This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Miami Heat.
The Heat took a 55-51 lead over the Warriors at halftime.
3rd Quarter – Curry’s Rise Disrupted By McRoberts
Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra started Hassan Whiteside, who had a strong first half, in place of Amare Stoudemire, but Stephen Curry was humming at the start of the second half.
After Draymond Green converted an “and-one” layup down the right baseline, fed by Curry, and fouled by Dwyane Wade, Steph made a three off a handoff/screen by Green, then Klay Thompson drove inside, faked as if he were about to reverse the layup, and finished the layup on the traditional side of the hoop.
Goran Dragic answered with a lefty layup off the catch on a cut, and Wade ended a series of empty possessions by reading and stealing a Thompson pass, Euro-stepping for the banking finish.
Klay missed twice again, but it was on a switch versus Whiteside and Curry snuck in ahead of Whiteside for the rebound, took a couple dribbles out to the short right wing, and drilled the jumper:
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After that, Luol Deng missed a jumper, Harrison Barnes corralled the rebound, found Andrew Bogut who dished to a cutting Curry.
Steph lofted a one-handed floater that swished through, and Spoelstra called a timeout as the Warriors held a 63-59 lead with 7:49 remaining.
With Golden State gaining momentum, as the shotclock expired for the Heat, Wade rose for a triple and Thompson inexplicable fouled him, his arm on Wade’s side. Wade’s three from the charity stripe not only trimmed the Miami deficit to 63-62, but also slowed the game down.
Once again, a careless Curry turnover, this time a one-handed righty sling pass, got picked off Justise Winslow, then Dragic went to Deng who rewarded Winslow for a jumper, and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called a timeout as the Heat took a 66-65 lead with 5:14 to play.
Both teams closed out the quarter matching baskets. Leandro Barbosa made a nice turn of the corner down the left side, only to miss the banker, but Green was there for the putback.
Curry couldn’t hit any threes that were freed up with pick-and-rolls with Anderson Varejao, but still found Andre Iguodala early in transition for a soaring scoop after a Josh McRoberts miss.
But McRoberts managed to step past Varejao for an “and-one”, swat a Curry layup attempt heavily contested already by Winslow…
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…and drain a triple assisted by Dragic, with 23.3 seconds remaining.
Steph eventually did make a three off a Varejao high pick, with the ball going in, out, then back in, plus a nice dribble-feed that ended with a Barnes triple, but Curry airballed a late-quarter layup attempt and committed his fifth turnover by catching his own airball.
The Heat took an 83-80 lead into the final frame.
4th Quarter –
The bench unit did well to keep the pressure on, as Barnes got an “and-one” reverse layup against Josh Richardson, Shaun Livingston made a jumper and so did Leandro Barbosa.
But Klay came alive for the Warriors, scoring the next fifteen Golden State points, getting a layup, a three, another three assisted by Livingston, a stepback jumper, and a left-to-right layup in the lane after Curry almost lost the ball, Thompson initiating the move with a nifty upfake from beyond the arc, followed by a change-of-pace dribble:
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After that, Thompson added yet another three as Bogut set the off-ball pick and Steph delivered the pass.
Meanwhile, Wade did what he could to keep the Heat in the game, drawing free throws, a touch shooting foul on Klay, and another two free throws on a drive to the lane.
With 3:11 to go, Wade hit one of two to cut the Miami deficit to just two, 104-101.
Green and Whiteside traded bad screens…
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…Klay missed a late-shotclock triple on a feed by Bogut as the Heat played stifling defense, and Wade stutter-stepped Iguodala at the top then zinged a pass to Deng on the right wing, who drilled a triple to tie the game, 104-104 with 2:15 left.
Iguodala then missed a three from the right arc, Whiteside got his 12th rebound of the night, and Wade tried to take Iguodala by himself, trying to get low and trying a spin, but Iguodala cut him off. Wade dished to Whiteside, who shot-put a standing jumper through from the free throw line, over Bogut. Kerr called timeout as the Heat took a 106-104 lead with 1:42 to play.
Out of the timeout, Curry missed a runner in the lane short, but got his own rebound, except it got tapped out and Winslow jumped on the loose ball, calling timeout before Steph could force a jump ball. It was Curry’s sixth turnover.
Wade went with a jumper from the left wing that went in and out and, this time, Steph made Miami pay, going right-to-left at the top in a change of direction, pulling up as Bogut and Green set a double-screen and the triple gave him 35 points and the Warriors a 107-106 lead with 1:06 left:
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Wade went with his trademark Euro-step in the lane and drew a late call on Bogut after Bogut tried to draw a charge. It was Bogut’s sixth foul and Kerr inserted Barnes to employ Golden State’s “death lineup” with 56.5 seconds remaining. Wade made both and the Heat took a 108-107 lead.
On the next possession, a few passes in, Draymond took a three, but Whiteside blocked it. Green managed to get his own rebound, handoff to Curry, then as Draymond picked off Deng with a screen, Steph pulled up over Whiteside and the ball found its way through the hoop:
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The Warriors took a 110-108 lead with 40 ticks to go.
Wade went with a runner that rimmed off, Green rebounded, got fouled, and made both free throws to go up, 112-108, with 24.0 seconds left.
Dragic got past Curry with some big steps, scored a layup with no whistle on a 50-50 call…
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…but Miami now had to foul, down 112-110 with 19.7 seconds remaining. After Kerr advanced the ball to halfcourt with a timeout, Iguodala found Steph in the left corner and was fouled immediately.
Curry’s two free throw makes increased the lead to four again, Spoelstra called timeout, drew up a play for McRoberts to shoot a three, but Klay stuck out his hand on the inbound while guarding McRoberts, and Dragic threw the ball right to Thompson.
McRoberts had no choice but to foul, the refs correctly reviewed and called a clear-path, and Golden State took an insurmountable 116-110 lead with just 14 seconds left.
The Warriors got the ball back, of course, Steph was fouled, made both throws to give him 42 points on the night, Winslow made a jumper, Curry lost the ball for his seventh turnover, but Deng missed a meaningless three at the buzzer from the top.
Thompson ended with 33 points as Golden State (51-5), which ended the game only three behind in the rebounding column, fought off a strong effort by Miami, which was led by Wade with 32 points, and Whiteside with 21 points, 13 rebounds.
The #SplashBrothers combined to go 27-for-54 from the field and 10-for-20 from beyond the arc.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @ogawadesign)
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