Warriors go cold against Heat in 105-102 loss at Miami.
No third-quarter surge this time as Durant’s former teammate scores 33
MIAMI — Kevin Durant’s offseason free-agency decision sent ripples across the NBA. Perhaps no player was more affected than Dion Waiters. He went from a likely $10-million-per-year Oklahoma City return to a price-slashing month in restricted free agency that eventually led to a make-good $3 million deal in Miami.
Monday, Waiters delivered a sliver of retribution for that lost money and altered career, planting a 33-point night on Durant and the Warriors, punctuated by a game-winning 3 in the final second to give the Heat a shocking 105-102 win.
“If anyone would hit a gamewinner against me, it would be Dion Waiters,” Durant said.
After a Sunday night off in Miami and a morning without shootaround, the Warriors came out predictably sluggish. Turnovers weren’t the issue. It was their shot accuracy. The Warriors started 6 of 18 from the field and quickly fell behind 24-15.
But that’s been a theme of late, even in their blowout wins. Just as in Houston on Friday or in Orlando on Sunday, the Warriors toy around with an inferior team in the first half and then blast off in the third quarter. So many of their games have followed the same script. This one seemed destined to play out similarly.
The Warriors steadied, Stephen Curry hit some shots, JaVale McGee crunched in a couple of lobs, Durant stammered down the court with his Inspector Gadget legs for some transition hoops, and the Warriors led by six, with building momentum, midway through the third quarter.
But then Waiters dropped in a tough fadeaway jumper, despite some draping Warriors defense. Then he drove and found Wayne Ellington for a dunk. Then Miami was surprisingly alive, and the Warriors didn’t respond. Behind another wave of Waiters jumpers, the Heat took a 10-point lead with under five minutes to go.
With 3:13 left, trailing 98-88, Curry drew a Hassan Whiteside foul. He hit both free throws. Coach Steve Kerr then employed the hack-a-Whiteside strategy, and it worked. The Heat big man missed both of his free throws and was then pulled from the game.
It took Golden State 16 seconds to slice the lead from 10 to five. A Durant three cut it to two.
Waiters made a 3 to bump it back to five, but the Warriors didn’t panic. Draymond Green beautifully set up Durant for a layup on a cutting lob, drawing the defense and popping it over the top. Then Curry had an equally pretty assist after a Heat miss, faking a 3 in transition and zipping it to a cutting Shaun Livingston. After a free throw, the Heat led by one with 17 seconds left.
The Warriors called timeout. This was a moment — the first time since that Memphis isolation and scream fest that Golden State had a chance to draw up a last-second shot. You figured it wouldn’t be a stagnant play. It wasn’t. Some Curry, Green action at the top of the key collapsed the defense. The ball was kicked to Durant in the corner. As the defender tried to recover, Durant pumped, didn’t settle for the jumper and zipped by him for an easy dunk to tie the game.
“We had to see a play drawn up, execute it, and the timing was there,” Curry said. “So there is some good that came of that, knowing we executed well.”
But eight seconds was plenty of time for the scorching Waiters. Durant’s former teammate dribbled the clock down, lulled Klay Thompson back and rose for the game-winning 3.
“It wasn’t good defense,” Thompson said. “I got to press up on him, make him go around me. I made a big mistake. It cost us.”
As Waiters’ rainbow ripped through the net, he landed, posed with his arms crossed and then turned to Durant. The two were close in OKC and remain in contact. They went to dinner together when the Heat were in Oakland a few weeks back.
“He gave me a little wink,” Durant said. “It sucks seeing it go through the rim. But I guess the big brother in me can smile about it after the game. He played great.”
Kerr, who officially n clinched his spot as coach of the Western Conference All-Star team, had sharp words Monday for NBA players for not taking the All-Star vote seriously.
“I am very disappointed in the players,” Kerr said. “They asked for the vote, and a lot of them just made a mockery of it ... I saw the list. I saw all the guys who got votes. There were 50 guys on there that had no business getting votes.
After years of being excluded from the process, and complaining about it, NBA players were given 25-percent control over the voting for starters.
More than 100 players didn’t cast a ballot. Others cast strange ballots. Mo Williams and Ben Simmons were among the players who received votes despite not having played a minute. Warriors reserves JaVale McGee, Ian Clark and Patrick McCaw also received votes.