Heat squanders big lead, loses in overtime in Golden State
The Heat found a new and stunning way to lose on Wednesday, somehow blowing a game in which it led by 15 with nine minutes left, a game in which Jimmy Butler produced another triple double and Golden State star Steph Curry missed more good looks than any opponent could have possibly dreamed of.
In the latest stinging setback of this immensely disappointing season, the Heat squandered a 96-81 lead with nine minutes left and succumbed 120-112 in overtime in San Francisco.
Miami was outscored 15-7 in the extra session, with all 22 of those points coming in the final 2:07 of overtime.
Curry, shaking off a 6 for 21 start, put the Warriors ahead for good with a three with 1:15 left in overtime, then sealed it with a three with 17 seconds remaining.
Despite playing without its best power rotation players, Golden State out-rebounded Miami 9-3 in overtime - a reversal from the Heat’s 47-36 edge on the boards in regulation.
The Warriors rallied behind 25 points and 11 assists from Curry, 23 from Kelly Oubre, 23 from Andrew Wiggins and 26 from Kent Bazemore.
The Heat got 24 points from Bam Adebayo and 19 from Kendrick Nunn but scored just 16 points over the final 14 minutes of the game, including overtime.
The Heat this season has managed to lose games in which it led by 19 (on Wednesday), 18 and 13 twice.
“When we were up 15 or so, we missed a series of layups or didn’t take layups we had opportunities to take and some of their role players started to score,” Erik Spoelstra said. “We weren’t able to score down the stretch. It was a storm at both ends. Once it got close and it became a possession game, that’s when Curry came alive.”
Spoelstra took some blame, saying it was “a bad decision by the head coach” for not calling a timeout after an Oubre miss with nine seconds left in regulation. Nunn then missed a shot that would have won the game, but the Heat probably would have been better off calling a timeout and getting settled.
“That’s on me; I take responsibility,” he said.
Five takeaways from a loss that left Miami 11-17 overall and 1-3 on this seven-game road trip:
▪ Butler became the first player in Heat history to produce triple doubles in consecutive games. It was his third in the past four games.
Butler - who closed with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists - already has seven triple doubles in less than a season-and-a-half with the Heat. LeBron James holds the franchise record with 14, achieved over four seasons.
He had a season-high 11 assists and now is averaging a career high 7.4 assists this season.
Butler also is averaging a career high in rebounds (7.7) and has corralled at least eight rebounds in nine consecutive games.
But he shot just 6 for 15 from the field and didn’t attempt a free throw, which is highly unusual for him. He also committed a team-high five turnovers.
▪ The Heat, which allows more three-pointers than any other Eastern Conference team, ultimately was undone by the three.
Curry entered second in the league in scoring at 30.5 points per game and on a streak of 10 consecutive games in which he had scored at least 25 points and shot at least 50 percent from the field.
So it was fortunate for the Heat that Curry opened 2 for 10 overall and 1 for 11 on three-pointers.
But Curry left his imprint in overtime with eight points and two threes, closing 8 for 25 from the field and 5 for 20 on threes.
“He’s arguably as skilled off the dribble, off the catch, with or without the ball, as any player in the history of the game,” Spoelstra said before the game.
The Heat entered allowing 15.1 made threes per game (worse than only New Orleans) on 37.2 percent shooting (17th in the league).
Golden State, meantime, entered averaging 14.3 threes per game (seventh most in the league) and shooting 37.5 percent on threes (tied for 10th).
The Warriors struggled early from three-point range but victimized the Heat late, finishing 18 of 52 from beyond the arc (34.6 percent). So even on a night that Curry was off for much of the game, the Heat still permitted more threes than it usually does.
▪ Kendrick Nunn continues to thrive as a starter.
Nunn, in his sixth start in a row, scored 14 in the first half and finished with 19 on 7 of 14 shooting, including 5 for 9 on threes.
Nunn - who started all 67 regular season games last season before going to the bench at the start of the playoffs - is now averaging 15 points in his eight games as a starter this season.
On his attempted game-winner that missed at the end of regulation, Nunn said: “I got a good look but it didn’t go down for me. We have to play 48 minutes collectively. We have to make winning plays. Defensively, sticking to the game plan, we have to get better at” that.
Meanwhile, Tyler Herro - coming off the bench for a sixth game in a row - shot only 3 for 15 on an 11-point night, missing two shots in overtime.
One positive for Herro: His 15 rebounds. He entered tied for fourth in the league in rebounds among shooting guards. He also had three blocked shots on Wednesday.
▪ Adebayo came out aggressively against a Warriors front-line missing three key players.
Golden State was playing without former All NBA defender Draymond Green, center Kevon Looney and center James Wiseman, the No. 2 overall pick in November’s draft.
That left the Warriors starting 6-6 Juan Toscano-Anderson at center, and Adebayo quickly capitalized, hitting a nifty hook shot and delivering four impressive passes to cutting players for layups or dunks - two to Duncan Robinson, one to Andre Iguodala and one to Gabe Vincent.
Adebayo closed 10 for 16 from the field, with seven assists and five rebounds. But he couldn’t rescue Miami late.
What in the world is happening with this team?
‘We get complacent with a lead,” Adebayo said. “We were in a lot of low shot clock situations and we could have avoided that. We can’t keep letting this happen.”
▪ After scoring two points over a four game stretch, Precious Achiuwa has come alive this week.
The Heat rookie scored 13 points, making six of his seven shots and scoring on dunks, drives to the basket and a spinning layup in which he displayed impressive footwork.
Achiuwa had played a total of 28 minutes during those four games when he mustered just two points.
But he logged 12 minutes and scored eight against the Clippers on Monday and followed that up with those 13 points and six rebounds in 17 minutes on Wednesday.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 12:43 AM.
