The Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat are set to face off on Thursday night, and star forward Jimmy Butler is being listed,
as questionable on the injury report. Butler is dealing with a left calf strain that has his status in question, which is of course a big development to follow.
The Warriors have won five of their last six games, and even though they lost to the Denver Nuggets on Christmas Day, they have been playing better lately. Considering that Golden State has had a pretty up and down year thus far, this has been one of their more encouraging moments of the season.
The Heat are now 18-12, so this game versus Miami is expected to be challenging. However, if Butler is unable to play, the situation obviously alters significantly. Butler missed his third consecutive game when Miami played the Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas.
In fact, Miami has won three straight games without Butler, including thrilling victories over Philadelphia, Orlando, and Atlanta. Although Butler makes the Heat a lot better team overall, they are still a very competitive squad even without him. Whether Butler plays or not, the Warriors will still need to be ready for Miami because they need every victory they can get right now.
READ MORE…The Miami Heat defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-102 in San Francisco on Thursday night, thanks to a balanced attack headed by Tyler Herro, who finished with a game-high 26 points. The victory marked the start of a five-game Western swing.
With Jimmy Butler sidelined due to a strained right calf, the Heat maintained a four-game winning streak on the road by limiting Golden State to 24.2 percent 3-point shooting (24.2 percent total).
The Heat’s Nikola Jovic scored 11 points, Bam Adebayo and Jaime Jaquez Jr. each scored 17, and Jamal Cain added 18 points as they won despite making just 10 of their 31 3-point tries. The Heat’s percentage of shots made was 48.4%.
On the first night of a seven-game homestand, Stephen Curry struggled for the Warriors, shooting only 3-for-15. Curry and Klay Thompson each scored 13 points, which tied for the team lead in scoring, although they combined to shoot 27 percent.
Curry shot just 3-for-15, with a 2-for-8 performance on threes. Thompson had comparable results, shooting 4-for-11 overall and 2-for-6 from three.
Miami scored 36 points in the second quarter to overcome an early five-point deficit and take a 58-51 edge into the half. In the third quarter, the Heat added 33 more points to their lead of 15.
The 102 points given up matched the Heat’s fourth-lowest total of the year.
Herro went 10 for 18 overall and was responsible for three of Miami’s ten 3-pointers. He pulled down seven rebounds as well.
With 11 rebounds and a double-double, Adebayo was the game’s co-leading rebounder. Jaquez, a former UCLA star playing in his first NBA game in California, matched Adebayo’s double-figure scoring total with five rebounds and a team-high six assists.
Adebayo’s 11 rebounds was equaled by Trayce Jackson-Davis of the Warriors, who also scored 10 points.
For the Warriors, double figures came from Andrew Wiggins (11 points), Moses Moody (11), Brandin Podziemski (10), Jonathan Kuminga (10) and Dario Saric (10). The team’s point total was tied for the second lowest of the season.
