Heat overcomes sluggish start with strong finish to get win over short-handed Warriors. Takeaways
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 110-96 win over the Golden State Warriors (9-8) on Wednesday night at Kaseya Center to close its quick two-game homestand at a perfect 2-0. Next up for the Heat (9-6) is a two-game trip that begins Friday with an NBA Cup group-play game against the Chicago Bulls at United Center:
What was supposed to be one of the most intriguing games on the Heat’s schedule turned into a game the Heat was expected to win easily. While the Heat ended up winning, it wasn’t as easy as anticipated.
When the schedule came out in August, Wednesday was supposed to be Jimmy Butler, Stephen Curry and the Warriors’ lone visit to Miami this regular season. It was also expected to be Butler’s second game back in Miami since the Heat traded him to the Warriors in February.
But at the end of a long six-game trip and on the second night of a back-to-back set after falling to the Magic in Orlando on Tuesday night, the Warriors’ roster was depleted on Wednesday.
Not only were the Warriors without Butler because of a lower back strain, but they were also missing Curry because of right ankle soreness and Green because of an illness. Butler, Curry and Green all played on Tuesday in Orlando before missing Wednesday’s contest in Miami.
Al Horford (left toe injury management), Jonathan Kuminga (bilateral knee patellar tendonitis) and De’Anthony Melton (left ACL surgery) were also unavailable for Golden State.
It appeared the Heat was on its way to a blowout early, opening the game on a 20-4 run to take a 16-point lead just 6:22 into the contest.
But the Heat took its foot off the gas, committing nine turnovers and allowing the Warriors to grab 12 offensive rebounds in the first half.
The short-handed Warriors took advantage of the Heat’s sluggish play, rallying from that early 16-point deficit to tie the score at 43 with 2:43 left in the second quarter. The Warriors entered halftime trailing the Heat by just four points despite shooting only 27.8% from the field and 6 of 27 (22.2%) from three-point range in the first half.
The undermanned Warriors continued to make the Heat sweat in the second half, taking their first lead of the game at 60-59 midway through the third quarter. Golden State pulled ahead by as many as five points in the final seconds of the period before entering the fourth quarter ahead by two points.
The Heat scored just 23 points on 7-of-23 (30.4%) shooting from the field in the third quarter, allowing the Warriors to hang around.
But the Heat finally grabbed control of the game in the fourth quarter, opening the final period on an 18-4 run to build a 12-point advantage on its way to the double-digit win. Miami ended up outscoring Golden State 38-22 in the fourth quarter.
“I think it’s human nature,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We jumped out to an early lead. And then it probably just creeps in that it’s going to be an easy game. You’re looking for a knockout punch early. That’s not the right approach. You want to wear on them. In the second half, I thought our efforts were much better.”
Heat guard Norman Powell came alive following a slow start Wednesday, scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter after scoring just eight points through the first three quarters. Powell finished with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range, six rebounds and three assists.
“I thought he was just really good in the second half,” Spoelstra said of Powell. “It was frustrating, obviously, in the first half. He only had three points. But then he responded with his voice, he was verbal in every huddle. He was engaged, he was just figuring out, ‘Hey, I’ve got to figure out a different way to make an impact.’ It started with his voice, it started with making defensive efforts. And down the stretch, he just was really good when we put the ball in his hands.”
Heat center Bam Adebayo also helped put the game away, scoring nine of his 20 points in the fourth quarter in his first game back from a left big toe sprain.
Heat forward Andrew Wiggins, who was one of the players Miami acquired from Golden State in the Butler trade, closed Wednesday’s win over his former team with 17 points, six rebounds, two steals and one block.
Meanwhile, Butler watched his former team from the Warriors’ bench at Kaseya Center in street clothes. His departure from the Heat last season was ugly, as there was a trade request, three suspensions without pay issued by the Heat and an airing of grievances against each other along the way before the Feb. 6 trade.
The Heat improved to 2-0 against the Warriors since moving Butler to Golden State. Butler played in the teams’ first matchup, with the Heat winning that one 112-86 on March 25 in Miami last season.
“It’s something, us as a team, we’ve got to get better at,” Adebayo said of playing against undermanned opponents. “But it’s different lineups. You expect certain people to play, so you plan a certain way, and then things flip. And we have to adapt to that. And, obviously, we waited down to like the last six minutes of the game to really figure it out. But, man, we got the win. That’s the biggest thing for us.”
Effort seemed to be a problem for the Heat early on.
