by Jerry Feitelberg

AFP photo: Golden State’s Stephen Curry drives past Miami’s Goran Dragic in Wednesday night’s game in Miami

They did it again. The Miami Heat were not gracious hosts as they gave the Warriors all they could handle. However, it was the Steph and Klay, down the stretch in the fourth quarter, that provided the firepower to propel the Dubs to their 51st win of the season as they beat the heat 118-112.

The Dubs did not play well in the first quarter. They shot just 30%from the floor. Miami, led by Dwayne Wade and  Hassan Whiteside had a 31-18 lead with about one second left in the period. Steph made a forty-foot three-point shot as time expired to close the gap to nine. Steph led the Dubs with fourteen points, but none of the other Warriors were playing well.

The Heat had a ten point lead with just 2:45 left in the half. The Dubs went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to four. The first half ended with the Heat leading 55-51. Curry led the Dubs with eighteen and Klay Thompson added twelve. Draymond Green had seven rebounds. The Heat’s leading scorer was Dwayne Wade with eighteen. Whiteside had fifteen points off the bench, and he was a force all game long. Rookie Josh Richardson added eight, also coming off the bench. Miami scored twelve-second chance points in the half as they outrebounded the Dubs 31-29

The second half was twenty-four minutes of terrific basketball. The Dubs trailed by one when Draymond Green made a layup to make it a 55-54 game. Steph hit a three to give Golden State their first lead of the game. The Dubs led by four 63-59, but Dwayne Wade made a three-point shot. Neither team could get anything going, and the lead changed several times before the Heat pulled slightly away as the third quarter ended with them holding a three-point advantage 83-80.

The fourth quarter was a thriller. If you like basketball, you had to love the play of both teams in the last twelve minutes of the game. There were, at least, thirteen ot fourteen lead changes. The game was tied several times, too. The Dubs’ Klay Thompson was hot, hot and hot in the fourth period. The Splash Brothers were at the top of the game in this period. Klay and Steph made several key three-point shots in the stanza. The Warriors led by three with 3:05 left in the game. Luol Deng tied the game with a three-pointer. The Dubs went ahead by one 107-106 with just sixty-five seconds left. The Heat scored a bucket to put them ahead 108-107. Steph then hit a three with twenty-four seconds left to play. Draymond made two free throws to give the Dubs the lead 112-108. The Heat made two free throws. With 18.5 seconds left, the Heat fouled Steph. Steph made the two free throws.  Klay Thompson then made the defensive play of the night to secure the win for Golden State. The Heat took a timeout so that they could put the ball in play from the forecourt. The pass to Goran Dragic was intercepted by Klay. As he headed down the court, he was fouled. The refs ruled that he”had a clear path to the basket.” He was awarded two free throws and possession. Klay made the free throws to put the Dubs in the driver seat. The Warriors win 118-112.

Game Notes- Steph Curry tied an NBA record when he made another three-point shot in the game. Curry tied Kyle Korver’s record of 127 straight games making a three-point shot. the Warriors improve to 51-5. Curry led all scorers with forty-two points, and he also made six three-point shots. Klay Thompson also had a big night.Klay tallied thirty-three and was the man in the fourth quarter. Harrison Barnes added eleven. The Heat had five players in double-figure in a losing effort. Luol Deng scored sixteen. Goran Dragic had thirteen and Josh Richardson knocked down fifteen. Dwayne Wade had a season-high thirty-two and Hassan Whiteside tallied twenty-one.

Warrior coach Steve Kerr had this to say  about his dynamic duo “when they both do it on the same night, we are tough to beat.” Kerr also said he “didn’t like the start of the game.” We”were not playing our style.”

The Warriors play the Orlando Magic Thursday night in Orlando.