The shorthanded Miami Heat, who were missing 4 key rotation players, came into Golden State and dominated the Warriors with a 114-102 win.
That’ll do it in Golden State for tonight. Short handed Heat dominant from beginning to end and close out Warriors 114-102
Miami will improve to 19-12🔥
Herro led with 26/7, Bam 17/11 double double, JJJ 17/6/5, Cain 18/6 off the bench
‘Culture’ type of win tonight… next man…
— Hot Hot Hoops (@hothothoops) December 29, 2023
The Heat have won 4 straight games, 8 of the last 10 and improve to 19-12 on the season as the struggling Warriors dropped to 15-16.
Tyler Herro bounced back shooting wise with an efficient night and led the Heat in scoring. He finished with a statline of 26 PTS, 7 RBS and 10/18 from the field including 3 three‘s.
In the last 5 games, ‘Headband Herro’ is averaging:
26.2 PPG
6.2 RPG
3.6 APG
49% FG
45% 3P
82% FTWould’ve been an easy All-Star choice had that ankle injury not taken place. pic.twitter.com/89tZXGqggp
— Hot Hot Hoops (@hothothoops) December 29, 2023
Jaime Jaquez Jr. showcased his all around game with a 17/6/5 statline as a starter.
Bam Adebayo also had a 17 point, 11 rebound double double.
The real storyline of the night though was this Miami squad once again embracing the ‘next man up’ mentality.
Undrafted two-way talent Jamal Cain had an opportunity tonight and put his fingerprints all over this win off the bench. Cain had 18 PTS and 6 RBS on 50% shooting and a +7 on the court.
Shoutout to Jamal Cain tonight
Scrapping on the offensive boards, everywhere on defense, spot-up 3’s, off-ball cuts, and just such an impactful game
18 points on 50% shooting
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) December 29, 2023
With Caleb Martin sidelined with an ankle injury, Cain provided that lengthy one on one defense against the smaller Stephen Curry.
Curry struggled shooting, with just 13 PTS and 3/15 from the field.
There was also a Nikola Jovic sighting in the Bay, as the young sophomore got playing time and was super productive in his minutes.
Jovic had 11/3/3 in only 20 minutes and a +10. He even had some nice defensive highlights including taking a charge against Curry in the 4th quarter.
RJ Hampton also held his own in his first Miami Heat start at PG in place of Kyle Lowry, who sat out this game due to soreness again. Hampton did a great job at playmaking and getting to the rim.
Miami shot 48% to Golden State’s 42%, 32% to 24% from deep and won the rebounding battle by a slim margin of 44-43.
The real impressive part of the night truly was the defense. Miami forced the Warriors into 13 turnovers compared to the Heat’s 7. Coach Spoelstra did a good job at switching from zone defense to man to man throughout the game.
They will now travel to Utah for a 5:00 PM ET game on Saturday.
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So it appears that og, precious, and flynn got traded to raptors for rj, quickly, and second round pick. The trade seems neutral to me, but I’ll give a slight edge to raptors on the trade. Sure knicks starting lineup got better, but there bench will be trash now, With no playmakers or scorers, precious can get better though. They might make another trade. Raptors got younger, also probably found there future pg, and sf. Quickly will get more minutes, and rj will get the ball in hands more if they put him on , also he get to go home to Canada. I went to raptors blog and they seem a lil more happier about the trade then the knicks. Raptors I think will make another trade to depending on if pascal wants to leave or not. Who y’all think won the trade?
saw something on msn,com had us trading turtle dunc and picks for kawhi.said it would happen very soon.
It wont happen. Kawhi should cost much more.
I wish! When healthy, one of the best.
If you are into shot mechanics that kind of stuff, here are my further observations after seeing the players shoot up close in game and during warmups/halftime.
– There is a significant difference between Steph/Klay/Duncan/(may be Herro too, but I didn’t watch him shoot warm up shots) and other players about the way they shoot 3s. All of them put A LOT of wrist-generated backspin to the ball. Never realised how much it was until I watched it in person.
