The Golden State Warriors (50-5) visited South Beach to face the Miami Heat (32-24) at American Airlines Arena.
The Warriors were without Festus Ezeli (knee surgery) and James McAdoo (toe) again, but welcomed newly acquired backup center Anderson Varejao.
The Heat were without Chris Bosh (blood clots) and Beno Udrih (foot).
1st Quarter – Wade And Whiteside Lead The Heat Charge
After a subpar shooting night at Oakland early last month, Dwyane Wade got off to a hot start, drilling his first three shots, a layup, jumper, and a fade-away.
Meanwhile, Stephen Curry drained his first three attempt, giving him a trey in 127 consecutive games, tying Kyle Korver’s NBA record.
The Curry versus Goran Dragic matchup at point guard got an early jab and counter-punch, as Curry tapped out a Dragic dribble with a little non-whistled bump and Dragic immediately got him back with a steal at halfcourt.
But Steph came back and got a backdoor layup fed by Andrew Bogut after Bogut disrupted Dragic at the rim.
Wade wasn’t done, getting a Euro-step in the lane, then faking Klay Thompson on a spin with his back to the basket, then stepping in for a lefty scoop.
Dragic got Curry back on a similar backdoor assisted by Luol Deng, Thompson got a layup off a baseline out-of-bounds play, but Deng got a putback of Justise Winslow’s missed attack.
Hassan Whiteside then came off the bench and immediately converted an “and-one” over Draymond Green, Green’s second foul, which sent him to the sideline for a substitution by Varejao. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr also inserted fellow Brazliian Leandro Barbosa and Andre Iguodala for Klay and Bogut, respectively.
Varejao got into the Warriors’ record books immediately, getting fouled at the rim by Gerald Green and making the first of two free throws, but later took too long to decide to attack the basket as Harrison Barnes got called for a three-second violation on the other side of the lane.
But with 3:36 remaining, Barbosa used Varejao for a screen at the top and darted to the hoop for a runner that made it 20-14, Heat, as Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra took a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Curry got a jumper from the top to trickle in, but Barnes got swatted by Deng and later Deng fed Whiteside for a dunk, the first of many sparks to be provided by the Heat’s backup center:
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After a nice feed from Steph, Varejao missed a runner that tickled the rim, and Dragic supplied a lob to Whiteside for a thunderous one-handed dunk…
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…Iguodala missed a jumper, Deng corralled his sixth rebound, and Whiteside made an 18-foot jumper on the other end.
Curry then got free for a moment of a pick-and-roll up high, but missed the long two, Deng missed a jumper, and, once again, Whiteside was there for a righty putback dunk as the Heat took a 28-16 lead with 1:07 remaining, with Kerr taking a timeout. Miami was on an 8-0 run.
Things could’ve gotten worse for the Warriors out of the timeout as Curry turned the ball over with a careless pass, Winslow stole it, and Wade lobbed to Gerald Green for a beautiful alley-oop dunk, but Iguodala floored Wade after the pass and was whistled for the off-ball foul. The refs reviewed the play and waved off the basket and Wade ended up coughing the ball up, which then led to a long two-pointer by Curry thanks to a screen from Varejao.
Still, Wade managed to slice past the Warriors’ perimeter and fed Winslow for a dunk, but Steph stopped at the edge of the center-court logo and made a deep triple with 0.7 seconds left to give Golden State a more respectable 31-20 deficit after one quarter:
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2nd Quarter – Inching Back
Thompson and Iguodala buoyed the Warriors at the start of the second quarter with Klay making a technical free throw after Spoelstra argued a non-call as a lob to Wade was broken up by Draymond.
Iguodala and Thompson hit two more jumpers, but Wade got a reverse just past Bogut — giving the Heat a 26-12 advantage on points in the paint — and, after a Klay miss, Josh Richardson drilled a trey from the left corner after Wade got a brutal screen set by Whiteside on Iguodala to free up the drive.
That gave the Heat a 44-32 cushion. Josh McRoberts later missed a three, Green rebounded, got it to Iguodala who gave it up to Shaun Livingston, who gave it back to Iguodala in the left corner for three, and Spoelstra burned another timeout.
Klay got a right-to-left dribble drive lefty layup to drop, then after Draymond played good defense on an unathletic McRoberts drive down the right side, Curry found Livingston on the break for a two-handed dunk, and the Warriors closed the gap to 45-39 with 4:11 to play.
However, an emphatic block by Winslow of Draymond’s drive down the left side of the lane led to Richardson free throws, and the Heat soon crept back up, 49-39, with 3:00 remaining.:
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Wade continued to play well, getting a isolation pull-up to drop over Draymond, Curry got a scoop down the lane even though right before that, the ref called a foul on an eventual make against Dragic, then ruled the contact was before the catch on the feed from Green.
McRoberts missed again, Thompson found Brandon Rush, who was too far under the hoop and not quick enough to score before Heat defenders arrived, but Rush found Barnes open on the left wing and Harrison buried the triple to pull the Warriors to within 53-49 with 37.6 seconds left.
Out of a twenty-second timeout by Spoelstra, Wade connected again, his 17th and 18th points on the night, 9-for-12 from the floor, but Curry fanagled two free throws on a drive against Dragic with 7.2 seconds to go, and Miami held a slim 55-51 lead at halftime.
Wade lost the ball on the Heat’s next possession, but not before Whiteside delivered some pain to Curry:
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Steph and Wade both had 18 points, but Whiteside amassed 15 points and 7 rebounds, while Deng added 8 and Winslow 7 boards as the Heat outrebounded the Warriors, 30-21. Klay had 12 points and 3 steals.
Golden State shot just 5-for-14 from downtown.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @davide_montoni)
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