Well that’s quite a way to right the ship.
After losing three in a row — including atrocious back-to-back losses to the Spurs and Magic — an extremely shorthanded Warriors team (48-25) provided one of the best wins of the year on Wednesday night, taking down a nearly full-strength Heat (47-26) team in South Beach, 118-104, on the second-night of a back-to-back.
It was a fairly chaotic game, one that included insane shots, monster runs from both teams and an absolute implosion on the Miami Heat bench in the third quarter.
It also included a get-right performance for Andrew Wiggins who sparked the Warriors in the third quarter, hit the game’s two clinching shots late in the fourth and dropped a total of 20 points in the second half. Jordan Poole was immense once again, dropping 30 points on 10-of-18 shooting, 7-of-13 from deep and nine assists. Damion Lee had 22 off the bench, and Jonathan Kuminga added 22 of his own in a rare start.
All four performances were sorely needed with Stephen Curry still out and Golden State sitting three key veterans. The Warriors are now three games up on the Utah Jazz — who were blown out in Boston on Wednesday — for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with nine games to play.
Here are three takeaways:
Wiggins sparks wild 3rd quarter, closes it out
Life since the All-Star break — after he was named a starter for the Western Conference — has been brutal for Andrew Wiggins. In the 10 games since Feb 24. (not including Wednesday), Wiggins was shooting 38.1%, 30.4% from 3 and 44.8% from the line, averaging just 14 points in over 32 mins per game.
Even worse, Wiggins hasn’t been able to wake up in the games without Stephen Curry, going 10-of-31 in the previous two contests.
But it was a Wiggins eruption that sparked the Warriors in the beginning of the third quarter, and kicked off one of the wildest 12 minute sequences you’ll see.
After making just one shot in the first half, Wiggins made three in a row — including two 3s — and stole a pass leading to another bucket in the opening minutes of the second half. The last of those 3s gave the Warriors a 10-point lead less than three minutes after going into halftime tied at 50. Three minutes later, they were up 19. The Heat still hadn’t scored.
The 19-0 run may have been sparked by Wiggins, but Jordan Poole also played a starring role, hitting two of the most ridiculous banked 3-pointers you’ll ever see.
The run looked like it was going to be a turning point in the game, but the Heat weren’t going down easy. Miami answered with a run of their own after Jonathan Kuminga left with his fourth foul.
In under eight minutes, Miami closed the quarter on a 30-12 run, cutting the Warriors lead back to one by the time the quarter was over. Kyle Lowry continued to be the thorn in Golden State’s side, hitting three 3-pointers in the frame, including two from over 28-feet out.
But Wiggins kept his focus in the fourth, hitting a monster and-1 layup to put the Warriors back up 10 with two minutes remaining, and then a dagger 3 on the next possession. They were two of the biggest buckets of the game, and decided the outcome.
Scheduled rest
Having lost three in a row, you might think that the last thing the Warriors needed on Wednesday was to sit their best players. Yet that is exactly what they did with Steve Kerr sticking to his resting schedule for select players on the back end of back-to-backs.
The decision to do so shrunk the Warriors rotation even more. Already without Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala — Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Otto Porter Jr. all sat. This led to a starting lineup that featured both rookies: Jordan Poole, Moses Moody, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and Kevon Looney.
As we’ve seen previously this season, the undermanned Warriors made up for their lack of numbers with incredible effort. Every starter finished with a positive plus-minus. This was against a Heat team missing only one key player in Tyler Herro. Golden State shot better than the Heat (51.9% to 43.5%) and out rebounded their much larger counterparts 38 to 26.
It was a reminder what the Warriors are capable of when playing with max effort, even when severely undermanned.
Kuminga takes Draymond’s message to heart
Draymond Green said the Warriors have been playing soft. That message seems to have gotten through to Jonathan Kuminga.
The Warriors rookie was relentless in his spot start on Wednesday, looking unstoppable attacking the rim against brick wall Bam Adebayo and one of the best defensive teams in the league. All but two of Kuminga’s nine buckets came at the cup. He finished with 22 points in 30 minutes on a combination of isolation drives and back-cuts to the rim. He also spent a good portion of the game defending the Heat’s best player in Jimmy Butler.
Unfortunately, Kuminga was a little too aggressive on the defensive end. His fourth foul in the third quarter let the Heat back in the game, and Kuminga left the game at 5:35 after getting called for his sixth foul.
Like most rookies, Kuminga still has to learn what he can get away with on the defensive end, but the value he’s providing when he’s on the floor right now is staggering for a 19-year-old.
Poole and Kuminga have the potential to turn into one of the best young combos in the NBA.