Story byIra Winderman, South Florida Sun-SentinelTue, January 20, 2026 at 5:31 AM UTC·5 min readThe runway was there for the Miami Heat to take flight in the first game of their five-game western swing, with Draymond Green out, Jimmy Butler injured and Stephen Curry in foul trouble for the Golden State Warriors. But on a night Bam Adebayo could not regain his newfound offensive confidence, there wasn’t enough for Erik Spoelstra’s team, with the Heat falling 135-112 Monday night at Chase Center. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Our decision-making was not great tonight, and they made us pay for that,” Spoelstra said. Even with Green sitting out with an ankle injury, Butler lost early in the third quarter with a knee injury and Curry forced to the bench early in the fourth with his fifth foul, the Warriors thrived with what they have done during their best of times — death by 3-pointers, closing 24 of 51 from beyond the arc. It was Golden State’s fourth consecutive game with at least 20 3-pointers, tying the NBA record set by the Boston Celtics in 2023-24 and tied by the Cleveland Cavaliers last season.“It was one of our poor defensive games in a long time,” Spoelstra said. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCurry closed with 19 points, comfortably sitting after that fifth foul, with Golden State’s greatest concern being Butler’s right knee. The Heat got 21 points from Norman Powell and 18 from Andrew Wiggins, but only four from Adebayo, who closed 1 of 13 from the field. Both teams were shorthanded, with Tyler Herro remaining behind in Miami due to a rib injury. The game opened a five-game western swing for the Heat that continues Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings, before the Heat move on for games at the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz at Phoenix Suns.“This is a disappointing loss. That’s what it is,” Spoelstra said. “But we don’t have time to dwell on it as much as we would like to go over all the different things that we could have done better.
