Warriors beat Heat 120-100 at home to stretch win streak to six

The Golden State Warriors beat the Miami Heat 120-100 at home for their sixth win in a row, as ESPN reported. The win moves Golden State to 6-3, three games over .500 after the team opened the season 0-3.

The 20-point margin ties the Warriors' biggest win of the season, matching the 134-114 result at Denver that started the streak. Holding Miami to 100 points was also the second-best defensive night of the year, behind only the 112-95 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

The opening week looked very different. Golden State lost 127-105 at the Lakers, 111-108 at home to Memphis and 131-122 at Phoenix. In those three games the Warriors allowed 123 points a night and scored about 112. Over the six-game streak they have scored nearly 121 a night and allowed 108. That works out to an average winning margin of almost 13 points, or plus-77 over the stretch.

The streak has also settled two of those early losses. The Warriors beat the Lakers by 17 at home and then edged Phoenix 116-113 in the game before Miami, the closest finish of the run. The only other single-digit margin in the streak was the 119-114 win at Minnesota. After nine games Golden State has outscored opponents by 43 points in total.

What it means for Saturday against Orlando

The Warriors host the Orlando Magic on Saturday, November 7, with a chance to make it seven in a row. Home games have mostly gone their way so far. Golden State is 4-1 at home, and the only loss was the three-point game against Memphis in the first week. The Warriors are 2-2 on the road.

The main question for Saturday is whether the defense holds up. In the three losses, opponents scored freely. Since then, only Minnesota and Denver have topped 113 points, and Golden State won both of those road games anyway. If the Warriors keep opponents near the 108 points a night they have allowed during the streak, their offense has had plenty of cushion. They have reached 112 points in every game of the run.

Orlando will be the fourth straight opponent to visit San Francisco. That means another night at home for a team that has won its last four there by an average of 13 points. The level will be clearer once the schedule turns and the Warriors go back on the road, where they were split 2-2 in the first two weeks. For now, a team that started 0-3 has run off six straight wins, and Saturday's game decides whether that turns into a seventh.