Warriors 97, Heat 80: Champs show they can win a wrestling match in return home

The Golden State Warriors protected their home court and shut down the Miami Heat 97 to 80 in an ugly game that wasn’t big on style points. Is this what 80s basketball was like? Yikes.

First Half

Draymond Green kicked off this Oracle affair with a trey to get the crowd hyped...and then both teams went into a scoring funk. The Warriors would go 3-for-10 and the Heat would go 2-for-10 early on as the defenses were stout. I had to laugh, though, at poor Javale McGee’s expense as Kelly Olynyk caught him on the most awkward coast to coast big man drive I’ve seen in a while.

The Heat slowed the pace with steady, bump-n-grind defense that stymied the champs early. Stephen Curry got blocked shooting from distance TWICE, something you don’t see very often. Jordan Bell provided some energy off the bench, catching an alley-oop from Andre Iguodala while playing solid defense on the other end.

The second quarter was an UGLY wrestlefest, which is Miami’s preferred style. But the Warriors were able to fight through and scrape together some points. The Dubs were able to fuel their offense mainly with their stellar defensive effort.

The Warriors swarmed Hassan Whiteside and forced him into 1-of-9 shooting for the first half, and kept the lid on the other Miami players to build a 50 to 37 lead going into the third. Goon basketball wasn’t enough for the ballers from Dade County.

The champs were 4-of-16 from the arc after two quarters, with Green making three of them! Wow. Thankfully the Dubs were aggressive in getting to the free throw line, converting 14-of-16 from the charity stripe. Miami shot 34% at the half, and the Warriors weren’t much better at 36%.

Second Half

The third quarter continued the ugliness, but the Warriors were able to push their advantage through a relentless attack. It was pretty neat watching the Warriors calmly adjust to the physical style the Heat were playing without being flustered, that’s the mark of a champion. Also, Miami flat out couldn’t buy a basket.

When the fourth quarter rolled around, the game was firmly in hand. Warriors fans watched, hoping the team would just cruise to a win without injury, which is exactly what they did. The Warriors scored 97, failing to reach 100 for the first time this season, but held Miami to a paltry 80 points on 30% shooting. Hassan Whiteside finished the game with three points and five rebounds in 16 minutes.

The Splash Brothers, Curry and Klay Thompson, combined to go 10-for-34 from the field (5-of-17 from beyond the arc), but took care of the basketball with only three combined turnovers. The team finished with 14 turnovers overall, continuing a positive trend of possession responsibility.

Green finished with 18 points on 4-of-6 from distance, along with nine rebounds. Kevin Durant went a perfect 10-for-10 at the line to finish with 21 points, 8 rebounds, 6 dimes, and 3 big time blocks. He now has 27 swats for the season, making him the league leader for rejections! It’s nice to see Durant really show off the complete game for a championship team.

Moving On

Welp, the Dubs are happy to put that one behind them, and improve to 8-3. Their next game is Wednesday, November 8th, at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

So, is Hassan Whiteside elite or nah?