler Johnson, but Whiteside got two buckets inside, Curry missed a trey, and the Warriors’ lead got trimmed to 48-46 with 2:50 left.
Draymond stole a lob by Whiteside, Durant got a steal, but after a Curry runner that went too hard off the glass, Tyler Johnson hit a three from the right wing.
The Heat took the lead, 49-48.
Whiteside then fouled Green on an offensive rebound attempt, Draymond hitting one of two throws, then Whiteside got a big one-handed slam down the left side, getting past Iguodala:
[protected-iframe id=”1800037e2b2c47d5655515fceea3a6cd-114320562-10106876″ info=”https://vine.co/v/5YInPz2vvnu/embed/simple” width=”300″ height=”300″ frameborder=”0″]https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsSteph responded with a dribble-and-pop off a pick-and-roll with Green, but McCaw made a bad mistake, fouling Wayne Ellington with 1.1 seconds remaining from the left arc.
Ellington hit all three from the charity stripe , David West thew a beautiful touchdown pass on the third make to Green, who double-clutched and drew a whistle at the buzzer, missing the rather open initial layup badly.
The play was reviewed, the whistle did occur before the horn, and Draymond hit both free throws with, officially, 0.3 seconds to play. Rodney McGruder couldn’t get the turn-and-shoot in time at halfcourt, and the Heat led 54-53 at halftime.
Whiteside led all scorers with 16 points to go along with 10 rebounds, while Curry had 15 points on 5-for-11 field, 3-for-6 downtown, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Durant had 9 points, but was just 4-for-12 shooting.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @paulmelch2)
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