Warriors 120, Heat 100: Curry's third-quarter burst makes it six straight
Tied at halftime, Golden State leaned on 14 third-quarter points from Stephen Curry and a 53-27 bench edge to pull away from Miami and climb to 6-3.
For a half, Miami had the game exactly where it wanted it. Then the oldest story in basketball repeated itself: Stephen Curry got hot after the break, and the Warriors turned a 53-53 tie into a 120-100 rout at Chase Center on Thursday — their sixth straight win after an 0-3 start.
A tale of two halves
Curry's first half was a slog — 7 points on 2-of-10 shooting — before he scored 14 in the third quarter alone, finishing with a game-high 29. Just as telling was what happened around him: Draymond Green handed out a season-high 11 assists, and Golden State's bench outscored Miami's 53-27, with Gary Payton II, Georges Niang, Brandon Williams and Charles Bassey all contributing to the second-half pull-away.
Miami's star went quiet
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Heat, but only 4 points came after halftime, as Hot Hot Hoops noted that Golden State's gap defense pushed him off the rim and into pull-up jumpers — just 5 of his 13 attempts came in the paint. Davion Mitchell led Miami with 22 points, 16 of them in a fourth quarter that was already decided, and rookie Ryan Conwell had a career-high 13 off the bench. The Heat fell to 3-6.
What it means
The Warriors' 0-3 start looks more like a false reading by the week: at 6-3, with Curry conserving energy for third-quarter surges and the second unit carrying real scoring load, Golden State has the look of a team pacing itself. Miami's problem is the opposite — the effort is there, but the Heat have yet to find a reliable way to generate second-half offense when defenses commit to taking their best player out of the paint.