The Miami HEAT fell 123-114 to the Golden State Warriors Thursday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Stephen Curry led the Warriors on a third quarter shooting barrage that was too much for the HEAT to overcome.
Impact Performance of the Night: There isn’t anyone quite like Stephen Curry in the NBA and he showed why tonight against the HEAT. Curry finished with 36 points, 12 assists and four steals to lead the Warriors to their second win at AmericanAirlines Arena in as many years. Curry started a remarkable 7-of-10 from three-point range, burying the HEAT during a third quarter flurry. Some of his shots were open, but most were contested by the HEAT. Curry hit one shot in particular during the third quarter that was particularly impressive. It almost looked like he was passing the ball, and yet, it found a way to go in. The HEAT and HEAT fans won’t forget a night like tonight. That was brilliance on display. The Deciding Run: The Warriors wasted no time getting going in the second half. They held a four-point lead at the half and in just 4:21 of game action in the third quarter the lead was 14. During the Warriors’ 16-6 run, Stephen Curry went on a personal 10-4 run on the HEAT, knocking in a pair of threes in the process. For the rest of the night the HEAT were forced to play catch-up. They were able to close the lead to single digits in the fourth, but the avalanche of jumpers in the early third quarter were too much to overcome. Play of the Game: There are a number to choose from, but Stephen Curry’s three with 2:57 left in the game was the dagger. The HEAT had worked their way back into the game and trailed by just six. It’s not an ideal situation to be in, but the HEAT have comeback from more in less time this season. Unfortunately, the Warriors found an open Curry in the left corner. The ball swung to Klay Thompson on the wing and Mario Chalmers was left with the impossible decision of leaving Thompson open for the three or challenging Thompson and leaving Curry. He chose to chase Thompson, the right call in that spot, and Thompson made the quick pass to Curry. Curry drilled the three and the HEAT were down nine. It was a breakdown that led to Chalmers being in that spot and he did what he could, but Thompson and Curry have been in that situation many times and they made the right play once again. Efficiency Rating: Offensive Efficiency: 112.2; Defensive Efficiency: 117.9 Trend to Watch: Tonight was the fourth time in the last six games that an opponent launched at least 26 three-pointers against Miami. It’s part of a high-variance strategy that is common for underdogs and it’s something the HEAT have become familiar with over the last few seasons. Last year the Knicks shot 44 threes in a game against Miami in the most extreme example of this strategy to date. Contrary to popular opinion, teams don’t have much control over three-point percentage. There’s little to no correlation from game to game or season to season, showing that once the ball is in the air, there defense has no control. What they do have some control over is the number of attempts. Teams are always going to want to shoot lots of threes against Miami, but the HEAT’s defense can keep that number down with solid rotations and close outs. Tonight, there were a handful of possessions where the Warriors got into the paint and found open shooters on the outside for open threes. Some of those can be avoided with better defense. Before the game the HEAT talked about limiting the Warriors three-point opportunities, but they were unable to. In a one game sample, it doesn’t mean much. But it’s been a trend over the last couple of weeks and it’s something the HEAT will look to clean up. The Takeaway: Tonight’s loss was weird in a lot of ways. The HEAT missed an uncharacteristically high number of makeable shots at the rim. The issue popped up in transition, in the post and in simple pick-and-rolls. There’s no rhyme or reason for it, it’s just part of playing with a round ball and a round basket. The shapes leave open the possibilities of random bounces and tonight those bounces didn’t go the HEAT’s way. Also, the HEAT turned the ball over a lot against a Warriors team that doesn’t force many turnovers, ranking 21 in the NBA in forced turnover percentage. We saw HEAT players dribble the ball off their feet and throw passes to nobody in particular. There’s no real reason for these plays to happen all together on one night, but they did and as a result the HEAT were in a tough spot. Not helping their cause was the defense allowing the Warriors to get to the rim a fair amount. Additionally, the Warriors shot 24-of-44 from outside the paint, an absurd conversion rate. Taking everything into consideration, one wouldn’t have been surprised if the HEAT had been blown out. But that wasn’t the case as the HEAT found themselves down just four in the last five minutes. This isn’t a loss to dwell on, as so much of what happened was out of the ordinary. Notes: LeBron James led the HEAT with 26 points, five rebounds and five assists. Dwyane Wade added 22 points and five assists. Chris Bosh scored 19 points. Mario Chalmers finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. James Jones and Greg Oden were inactive.