In what was a late Monday night affair, the Miami Heat dropped a tough game to the hottest team in the league at the moment. Still without Klay Thompson, the Golden State Warriors looked formidable. Even before Jimmy Butler’s injury, Golden State still looked unbeatable. Jimmy left the game during the second half never to return due to an ankle injury, leaving the rest of the team to battle out the final minutes without their clutch superstar.
Golden State
Steph Curry’s off night didn’t really matter much with the rest of the team picking up the slack. Jordan Poole led the charge with 32 points on 70% shooting and five assists. Wiggins followed suit with 22 points on 60% shooting on the night. Gary Payton II continues to play a major role in Golden State’s wins with 14 points in addition to four steals. Overall, it was a great shooting night for Payton as he nearly shot 60% from the field.
Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica both cracked double figures with 10 points. The Warriors depth was too much for Miami to handle, even with Curry scoring only nine points on 3-of-17 shooting from the field and 1-of-10 shooting from three-point range. Sharing the rock is the next best thing when you are struggling to score. Steph was able to keep his team in rhythm by throwing out 10 assists. Draymond Green helped alleviate those shooting struggles even further by dishing out a game-high 13 assists to go with his eight rebounds and five points.
Miami
It was a tough night for Miami to see Jimmy leave the game, unable to walk off on his own power. The silver lining was that Miami saw an all-around great team effort to keep their team in the hunt for a win. Before leaving the game, Jimmy was able to score 22 points and five rebounds on 50% shooting. Caleb Martin had 19 points and nine rebounds, scoring some late baskets to keep Miami alive.
Tyler Herro, on the other hand, was unable to find his stroke. Herro shot 30% from the field, but still put up 18 points despite the woes. Kyle Lowry had another Lowry-esque game – 16 points, 11 assists, and six rebounds – stuffing the stat sheet as usual.
It was also a strong game from Miami’s role players. Newly-added Kyle Guy had 14 points and Omer Yurtseven had a monster night on the glass with 17 rebounds. Still, it wasn’t enough as the Heat were not able to pull out any late-game heroics.
Who’s Next?
On Wednesday, January 5th, Miami will travel to Portland to take on Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers.