Takeaways From Miami Heat Vs. Golden State Warriors

Raining Threes (on low volume)

The Heat, who have the fifth-worst three-point shooting percentage since trading Jimmy Butler, made a whopping 68 percent of their long-range attempts despite being without sharpshooter Duncan Robinson.

This was a big reason why the Heat finished with an 83rd percentile offensive rating in the half-court, scoring 110.4 points per 100 possessions. Additionally, the Heat did this while taking just 29 percent of their total shot attempts from three, which ranks in the 7th percentile.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr had a couple of things to say about this. “I think the main part of Jimmy’s return is that the Heat were ready and Spo had them ready, and, I mean, you shoot 17 for 25 from three, you’re going to win, but I thought it was how hard they played, how well they competed. They took it to us tonight.”

“This game, again, this was not about us being in Miami for a few days,” Kerr said. “This game was about the Heat shooting 17-for-25 and playing great defense and competing.”

Finally, the defense everyone’s been waiting for

The Heat held the Warriors to a fifth percentile 94 offensive rating (excluding garbage time). In the half-court, the Warriors scored just 71.4 points per 100 possessions, which ranks in the third percentile.

Between Bam Adebayo, Haywood Highsmith and Andrew Wiggins, along with solid help defense, the Heat defended Butler well, holding him to five-of-12 shooting from the field, and just one free throw attempt.

When the former Heat star was on he floor, the Warriors scored just 89 points per 100 possessions. That number, as bad as it looks on its own, becomes even worse when noting that the Warriors’ offensive rating was 23 points per 100 possessions better when he wasn’t on the floor.

“Yeah, they sent a lot of double teams and I don’t think we adjusted to it well,” Draymond Green said.

“We were on a string, covering for each other. So, you know, we got to, again, find consistency in that,” Herro said. “That’s been our problem all season, but, we see what we’re capable of and that’s why we’re always so positive, because we know what we can do. We just got to get to it more.”

Bam’s two-way dominance

Steve Kerr summed it up well. When asked about what the Heat did defensively to disrupt the Warriors’ offense, Kerr said:

“Well, you know, they’ve got Bam down there who’s an all-world defender and I thought he controlled much of the game.”

Last night, when Bam Adebayo was on the floor, the Heat’s defensive rating allowed 53 fewer points per 100 possessions than when he was off the court. Adebayo was the primary defender on Butler to start the game and set the tone, holding the Warriors to 11 points in the first nine minutes of the game.

On the other end, he scored 27 points on nine-of-18 shooting, including two made threes and nine free throw attempts.