Short-handed Warriors battle without Curry, Butler and Green, but Miami surges late for 110-96 win
MIAMI -— Stephen Curry’s road trip ended a game early, with the Golden State Warriors making the decision to hold the NBA’s career 3-point leader out of Wednesday night’s game in Miami that resulted in a 110-96 Heat victory.
Also out for Golden State were Jimmy Butler (back), in what would have been his second game back in Miami after last season’s trade, and Draymond Green (illness), among others.
Curry sat out with right ankle soreness. He tweaked the ankle in a game Friday at San Antonio and did it again Tuesday in a game at Orlando, but was able to keep playing in both of those contests.
The matchup was the finale of a six-game, nine-day trip for the Warriors, who went 3-3 on.
Norman Powell scored 25 points, Bam Adebayo returned to score 20 and the Heat pulled away late to top the extremely short-handed Warriors. Former Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins scored 17.
Brandin Podziemski scored 20 to lead Golden State, which got 19 from Quinten Post and 18 from Buddy Hield. The Warriors gave up 23 turnovers that Miami turned into 34 points — 20 more than Golden State scored off Miami’s 14 giveaways.
The teams combined to shoot 38.4%, the second-worst shooting game in the NBA so far this season. Toronto and Atlanta combined to shoot 37.4% in the Raptors’ 109-97 win on Nov. 7.
The Warriors got into a 20-4 hole, their largest first-quarter deficit of the season. But Miami scored only 19 points in the next 12 minutes and Golden State chipped away, taking its first lead at 60-59 on a basket by Post midway through the third.
Then it was Golden State’s turn to cool. The Warriors led 74-69 late in the third, before Miami went on a 21-4 run to pull away.
Miami’s Kel’el Ware grabbed 16 rebounds for Miami, which outscored the Warriors 38-22 in the fourth quarter.
The Warriors were also without Al Horford (left toe injury management) and Jonathan Kuminga (knee tendinitis).
Golden State is hoping Curry, Butler, Green and Horford can play Friday at home against Portland. All are considered day-to-day.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr has pointed out multiple times that such a long trip is tough enough, yet this one was made tougher because the jammed schedule didn’t provide his team an opportunity to practice.
“We all know what the schedule’s been like and I know Coach talked about it … we try not to think about it too much knowing it is what it is,” Curry said after Tuesday night’s loss in Orlando. “You have to find a way to overcome it. We’ve done a decent job, we let (two) games slide that we feel like we wish we would have had, but we’re all right right now.”