– I could tell 80% whether the ball would go in when the ball left the shooter’s hand.
– Klay shoots with a surprisingly wide stance, wider than my impression from watching videos, and his body kinda rigid when shooting.
– There is a fluidity and ease of shooting that Duncan demonstrated that I could not feel when watching highlight videos. He is not tensing up any part of his body when shooting. He hit almost all of his warmup shots with so much “casualness”. I like watching him shoot more than Klay.
– Steph is just magical in his own. There is no extra information I could make out of watching him shoot live. Still don’t understand how he did it.
– Jaime missed all but one of his halftime warmup 3s. He obviously did not put enough arc when putting those shots up, but he hit the crucial one in 4th qtr, so no complaints.
– K Love has a very strange wrist flip to the left.
Its a skill, and some can learn it with ease, others with hard work.
Steph is in his own league, of course.
Looking at the competition star players not in order of importance..
I listed the players and not the team, because to beat the team you need to understand how the team uses her/his star players.
no Luka on the list.
I only placed players that the Heat are likely to play on their way to the NBA Finals. Luka belongs to the western conference, I doubt Dallas will make it to the West NBA finals. Denver, Lakers, and less likely Warriors and Clippers are my bet for the West conference finalists. As a player Luka is same as Murray, an excellent shooter, high IQ, big and quick.If I think Dallas will be the Western conference finalist, Luka definitely will be on the list.
If you notice most of the players are in the eastern conference on the path of the Heat to be Eastern conference championship.
Ta, ta, ta, ta,,… how good this Heat is , I hear from the comments below. Have I not always insisted that the team is fine?
I am starting to believe a little. It is hard to believe that we can do something no other team does to as much extent, supplement our line-up with G Leaguers who really fill in some important roles. But Cain’s performance really gave me hope that maybe he is a player who can help us in one of our areas of weakness. And with the emergence of Jaime, who has certainly proven he belongs, and improvements in Duncan and Tyler’s game, and JRich giving us a little more guard depth, and Bryant and ORob helping a little at center, we are closer to having enough than I previously thought. Closer, but I would still welcome further strengthening of our team at least by the trade deadline. Yes, I think now we can say we are a good team, but could we go deep in the playoffs with this team?- maybe, but I still think not.
Funny tweet by Bill Simmons 😆:
“2023 Redraft. Jaquez is 3rd or 4th. Wemby 1. 1 think Brandon Miller’s 2.
Jaquez is 3. Cason
Wallace is 4th. The Jaquez thing is unreal. It makes me so mad. I can’t believe [the Heat] did it again.
They landed Bam 13th, Herro 14th & Jaquez 18th.
I hate their guts.”-@BillSimmons
Bleacher report says 4th, behind Wembi, Miller and Thompson. But he outplayed Miller in direct matchup and Thompson is a part of record breaking team in losing.
He can be no 2. Even Wendy shouldnt be safe. But thats NBA. Hype over everything else.
holmgren 2
Coz no team has the development program, plus scouting strategy, like the Heat. Everyone’s relying on pure talent but lazy to develop players. Yeah Riley has “lost” his touch 😝
….hope you know that the real incentives though for the Heat is the economics and is working out great so far….
Simmons is a bum, the list should be chet, jjj, wemby, then 4th is Miller. JJJ is more clutch, leads heat in minutes played, and helps the team win games.
I can’t wait for this team to get fully healthy because, when it does, look out.
This is a really good Miami Heat squad.
PS What a draft pick Jaquez has turned out to be.
Absolutely Outstanding.
Let’s Go Heat!
cains got to be a rotation player.athleticism.height.offensive rebounder.defense,scorer.5 tool player way i see it.how can u not give him minutos.better than hh or caleb i believe .play him .jovic looked good to just need pt.i liked the way he defended believe it was curry moved his feet well stayed in front of curry that was impressive on the defensive end.his offensive game has everytool in the box.the future after jimmy looking good
Amongst many quality efforts by our players last night, one stands out, IMHO. Tyler raised his game even further. He made some shots that were truly remarkable. He has skills up there with the best offensive players in the league. We talk about how much Duncan has improved, and he has. But Tyler is a much better player too. He can create his own shot on just about anyone, and his midrange jumper is now deadly accurate. His ceiling has risen again.
