|
Sports
• March Mania • Baseball | Marlins • Basketball | Heat • Football | Dolphins • Hockey | Panthers • Boxing • Colleges FAU FIU FSU UF UM • Golf • High Schools Miami-Dade Broward • Horse Racing • Motor Sports • Outdoors • Soccer • Tennis • Wrestling • Youth Sports Miami-Dade Broward • Game Match-Ups • Injuries • Latest Odds |
email this
print thisWARRIORS 111, HEAT 106
Heat hits breaking point
Jason Richardson scored a career-high 44 points and outdueled Dwyane Wade, who had 42, as Golden State ended Miami's 10-game win streak.
BY ISRAEL GUTIERREZ
igutierrez@MiamiHerald.com
Those flaws that Pat Riley has been speaking about of late -- the ones most ignored because the Heat was too busy pulling out exciting wins and running off 10 straight victories -- they are very real.
And if there was a need for some sort of proof, the Warriors helped provide it Friday by handing the Heat a 111-106 loss, snapping the Heat's overall win streak at 10 and its home win streak at nine games.
The Warriors, a perimeter-heavy team, exposed the Heat's porous perimeter defense, getting a career-high 44 points from a red-hot Jason Richardson and hitting 10 of 17 three-pointers (58.8 percent) for the game.
And although Dwyane Wade was almost able to match Richardson by scoring 42 points, marking the first time in Heat history each team has featured a 40-point scorer, there wasn't enough offense around him to make up for the poor defense.
Suddenly, those tight wins over the Bobcats, Hawks and Wizards are looked at less for their thrilling finishes and more for their troubling starts.
''We've been on the edge for the last four or five games,'' Heat coach Pat Riley said. ``We found a way, with talent and some big playmaking, to win. But we've been down in every game double digits. And tonight was a game where we got down and couldn't come back.''
Richardson wouldn't allow the Heat to come back this time. The Warriors' leading scorer, who was averaging 35 points in his past three games, scored 16 points in the first quarter, going 6 of 8 from the field, including 4 of 4 on three-pointers to give Golden State a 29-21 lead after the first quarter.
Richardson went on to score 12 more before halftime, and Riley was particularly disappointed with his team's approach against Richardson, who was a primary focus of the defense entering the contest.
POOR EXECUTION
''One of the key defensive keys in the game plan was to get up and crowd their airspace, especially on Richardson,'' Riley said. ``They knew over the last [three] games that he was averaging 35 a game, he was shooting 49 percent from three. The guy was absolutely on a torrid pace. And he got 14 points in the first six minutes of the game. We didn't come out and jump on him and shut him down. As a matter of fact, we played him rather passively.''
Wade was able to match Richardson's 28 at halftime, helping the Heat pull within two at the break. But the Heat wasn't able to gain ground in the third quarter, and the Warriors jumped out to a 97-83 lead at the 7:11 mark of the fourth quarter.
After trailing 99-85, the Heat scored seven straight points to get within seven points with 5:04 left in the game. But just like the Wizards were able to do for portions of Wednesday's game, the Warriors temporarily stifled the Heat offense with a zone defense that forced a Jason Williams turnover, a missed layup by Wade and a missed jumper by Udonis Haslem on consecutive possessions. Golden State hit enough shots and free throws down the stretch to hold off the Heat after that.
Shaquille O'Neal scored 21 points with 15 rebounds and four blocked shots, but the Warriors did their best to keep the ball out of his hands. And with the Heat's regular perimeter shooters all having off nights other than James Posey, who scored 10 points in 20 minutes, the Heat couldn't make the Warriors pay for their defensive decisions.
''You can't force the issue,'' Riley said of getting the ball to O'Neal. ``One of the things I like about this team is that over the last five or six games we had five or six guys [scoring]. And if you're not really defending, then you need four or five guys making an offensive contribution. Tonight -- we didn't get enough timely perimeter shots when we needed them to make up for not getting the ball to Shaquille.''
Riley has been pointing out his team's weaknesses since the Feb. 25 home win against Seattle, during which the Sonics almost overcame a 21-point deficit against the Heat.
Five wins later, Riley finally has a loss to get their attention.
''I think our guys were listening,'' Riley said. ``Whatever our weaknesses are -- players have to take that to heart.
``We've got to move on. We've got Cleveland coming in, it's going to be a big game, and maybe this might do us some good, I don't know.''
O'Neal still plans on looking at his team's past 11 games in a positive light.
''We got 10 out of 11,'' O'Neal said. ``Now we have to get 10 out of the next 11. You have to win all types of ways in this league.''
INJURY UPDATE
Alonzo Mourning, who missed Wednesday's game with a left mid-foot sprain, returned to the active roster Friday and played 10 minutes. Riley said the tendinitis in Williams' left knee, which has caused him to miss several games this season, is improving.
''There hasn't been any kind of red flags lately,'' Riley said. ``He says he feels better.''
