Monday night was a battle between Eastern Conference rivals, the Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets, at Barclays Center Arena. Each team played hard, fighting for a victory, but in the end it was Brooklyn who had that extra bit of fight in them as they pulled out a late win at home.
Surprisingly, Brooklyn was down a majority of the game after tipoff. Miami was putting up points like there was no tomorrow until the middle of the third quarter; it looked like Miami would get their 7th win of the season and upset Brooklyn, giving them their 9th loss.
Unfortunately for Miami, that was not the case; in the fourth quarter, two Nets players really stood out and stepped up to get their team back on top: Kevin Durant and James Harden.
Both Durant and Harden earned 20 points apiece throughout the game, but it wasn’t until it really mattered that they began scoring and taking control. Durant was responsible for multiple 3- pointers that were a critical piece to turning the game around. Meanwhile, Harden also got his numbers up with successful layups and jump shots. Working together, Durant got 13 rebounds and 5 assists, Harden with 4 rebounds and 8 assists.
It shouldn’t go unnoticed; however, the hard work Miami put in. Especially center Bam Adebayo, who got the most points the whole game between both groups (26). Despite his efforts, his team did not reciprocate and could not bounce back. Point guard Goran Dragic for Miami tried to play catch up with his teammate, coming right behind him in overall points (21), but it was just too late.
Brooklyn’s come back so late into the game was beyond impressive.
But, qat was even more impressive is their overall stats beat out Miami’s.
Brooklyn made 40% for field goals, almost 29% for three-pointers, and made an impressive 86% of their free throws. Miami panicked once they lost the lead, causing them to throw the ball away and make poor decisions when taking shots, hence why their scores went down.
Compared to Brooklyn, Miami only made 36.9% of field goals, 25.6% of three-pointers, and 70.6% of free throws.
Miami now places in 13th in the Eastern Conference while Brooklyn holds their spot at 5th.
Miami and Brooklyn each had players out with injuries, which could have been the deciding factor in this game. They had two benched players with injuries and one who was not present for other reasons. Those injuries were to power forward Chris Silva, who was out with a left hip strain, and small forward Maurice Harkless, with a left thigh contusion. Brooklyn’s only injury was to power forward Nicolas Claxton, who has been dealing with a right knee injury.
Up Next
Miami heads back home to face off against the 4th ranked team in the Western Conference, the Nuggets. During this game, Miami is looking to bounce back from a losing streak of 3. Tipoff is set for January 27th at 7:30 ET at AmericanAirlines Arena and streamed on NBA League Pass, Fox Sports Sun, and Altitude.
Brooklyn will head over to Philips Arena to play the Atlanta Hawks and continue their winning streak. This game will be on January 27th at 7:30 ET and can be seen on NBA League Pass, YES Network, and Fox Sports Southeast.
