Warriors start road trip with loss to Heat

The three-game road trip didn’t start on the right note for the Golden State Warriors.

Jimmy Butler had 22 points, and Duncan Robinson chipped in with 21 to lead the Miami Heat to a 116-109 win over the Dubs.

Stephen Curry had 36 points and 11 rebounds, while Andrew Wiggins finished 23 in the loss.

It was only a four-point game with nine minutes to go, but the Heat put the clamps down defensively and outscored the Warriors 11-2 over the next 2:44 to extend their lead to 13, and the Dubs never got back into it.

Miami did a good job of forcing Golden State to be sloppy with the basketball. The Dubs turned it over 20 times, which lead to 27 points for the Heat. Miami’s bench outplayed Golden State’s, outscoring the Dubs’ second unit 38-22.

“This game was never really out of reach,” head coach Steve Kerr said following the loss. “But we never had control of it because our habits and our decision making were not good”

The Warriors also suffered some bad news on the injury front. Guard Jordan Poole and center Kevon Looney both left the game early with ankle injuries and didn’t return.

It was a slow start for Golden State. The Warriors missed their first six shots and trailed 8-0 less than three minutes into the game.

The Dubs started to wake up over the final six minutes of the first quarter. Led by Andrew Wiggins’ eight points, Golden State shot eight-of-15 the rest of the way to go on a 24-15 run and held a one-point lead going into the second.

Wiggins continued to pace the Dubs in the second quarter. He hit five 3-pointers and scored a season-high 18 points in the first half, and helped the Warriors stay in it.

Miami held Golden State to just 43.2 percent shooting during the half and forced the Dubs to commit 11 turnovers, which lead to the Heat taking a 59-54 lead into the break.

Curry came alive in the third quarter, scoring eight points and aided Golden State’s efforts to keep pace with Miami. Steph completed this ridiculous three-point play midway through the quarter.

But the Heat’s All-Star, Jimmy Butler, responded with a couple of buckets of his own as Miami took a 86-81 lead into the fourth.

The Warriors fell to 23-25 on the season, but don’t have much time to fret about this loss. They’re right back in action on Friday when they visit the Toronto Raptors.