Miami Heat face toughest test of the season vs Golden State Warriors

The Miami Heat will face the NBA’s best team the Golden State Warriors Monday. Hopefully it doesn’t get ugly.

Heat (22-15) vs Knicks (35-2)
Where: ORACLE, Arena, Oakland, CA
When: Monday, Jan. 11, 10:30 PM ET
Watch: FS-SUN, CSNB, NBA League Pass

The Miami Heat are in for their biggest test of the season Monday, when they take on the NBA’s best team the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors, who are on pace to surpass 72 wins this season, play a pace-and-space style that will be very difficult for the Heat to keep up with.

The Heat (94.17) play one of the NBA’s slowest paces, while the Warriors (101.67) famously play at one of the fastest. Even though recently the Heat have gone small–with Chris Bosh at center and either Justise Winslow or Luol Deng at the 4–more often, they won’t be able to play at that pace for 48 minutes and survive. The biggest test will be trying to slow down Golden State.

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They’ll have to do that by limiting their own turnovers (easier said than done against Golden State’s long armed defense) and forcing more from the Warriors. The problem: Golden State forces nearly three more turnovers a game than Miami.

Nothing about this game will be easy, and it’ll require one of Miami’s best games of the season to have a chance.

Matchup to watch: Justise Winslow vs Draymond Green

For no other reason than this will be an absolute blast to watch. Justise Winslow is often compared to Draymond Green, and now he’ll have the chance to be matched up against him. Green has been one of the best players in the NBA this season. He does all the little things–setting screens, making the extra pass, getting tough rebounds–and is enjoying his best scoring season of his four-year career.

He quite possible represents Winslow’s best case scenario. In his rookie year, Green shot just 20.9 percent from 3-point range. Winslow is shooting a similar 22.2 percent. Green learned to shoot better, and grew into a bigger offensive threat just as the Heat hope Winslow will.

Winslow will do everything he can to limit Green, who often moves freely about the court to do all the things he wants to do. If Winslow can keep Green from getting to his spots to set screens and make passes, it could help Miami gum up the Warriors’ high powered offense.

X-Factor: Dwyane Wade

Dwyane Wade’s right shoulder is bothering him after injuring it against the Utah Jazz Saturday. If Wade is able and ready, he could be Miami’s best chance to make this a game.

Assuming Chris Bosh continues to play well (he’s averaging 22.7 points on 50 percent shooting, 6.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists in January) and Wade can control and slow down the game in the post and on pick-and-rolls with Hassan Whiteside, Miami could gain a big advantage.

It’ll also take some stellar defense from Wade–like what we saw at the end of the Pacers game–to make a difference against the splashing backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

More heat: Do the Heat have a problem getting open shots?

Key stats:

Miami Heat offensive rating: 10th, 102.9 points per 100 possessions
Miami Heat defensive rating: 6th, 99.1 points allowed per 100 possessions

Golden State Warriors offensive rating: 1st, 112.5 points per 100 possessions
Golden State Warriors defensive rating: 4th, 98.5 points allowed per 100 possessions