OUCH.
Basketball is, at times, a simple sport. See ball, shoot ball, hope it goes in. It’s a more complicated game than that, of course, but sometimes the autopsy for a game still boils down to that. And at some level, that was the case for Tuesday’s 112-86 demolition of the Golden State Warriors by the Miami Heat.
There were a lot of reasons why the Warriors lost to the Heat, as tends to be the case in blowouts. But none bigger than this: the Heat shot an absurd 17-for-25 from three-point range. The Warriors, still playing without greatest-shooter-of-all-time Steph Curry, shot 9-for-38. In a 26-point game, the Warriors scored 24 fewer points from beyond the arc, despite squandering an additional 13 possessions on such shots.
And that, above all else, is why they lost.
You can decide how much blame to allocate the Warriors vs. how much credit to give the Heat for that. Golden State’s defensive efforts lately have left much to be desired, and they seem to be regularly hurt by hot-shooting opponents, so you can’t absolve the Dubs of blame. But you also have to tip your cap, shrug, and admit that sometimes the other team just gets hot.
Consider: the 68.0% clip that the Heat shot from deep was the 11th-highest mark in NBA history for a team that made at least 17 triples. And it was just the 18th time in NBA history that a team had made 17 or more threes while shooting at least 65% from deep. Only two of those teams lost the game.
So while the Warriors defense did the team no favors whatsoever, they also ran into a historically hot team. It happens.
And so Golden State likely would have lost regardless, but they sure could have made it easier to watch. Instead, it was remarkably uninspired basketball. Jimmy Butler III, who insisted before his return to Miami that it was “just another game,” didn’t play like it was a meaningful matchup … or even just another game. Andrew Wiggins, still close with so many in the Warriors organization but surely hurt February’s trade, on the other hand, played with the inspired energy expected of a player in such a matchup.
With that leading the way, the Warriors fell behind 7-0 and missed their first six shots from deep. Without Curry, and bizarrely stymied by Miami’s zone defense, the Dubs simply couldn’t find any offense. They got no separation, no clean looks, and repeatedly had jump shots blocked. It wasn’t until the bench came in and Gui Santos drained a few shots that the team started to get a little offensive rhythm, but they still trailed 28-22 after the first quarter.
Quinten Post came off the bench (the Warriors started with a small-ball lineup) to drain a three that opened the second quarter, but then Miami rattled off seven straight points to push the lead to double digits. At that point, the Warriors offenses sunk to a low point, unable to generate anything whatsoever, as the Heat built the lead larger and larger and larger.
Late in the quarter, they again found a push from the bench, this time with Jonathan Kuminga leading the charge. They were looking better all around, but the Heat were making everything … especially another former Warrior, Alec Burks.
If the Warriors had taken any of the momentum, they lost it all in the final minute, with a truly horrendous two-for-one: Burks kicked it off by making a three, and then the Warriors committed a 24-second violation … already their third of the game. On the other end, All-Star Tyler Herro beat the buzzer with an off-balance three, stamping a horrific first half in which the Warriors trailed 57-40.
Remarkably, Golden State’s bench had outscored Miami’s by a shocking margin of 30-2. But the Dubs had shot 35% from the field, and 5-for-18 on threes, while the Heat were at 53.8% and 8-for-11, respectively. With Curry out, it simply didn’t feel like the second half would bring any hope with it.
And for the most part, it didn’t. The half began with Bam Adebayo waltzing down the lane for an uncontested dunk, and soon the deficit was 20. The Dubs did start to show a lot more fight, but it didn’t result in all that much. They still couldn’t make any jumpers, and while the defense was stepping up, Miami was still making some difficult shots.
The Warriors did make a late push, with a Kuminga three capping a 10-run that pulled the Warriors to within eight points in the final minute of the third. But it once again ended poorly, and once again with a two-for-one: this time the Warriors had the ball twice, with two empty possessions bookending a Davion Mitchell three. It was an 83-70 deficit entering the fourth, and it didn’t feel nearly that close.
Nor would it remain that close. The Warriors were a turnover factory to begin the final frame, and couldn’t find any rhythm at all. Miami’s rotation players thoroughly outplayed Golden State’s, before both teams turned to the back of their bench, only for the Heat’s garbage time players to outplay the Warriors just as thoroughly.
The Warriors bench ended the game having outscored the Heat’s 48-24, but you can do the math on what that means for the starters: Miami’s outscored Golden State’s by a staggering margin of 88-38. And everyone watching could feel every bit of that 50-point differential.
Golden State’s former players made them pay. Wiggins only scored 10 points, and inefficiently at that, but he added five rebounds, five assists, two steals, three blocks, and tremendous defense. Burks had 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting (and 5-for-7 from deep), while Kyle Anderson came off the bench for seven points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals, without missing a shot.
It wasn’t just the former Warriors, though, as Miami’s pair of All-Stars were dominant: Adebayo finished with an efficient 27 points and eight rebounds, with spectacular defense, while Herro shot 7-for-10 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from deep en route to 20 points and seven assists. And just to tie it all together, the small-ball Warriors got torched inside by Heat center Kel’el Ware, who rounded out the star performance from the starting five with a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Good performances were much harder to find on the Warriors side. Kuminga led the team with 15 points, but needed 10 shots and nine free throws to get there. Podziemski led the starters with 14, but needed 16 shots and a free throw, while Butler needed 12 shots and a free throw to get to 11 points, with just two assists. The other three starters — Draymond Green, Moses Moody, and Gary Payton II — combined for a mere 13 points on 19 shots, with Moody going 0-for-9 from distance. Santos was the lone efficient scorer for the Dubs, needing just eight shots to score 13 points.
The Warriors now get two off days before Friday’s trip to the New Orleans Pelicans. They’ll need that time to figure some things out … and hopefully get Curry back.