The Miami Heat, playing with a short bench, defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-102 on Thursday night, led by Tyler Herro’s 26 points and seven rebounds. This was the Heat’s fourth straight victory.

Due to a strained left calf, Heat star forward Jimmy Butler missed his fourth straight game. Josh Richardson (back discomfort), Kyle Lowry (soreness), and Caleb Martin (sprained right ankle) were also out.

Miami began a five-game West Coast journey with a win thanks to 18 points and six rebounds from Jamal Cain, as well as 17 points apiece from Bam Adebayo and Jaime Jaquez Jr.

“It’s just a testament to our gratitude, the guys’ next-man-up mentality,” Herro stated. “Just coming in here and being able to fulfill guys that are out, being able to fulfill those spots.”

Coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors were expecting a difficult game, even though they knew the Heat weren’t playing at their best.

Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, stated, “They played good games, they played hard, and that’s what coach was preaching before the game: They are going to come out even harder than they would if they had their starters.”

After starting the season 1-6 at home, the Warriors had won eight straight games at Chase Center. This was their first loss in San Francisco since they were defeated by Oklahoma City on November 18. At 15-16, Golden State fell back below.500 overall.

For the Warriors, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson each scored thirteen points. Until 3:44 remained in the second quarter, Curry was kept off the scoreboard. The star guard was kept to a more submissive role by the defense and had only taken three shots before breаking through.

With 11 points apiece from Moses Moody and Andrew Wiggins, the Warriors could only muster 37 of 88 (42%) shots. Of the 33, 8 (24.2%) were made from the 3-point range.

Miami led Golden State 44–43 on the glass, while the former was leading the NBA in rebounding average per game going into the matchup. Spoelstra would like to see the Heat maintain their physicality and this particular component of their game throughout their road trip.

Erik Spoelstra, the coach of the Heat, stated that “you want to set the tone right from the get-go.” “For the most part, I thought our guys brought that kind of effort, energy, toughness and physicality.”