The Miami Heat easily had their best and most exciting win of the season, at least in the sense of who they beat, over the weekend when they edged the Oklahoma City Thunder by two points, 122-120. Of all the games Miami has laced up for this season, stealing one against the Thunder was in no one's betting books.
Still, they proved everyone wrong and managed to squeak out the victory over the NBA's best team. Unfortunately, the high from that win quickly vanished after the Heat travelled to face a Draymond Green-less Golden State Warriors team working on a three-game win streak, which has now stretched to four.
The Heat dropped to 22-21 after a 135-112 blowout by the Warriors, and Steph Curry didn't even reach the 20-point threshold. As for the Heat, only Norman Powell scored more than 20 points, and Bam Adebayo scored four. It wasn't the best follow-up to beating the Thunder, and this loss continued a trend the Heat have struggled with lately.
Heat fall apart in the second half again, leading to a loss that could have been a win
Miami was in lockstep with Golden State throughout the first half, to the point where the Heat went into halftime down just four points. Really, Miami had no excuses in the second half, firstly because Green didn't play in the game, and Jimmy Butler tragically went down the middle of the third quarter and never returned.
It was revealed sometime after the game by ESPN's Shams Charania that Butler tore his right ACL, ending his season and quite possibly ending the Warriors' chances of any real playoff hopes. The Heat, though, still have playoff hopes, and they were in position to steal another game away from a team better than them.
Miami's role players were outplayed by Golden State’s, and that was another significant reason why the Heat fell flat in the second half. Aside from Powell and Andrew Wiggins, who put up 18 points, the Heat didn't get nearly enough contributions from the others. That said, however, Kel'el Ware did finish with his best game in quite some time, scoring 15 points in 18 minutes.
Miami was definitely hurt by the absence of Tyler Herro, who missed the game after it was revealed earlier on Monday that he would be out indefinitely with costochondral rib issues. Herro just returned from a lengthy injury a week ago, but the Heat will have to continue without him for the time being.
Miami will continue its Western Conference road swing in the second half of a back-to-back Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings. In the standings, Miami has the upper hand, but on the floor, the Heat will have to finish strong, not just start strong, against a team that is shooting the three-ball at a 46.7% clip, leading the NBA over the past four games. Miami will have to score, no questions asked.