The Warriors appeared to beat the Heat to almost every loose ball in Wednesday’s first half, totaling 12 offensive rebounds to the Heat’s five offensive rebounds in the first two quarters. That helped Golden State finish the first half with a 10-4 edge in second-chance points.
Through three quarters, the Warriors held a 16-10 advantage in offensive rebounds and an 18-9 edge in second-chance points.
The Warriors finished the game with a 20-14 advantage in offensive rebounds and a 20-15 edge in second-chance points.
But rebounding continues to be a problem for the Heat, which entered Wednesday with the NBA’s fourth-worst defensive rebounding percentage (the percentage of available defensive rebounds a team grabs) this season at 66.2%.
The Heat has now lost the offensive rebounding battle in nine straight games.
While some of the Warriors’ best players were out, the Heat got one of its top players back from injury on Wednesday.
Adebayo made his return after missing six straight games because of a toe injury.
Adebayo was immediately plugged back into the Heat’s starting lineup, finishing Wednesday’s win with 20 points, seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and two blocks in 29 minutes.
“I felt good, man,” Adebayo said after making his return. “Just trying to find a rhythm, not overdo it, let the game come to me. And it did at some point.”
Adebayo’s first make of the night was a three-pointer with 6:22 left in the first quarter. He ended up shooting 3 of 4 from three-point range and is now shooting 19 of 51 (37.3%) from behind the arc this season.
The Heat outscored the Warriors by 15 points with Adebayo on the court.
“As soon as he steps on the floor, it makes us so much better,” Wiggins said.
Spoelstra added on Adebayo: “Boy, he just does so many things for a basketball team. I didn’t look at the stats. I don’t have my glasses, I can’t see that. But defensively while he was on the floor, I bet the numbers were pretty dang good. That’s not a coincidence.”
With Adebayo back, Heat second-year center Kel’el Ware returned to a bench role despite his impressive stint as the fill-in starter while Adebayo was sidelined. But Ware still made a positive impact.
The Heat opened Wednesday’s game with a starting lineup of Davion Mitchell, Powell, Pelle Larsson, Wiggins and Adebayo. This is the third time Miami has used this starting group, as it also went with this starting lineup in the two games before Adebayo went out with his toe injury.
Larsson, who made his 12th straight start after beginning the season out of the Heat’s rotation, closed Wednesday’s win with 10 points, three rebounds, four assists and one steal in 28 minutes.
Meanwhile, Ware’s playing time took a dip with Adebayo back. But Ware still impressed in his minutes.
Ware, who averaged 12.7 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 30 minutes per game while starting the previous six games during Adebayo’s absence, played just 19 minutes as a reserve on Wednesday.
But Ware still grabbed double-digit rebounds for the sixth straight game, finishing Wednesday’s victory with seven points and 16 rebounds.
“It was big for him to take that next step in maturity and just playing his game in whatever role is given to him,” Powell said of Ware.
Ware was part of a Heat bench rotation that also included Jaime Jaquez Jr., Simone Fontecchio and Dru Smith on Wednesday.
“I think Kel’el was really good tonight and I mentioned that to the team,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not easy to be starting, playing really well and really making an impact as a starter and then come off the bench and still have a big impact in 19 minutes. To have 16 rebounds is exceptional. But it was more about his mindset.”
Heat forward Nikola Jovic missed his first game of the season on Wednesday, but he doesn’t expect to be out for long.
Jovic was held out Wednesday because of right hip impingement. It’s a pain that Jovic first felt just before Tuesday’s practice and it didn’t get better, forcing him to miss Wednesday’s contest.
“It started hurting yesterday in the morning before practice,” Jovic said prior to Wednesday’s game. “I went through the practice and it was kind of getting worse and worse. And I finished the practice, I even played some extra ones just to go to the reps. I thought it was going to be better, but during the day it got a little worse. And today, this morning it didn’t feel good. I came in to get some shots up to see how it was going to feel. It didn’t feel good, and that’s it.”
Jovic is hopeful he’ll be back for the Heat’s next game on Friday in Chicago.
“Probably just one game, hopefully,” Jovic, 22, said of how long he expects his hip injury to keep him out.
Jovic is off to a slow start this season, scoring single-digit points in 10 of the 14 games he has appeared in. He’s averaging 8.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 40.2% from the field and 29.4% on threes this season.
Along with missing Jovic, the Heat also remained without Myron Gardner (G League), Tyler Herro (left ankle surgery), Kasparas Jakucionis (G League) and Terry Rozier (not with team) on Wednesday against the Warriors.
This story was originally published November 19, 2025 at 10:01 PM.
