Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr heaped praise on the shorthanded Miami Heat, who came up short against the Warriors in the two teams’ matchup on Monday.
Steve Kerr after the game: "That was a testament to Heat culture. That was just straight Miami Heat basketball. They've been doing this for so long with Spo and Pat Riley over the last two decades. … That was one the best performances I've seen from an undermanned team."
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) January 4, 2022
The Warriors are once again one of the best teams in the entire league. Golden State is 29-7 this season and currently sits atop the Western Conference. Klay Thompson has also yet to make his season debut, and his return will certainly make the Warriors an even better team.
The Heat were shorthanded for most of December and remain that way during the early stages of 2022. Bam Adebayo continues to recover from surgery on his thumb. Dewayne Dedmon continues to recover from a knee injury, and Markieff Morris is still recovering from whiplash after taking a shot from Nikola Jokic earlier this season.
Duncan Robinson, Marcus Garrett, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Udonis Haslem all missed the game against the Warriors due to being in the league’s health and safety protocols. Jimmy Butler recently returned from injury, but he went down during Monday’s matchup with Golden State.
Despite their injury struggles, the Heat fared pretty well in December. Miami went 10-5 during the past month, including rattling off five wins in a row to end 2021.
The Heat have now dropped two games in a row to start the new year.
Miami continues its lengthy road trip on Wednesday with a matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Heat will have another tough game with the Phoenix Suns on Saturday before ending their road trip against the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 12.
