Jordan Poole scored 30 points plus had a career-best nine assists, and the short-handed Golden State Warriors scored the first 19 points of the second half on the way to beating the frustrated Miami Heat 118-104 on Wednesday night.
Damion Lee, Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins each scored 22 points for the Warriors, who got 11 points from Gary Payton II and 16 rebounds from Kevon Looney.Kyle Lowry scored 26 points, Bam Adebayo had 25, Jimmy Butler finished with 20 and Duncan Robinson had 13 for the Heat.
The Warriors were already without Stephen Curry because of a sprained left foot and Andre Iguodala with low back tightness, plus gave Draymond Green, Otto Porter Jr. and Klay Thompson the night off for injury management. “Just talking with the training staff and continuing the process of making sure our players who have been injured or who are recovering from injuries are getting the care they need and the rest they need and not subjecting them to risk,” Kerr said. “These decisions are based on process, not on the results of the previous night’s games.”
Golden State started the third quarter on a 19-0 run — capped by three 3-pointers from Poole from 31, 35 and 30 feet respectively, two of them banked in from just in front of the Heat bench to make a disastrous start even worse for Miami.