Curry Catches Fire After Halftime as Warriors Burn Heat 120-100 for Sixth Straight Win

For the first 26 minutes, it looked like the Miami Heat might just steal another one. They had arrived in San Francisco less than a day after Klay Thompson's last-second three in overtime had beaten the Clippers in Los Angeles, and for all the talk about tired legs on the second night of a back-to-back, Miami played like the fresher team. They trailed briefly late in the first half, then Thompson himself buried a jumper a little over two minutes into the third quarter, and suddenly the Heat were up 61-58 at Chase Center, chasing a fourth win in five games after an 0-4 start to the season. Then Stephen Curry woke up, and the whole night changed. Curry had been quiet by his standards, 2-of-10 from the field and 1-of-5 from three at halftime, and the Warriors had barely kept pace. What followed was one of those third quarters that explains why arenas still hold their breath every time he crosses half court. Curry poured in 11 points during an 18-3 Golden State run, including two threes and three free throws after being fouled on a 25-foot attempt, and by the time the quarter was done the Warriors had turned a three-point deficit into a 15-point lead. He finished the night with 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting, six threes, 22 of them after the break on 7-of-9 shooting, and he sat out the closing minutes with the game already decided, one point short of a fourth straight 30-point game. The defence was just as telling as the shooting. Draymond Green spent the night as Giannis Antetokounmpo's shadow, and the numbers tell the story of that duel: Antetokounmpo had 16 points and 10 rebounds in the first half, then managed just four points after the break on 1-of-4 shooting, finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds but never finding the rhythm that has carried Miami's offence. Green added a season-high 11 assists of his own, the kind of line that never makes the highlight reels but wins games like this one. It was not a one-man show, either. Yaxel Lendeborg, the rookie who has become one of the early stories of this Warriors season, put up 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals, and the Golden State bench outscored Miami's reserves 53-27, with Georges Niang adding 13 and Brandon Williams and Will Richard 10 apiece. Charles Bassey blocked three shots in just 14 minutes. The Warriors shot 53 percent from the field and made 16 of 41 threes, and they outrebounded the Heat 44-39. For Miami, Davion Mitchell led the way with 22 points and eight assists, 16 of them in the fourth quarter when the game was already slipping away, and Bam Adebayo added a quiet 18 and 10. Thompson, the hero of Wednesday night, finished with 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting in his reunion with his old team, and Andrew Wiggins, facing his former club as well, managed just two points. The Heat drop to 3-6 and continue their five-game West Coast trip in Sacramento on Sunday. The Warriors, now 6-3 and winners of six straight since that winless start, host Orlando on Saturday night, and right now they look like a team that has found itself again.