Hard to disagree, but ‘someone’ has argued that Herro is an average player (Bam too). I said then, and now again, that Bam and Herro are definitely NOT average players by any measure.
up until this year never shot over 45%.10 games does not make a season .hes fresh now lets see in feb march what tys putting up.he usually gets hurt rc.lets hope he doesnt and if he continues shooting 49% at end of season he will be considered a good player,good player would be a top 15-25 player.out of top 25 avg to above avg.everything is relative
Again, entirely ridiculous. Only the top 25 players are ‘good’??? No bro, the top 25 players in the NBA are GREAT PLAYERS. Below that you have very good players, below that good players, below that fair, then marginal, then busts. Herro has been a good to very good player since he got here. Same for Bam.
(From the guy who knows talent and wanted to throw Jaquez and Jovic into the Lillard deal because ‘they may never be any good’. Uh-huh)
You know folks wanted to throw every thing except Spo, Bam and Butler in for Damien, haha!
Wrong l they wanted to throw Spo in too. 😆
the way I usually classify players is mvp (top 5-10 player), all-star (top 25-30 player), quality starter (top-50ish), or playoff rotation player (top-100ish).
Jimmy is an all-star that plays like an MVP in the playoffs.
Bam is a no-brainer all-star that will probably never be an MVP, but he could be DPOY.
Herro was a playoff rotation player as a rookie, that eventually won 6MOY. He was a quality starter by last year, and now he’s getting close to all-star status.
Duncan was a playoff rotation player that has been playing like a quality starter all year.
Jamie is a rookie and he is already a quality starter. I think he could probably be an all-star in the next few years if he continues to get better.
Caleb is probably the only other guy that is a no-brainer playoff rotation player on this roster.
The rest of the guys on this team are average or below average players, but a good coach that puts those guys in the right role can turn them into playoff rotation guys, and fortunately for the Heat, the have MVP level coach and GM
Agree 100%
My definition of average player:
A player no team with think twice having is not an average player.
Probably the best game this year. Great defence, and solid offence.
Really nice to see Cain, RJ and Jovic playing.
btw defense and offense
English is such a weird language. Defence and offence sounds better to me.
ok heat bro
The only Heat game I was keen to watch a replay after watching the live game.
The Warriors clearly missed Green.
I did not see much of single, double or sometimes triple screens set by warriors for Steph which Green usually initiates.Also did not see Warrior players backing off Heat players in the paint for rebounds, another specialty of Green for the Warriors.It was fast tempo from the beginning to the end for the Warriors as they like to play 2 to1 against their opponents. The Heat were prepared too.Green sometimes slows the tempo for the Warriors then suddenly he will speed up things to catch the Opponents unguarded.There were a lot of missed assignments by the Warriors on defense, which is usually directed by GreenI am not saying the Warriors lost because Green did not play, but I did notice his absence on the court. No wonder, his coach always talk about the little things he does on the court to help them win games. I call Green the coach/player on the court.
def right on that.dude should be banned from the game though for life
lol!
SKYFORCE WIN!
First things first, shoutout to Cain and Jovic, those two BALLED OUT tonight. It’s funny, after Duncan and Highsmith, there are no other Skyforce guys in the regular rotation. I know I’m not the only person on HHH to bang this drum, but I’ve been asking to see more of Cain and Jovic all season, and they did not disappoint. Even RJ Hampton looked good. Really wish Dru Smith could be out there with them. There was a Cole Swider sighting in garbage time.
For the varsity team, they were all good enough. I think the final phase for Tyler is turning into the player the Heat can go to when they need a bucket in a tight game. At this point, his defense is good enough. If he can develop into that, the Heat can win a title. Bam is getting back into his rhythm. Jamie had an off night, but is developing better chemistry with Tyler and Bam. Love is great.
