March 28, 2024

Miami Heat Beat the Brooklyn Nets in a Squeaker 102-98

Brooklyn Nets guard Wayne Ellington defends against Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade at Barclays Center Brooklyn Nets guard Wayne Ellington defends against Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade at Barclays Center Photo Credit: Kathy Willens/AP

For the Nets, their effort couldn’t have been more inspiring

The last time Dwyane Wade visited the Brooklyn Nets, he broke their hearts-hitting clutch shots late, and the Miami Heat escaped with a 104-98 win. On Tuesday night, post-winter storm Jonas, Wade did it again. The old pro, like he’s displayed his entire career, he hit big shots late, leading the Heat to a narrow 102-98 victory over the Nets.

With 1:35 left in the 4th quarter, Wade lost Thaddeus Young on a screen set by Chris Bosh, as he made his way to the basket, uncovered. Luol Deng found him, Wade went up for the layup and finished, despite being fouled by Wayne Ellington, increasing what was a one-point 94-93 lead to 97-93 adding the free-throw. Moments later, the Nets would turn the ball over, one of their 16 TOs for the night and Wade made them pay.

He evaded Ellington, dribbled to the right side of the three-point arc, met Brook Lopez on the switch and drained a step-back mid-range jumper, giving the Heat a 99-93 advantage with 1:04 left in the 4th. Ten seconds later, Donald Sloan (10 points) would hit a three to make things interesting, pulling the Nets to within three, 99-96 but to no avail. Wade and Bosh scored 27 apiece, team highs, and rookie Justise Winslow impressed with 13 points and seven rebounds.

“Typical CB, typical D-Wade,” said Lopez who finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.“You know, they do just a great job of moving the ball constantly on offense. You can tell they’re composed, regardless of the score.”

For the Nets, their effort couldn’t be more inspiring. The Nets won the 1st half, shooting 55 percent from the field and from three, heading into halftime with a 57-51 lead. In the third, the Heat responded and the Nets started to see their lead and momentum transfer to the opposing bench.

“I thought offensively we struggled in the second half,” Nets head coach Tony Brown said post-game. “I think our pace slowed down, and the ball didn’t move as freely as it did in the first half.”

The turnovers didn’t help either.

At the half, the Nets had three TOs. They finished with 16, including four in the first five minutes of the 3rd quarter, coupled with bad shooting, which helped the Heat start the 2nd half on a 10-1 run. After Bosh’s three with a little over eight minutes left in the 3rd gave the Heat their first lead of the game, 60-58 since 6-4 early in the 1st quarter, the Heat never looked back.

They took control of the 2nd half and the Bosh and Wade duo made sure the Nets wouldn’t have another upset win like they did against OKC. Like the Nets, Miami has been struggling as of late, and before wins against the Chicago Bulls, their previous game, and the Nets tonight, Wade and co. endured a four-game losing streak.

“It’s just important to come out here and get a win,” Wade said in the visitors locker-room following the win. “It wasn’t about backing up what happened in Chicago. We’re a team that lost four in a row.” He continued: “We had to go all the way into the bottom of the bag tonight to be able to pull this out, but we were able to.”

Thaddeus Young scored 12 points, Joe Johnson added 15 and Andrea Bargnani came off the bench to score a team-high 20.

The Nets did beat OKC not too long ago and although they competed against the Heat, Brown expressed that there are no moral victories and at the end of the day the Nets want to win games.

Their next shot comes this Friday @ the Dallas Mavericks.

Gregory Alcala

Gregory Alcala is a reporter for What's The 411Sports, a weekly sports news and commentary television show. He is What's The 411Sports' primary reporter covering the Brooklyn Nets. Greg is very passionate about sports and welcomes the challenge of speaking about a variety of sports including his main interest in professional basketball and baseball. 

Greg gained his initial career experience at St. Francis College, as one of the founding members of the Terriers Sports Network (TSN). He is responsible for shooting live sporting events, reporting news for packages and broadcast production duties. Additionally, Greg maintains his own sports blog entitled, "Sports N' Thoughts," where he develops sports related articles and posts video content for public consumption.

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