To put it bluntly, the Golden State Warriors had no excuse for losing to the Miami Heat on Tuesday night. The Warriors were rested: They were playing their sixth straight home game, they didn’t play on Monday, and one could argue they didn’t play on Sunday either, when they barely showed up to be chased off the field by the Sacramento Kings.

The Heat, on the other hand, not only played on Monday, but also played a double overtime that didn’t end until late at night. And they played without Jimmy Butler, who was suspended by the team.

But the Warriors didn’t care whether they had an excuse or not. They wanted to lose at all costs, and that’s how they lost.

Things started well on the defensive side of the field, with the Warriors immediately putting Miami’s offense under control. Unfortunately, the Dubs’ offense was flatter than flat. While they forced bad shots and turnovers, they settled for bad shots and made baffling decisions on that side of the court.

The game slowed down, which played into Miami’s hands. Even though things were a little hectic for Steph Curry, the Warriors were down 29-23 after one game.

Somehow they were even colder early in the second quarter. No one could find the basket until Curry finally fired a few shots into the basket. At one point, when the Warriors were trailing 42-29, Curry had shot 5-for-10 from the field…and his teammates had shot a combined 6-for-27. Curry almost single-handedly started making the score respectable before Miami ran away with it again. At halftime, the Warriors trailed 61-48, with Curry being the lone bright spot with 20 points.

The second half started ominously as Draymond Green did not return from the field until about 30 seconds into the action. Miami remained in control, but then Golden State got an unexpected boost: starting center Trayce Jackson-Davis, who began to take over the game. Despite Curry being on the bench, the Warriors got back into the game, only trailing 84-78 entering the final frame.

For a few seconds it looked like they would make it over the mountain. They came out with a fantastic defensive performance in the fourth quarter and Curry started again. A few minutes later, Miami’s lead had dwindled to a single point.

And then the Warriors forgot how to score. The Heat went on a 27-8 run that put us well into garbage time and made the fourth quarter almost completely uncompetitive. As the Warriors’ starters sulked on the bench, the buzzer sounded, signaling a 114-98 Heat victory.

Curry finished the game with 31 points despite committing four turnovers without a single assist for the second straight game. Jackson-Davis scored a season-high 19 points on 9-for-12 shooting, but Buddy Hield, who needed 12 shots to score 11 points, was the only other Warrior to score in double figures (Miami, meanwhile, had six players in action ). double digits).

The Heat shot 40.0% from three-point range and made 17 shots at the free throw line, while the Dubs shot just 28.0% and had a paltry five attempts from the charity stripe. Curry shot 8-for-17 from distance, but his teammates shot just 6-for-33 from distance.

Golden State fell to .500 and will now embark on a difficult four-game trip. Things aren’t pretty, folks.