One last observation, and please, PLEASE, don’t take this the wrong way:
I really like this Miami Heat team and don’t want them to trade anyone. Maybe make a move around the edges, like maybe J-Rich and Skyfore guy and a pick for a really good non-all-star type of dude. I’m happy with no trades until the offseason.
But that said, if the Heat were going to trade a rotation player, I would trade Jimmy Butler before I trade Bam, Herro, or Jamie. Not because they’re better, Jimmy Butler is awesome and he’s a top-5 player in Heat history if he gets traded tomorrow. Retire his jersey, give him a standing ovation every time he plays in Miami, only trade him to a contender like the Lakers or Thunder.
My point is that the Heat have a great young core of Bam, Herro, and Jamie, and all three of them together make $70 million against a $180 million luxury tax. The trio of Butler, Lowry, and Duncan make more than them. Lowry is expiring. Duncan is good enough for $20 million. If you turn Jimmy Butler into “assets and cap space”, this Heat team is looking at a bright future.
All that said, don’t trade Jimmy Butler. Don’t trade anyone.
The Heat are Going to Win the Championship This Year.
oh yeah, one other observation, credit to the Warriors broadcast team:
Heat closing lineup was Tyler, Bam, Duncan, Cain, and Jaquez.
Two Kentucky one-and-done guys, Three Four-Year-Seniors.
Three drafted in the teens, two undrafted.
True tonight and forever: tanking is for suckers and Pat Riley deserves a statue
I agree with you on most, maybe all points. I mentioned during the game that I really like the idea of a nucleus of Bam, Herro, Jaquez, Caín, Jovic, and possibly Hampton (jury still out, but I think he can at least come off the bench).
I am a big Butler fan and have really gained respect for him since he got here. But I am a much bigger Heat fan! I am opposed to gutting the team and the youth and available draft picks for a shot at a title that might happen and might not. I’d rather have a team like the former Spurs that made the playoffs 20 years in a row and picked up 5 championships along the way. They did it by building a nucleus of youth, adding key pieces, and getting lucky with picks like Duncan and Leonard.
This isn’t to say I’m against a trade. I’m not. But if we’re going to trade someone like Herro and picks and other players, it better be for a Donovan Mitchell or similar player who would be a game changer.
Also, I hope the Heat do not give Butler a crazy $200+ million dollar extension he will soon be eligible for. I think that would be a huge mistake.
A point to ponder. What if Heat win it all? And playoff Butler showed up and asked for big $$$? For me, if it happens (really hope it does 😁) id give him 2 yrs near max. Is that possible? Inquiring for a friend 😝😆
Good question. It seems most super max contracts are for 4 years. 2 years in that scenario, I’d say it would seem reasonable. 4 years – no.
I don’t know if I would even want to trade Herro for a Donovan Mitchell level player right now. They’re putting up similar stats (Herro is a way better 3-point shooter), Mitchell gets paid way more and is due a much bigger contract. And that’s before you factor in the Heat throwing in a couple draft picks and a couple more players to make the contracts match.
I’m not saying the Heat should never trade Tyler Herro for an all-star guard. But based on his trade value from the Dame trade, and the way he’s playing this year, I think the Heat should wait to see how this season plays out before they even think about trading him.
Either the Warriors were really, really bad or the Heat were really, really good or both. The only Heat game ever, that I watched both the live game and replay afterwards.
Magnificent win by the heat, we shutdown there win streak, straight up dismantled them in the 2nd half. The D was impressive, we held curry,klay,and Wiggins to below 14, curry with his 2nd lowest scoring output of the season, just straight embarrassed them at home. We was just too fast and athletic for them. I’m gonna focus on the young guys starting with Cain. He played the best game of his young career, had so much energy tonight, also played some stifling D on whoever he guarded(mainly steph, and paul). Cain was killing them in the paint with the O.Hampton got his first start for the heat, he played good, had some very good active D with his length, and showed his speed on some of his layups, even hit a middy. Jovic played very well too. He started out rough the first few minutes, but then calmed down. He made plays offensively, and defensively. Also I love when he runs the fastbreak or in transition with the ball in hands… so dynamic. Last but not least JJJ, I feel like im running out of things to say about him, he’s so darn good. IQ off the charts for a rookie, he outplayed his rookie counterpart.. podz on the warriors. Also led the team with 6 assists, he was looking like a good pg. P S WE DIDNT BLOW A 4TH QUARTER LEAD LOL.
