Golden State Gave Curry Room to Find His Shot

Curry had made only two of his ten shots by halftime, and Golden State was still level with Miami at 53-53. That was the first achievement in Thursday’s 120-100 victory at Chase Center: the Warriors kept a difficult shooting start from becoming a deficit their leading scorer had to erase.

They did that. Then Curry made the tied game look temporary.

Golden State scored 38 points in the third quarter while Miami managed 23, creating a 91-76 advantage after three periods and cruising to a 120-100 victory at Chase Center.

Curry finished with 29 points, but the more encouraging part of the night came before his shots started falling: the Warriors built enough support around a cold start to give their star time to recover rather than forcing him to manufacture a comeback.

The third quarter opened with Yaxel Lendeborg’s 2-foot layup at 11:48, putting Golden State ahead 55-53. Thirty-six seconds later, Curry hit a 28-foot 3-pointer for a 58-53 lead. Miami answered and briefly moved in front, 59-58, after Giannis Antetokounmpo scored on a driving layup and added the free throw.

That sequence is worth keeping in view. Curry’s first long shot did not instantly break the game open. Miami still had answers, and Golden State still needed other players to finish possessions. At 8:34, Al Horford’s tip shot tied the score at 61. At 8:20, Curry’s 25-foot running pullup put the Warriors ahead 64-61.

Miami tied the game again on Klay Thompson’s 26-foot 3-pointer at 7:57. Curry responded with a 6-foot basket at 7:28 and then a 24-foot 3-pointer at 6:55, pushing Golden State in front 69-64. Those three Curry plays—the 28-footer, the running pullup and the later 3—chart the change in the game without pretending they happened in isolation.

The Warriors had already absorbed Miami’s answers. Curry then turned a close contest into one Miami had to chase.

He finished 9-of-19, which means he shot 7-of-9 after halftime. That is the familiar part of the story, and it is spectacular enough. The less familiar part is that Golden State did not need all of it merely to remain alive.

Lendeborg supplied the connective work. He scored 17 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and added 6 assists, with his opening-third-quarter layup and later free throws helping Golden State keep producing during the third-quarter surge. His line was not just decoration beside the headline scorer. It gave the Warriors another player who could score, rebound and help create without requiring Curry to take every important shot.

Draymond Green offered another kind of support. He scored 2 points but delivered 11 assists, a season high, as Golden State finished with 36 assists on 42 made field goals. That is a strong indication of shared creation, even if an assist by itself does not describe the route of a possession. Green helped keep the offense from shrinking into a Curry-only operation.

The reserves also mattered. Georges Niang scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Horford went 3-of-3, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range, and Gary Payton II scored 9 points while making all three of his shots.

Charles Bassey added 8 points, 7 rebounds and three blocks. Together, those contributions gave Golden State 53 bench points and made the third quarter a group response rather than a solo exhibition.

There was still a flaw large enough to spoil a cleaner night. The Warriors committed 19 turnovers, and Miami turned those giveaways into 17 points. The Heat also had sturdy production from Antetokounmpo, who finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds, and Bam Adebayo, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Golden State survived partly because its own offense was sharper overall—42-of-80 from the field against Miami’s 35-of-86—and partly because it won the interior scoring battle 50-32.

The halftime tie is the detail to keep beside Curry’s 29 points. Golden State had a score to build from when his shooting improved, rather than a large deficit to repair. His burst then became the way to pull ahead. A team that can stay level through his cold half gives his hot one somewhere better to go.

Sources

ESPN: final game record and play-by-play

Associated Press via ESPN: game reporting