I was watching the Warriors broadcast, and when it was close in the third, they mentioned the Heat habit of blowing 4th quarter leads. Flip side, they’re better at that since Herro and Bam came back.
Well they definitely jinx it after mentioning our 4th quarter blown leads. Also I noticed that team isn’t the same without draymond, and klay looks washed ..mainly defensively. Cp3 ain’t the same, jjj is already better then kuminga. Wiggins isn’t the same compared to the last 2 years. Even kerr looks kinda overrated. That team needs a trade more then us.
A lot of observations after watching the game:
1: Watching the game up close is so different from watching league pass; there were just so many more details to the game that I could pick up.
2: I was an hour early to the game, and I saw Steph missing a lot of warm up shots. This is just not his night.
3: Miami’s defense really shone in this one, pressuring the perimeter, and the zone absolutely threw them off. But Warriors just missed shots — a lot of layups that I thought were very makable.
4: Watching the game from behind the basket made me understand more about the decision making of the players — like why Herro seemed to be forcing shots (and making them tonight), and why Duncan was left in the game for so long even if he is not taking and making many shots.
5: The Heat played the bully ball tonight, always hunting for post ups on mismatches.
Good insight. Really big difference on court circumstances that’s why we cnt just judge teams actions, reactions, coaches’ decisions, etc.
To further elaborate on point 4:
Usually we run plays and hunt for mismatches or cuts. But warrior’s defense is very good at preventing cuts (them being a good team at doing that too), and as the clock is winding down, Herro’s 1-on-1 might be the best option.
Duncan (my favorite player!) was not making shots tonight, but his missed shots were not hurting the team. I was not looking at the box score at the game. When I looked it up later, it didn’t feel like he took 6 3s. His newly-found ability to drive and probe did open up more options. More importantly, his decision-making speed and accuracy on offense is absolutely above RJ, Cain, Jovic, etc.
JJJ’s ability and love to finish through contact will take him a long way in the league.
All good observations.
Duncan is my favourite player too, though he has a lot of competition now.
What is you observation on Cain, RJ and Jovic?
They all played hard-nosed defence, had their good moments and hit shots — exactly what we want them to do. But they are not initiators yet, like what our main guys are doing. Speaking of which, JJJ is crazy on that regard as a rookie, initiating actions understanding the game.
Thank you. Great observations.
One of my favorite thing about being at live games is watching the guys on the bench react to their teammates. Did you notice if the vets on the bench were cheering for the G-League guys?
I’m on the other side of the court, but I did catch Jimmy and Co. standing up and cheering Jovic’s first-made bucket!
Nice, cool to hear the vets are rooting for Jovic
For the first time, the play of several reserves, plus the vets, has given me more hope than I previously had for this team. I don’t know how Spo and the staff does it, but this was an impressive, highly encouraging win.
Great win with four rotation players out. Miami definitely has one of the deepest benches in the league. Everyone always ready to step up to keep things going. Notice how our reinforcements all played good defense when it was needed. Warriors’ two highest scorers, Curry and Thompson scored 13 points each. Unbelievable!!!
GO HEAT!
And a “rumor” was being peddled… Thompson for JJJ, Dunc, Jovic 😳🙄
Warriors are done. No mas. Zilch. Nada. Wala na. Hasta la vista baby!
when you consider the contract, Jamie Jaquez must be one the most untradable players in the league.
Great to see the young men get playing time and really contribute to the win.
Great win! Cain can! Lets win the last game of the year in Utah