Lyou Brooklyn Nets prevailed this Saturday overwhelmingly (95-110) in Miami to some Heat disoriented that, with their fourth consecutive loss, lost the East lead to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Miami Heat (47-28) handed over the top spot in the East and they did so against the Nets that continue to grow and assert themselves as big threat for the other teams in their Conference, in the event that they manage to get past the play-in and get into the playoffs.
The Brooklyn Nets (38-28) had lost their last four games against Miami, but for this Saturday they had the return of two figures after recovering from injuries, the Slovenian Goran Dragic and a brilliant Seth Curry.
The top scorer of the game was Kevin Durant with 23 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block. Andre Drummond got the double double of 13 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals. Seth Curry anot 17 pounds, Kyrie Irving 11 and Nic Claxton 10.
For the Heat, the highlight was Bam Adebayo with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 blocks. Tyler Herro y Max Struss contributed 13 points while Kyle Lowry sum 12.
Four minutes into the first half Jimmy Butler made the difference with four assists to help P.J. Tucker and Lowry will score 5 points each (15-7).
With four minutes to go in the first quarter, there was a spectacular exchange of explosive plays and spectacular dunks starring Claxton and Adebayo (23-19).
But that was little more than an anecdote on a very negative night for those in Miami, without their coach Erik Spoelstra on the bench, for personal reasons.
Durant pushes the Nets
With just over a minute to go in the first segment, one of the three Australians on the Nets, Patty Millsfrom a triple, put the New Yorkers ahead on the scoreboard after trailing for almost the entire quarter (25-26), which ended 25-27 after a Kevin Durant free throw.
The Australian Kyrie Irving, with a triple, and the Slovenian Dragic, with two, defended the advantage of the visitors (36-45), but Herro, who scored 9 points in a few minutes, tried to avoid the disaster that seemed to be coming with some More integrated Nets (38-45).
Durant got a defensive rebound, the ball passed the field and after being assisted by Irving, the Texan forward of the Los Angeles Brooklyn achieved the maximum advantage of the match so far (40-53).
The almost impenetrable Nets, faced with the Heat losing defense, finished the first half of the game 21 points up (46-65).
Durant, from free throws, reached 21 personal points two minutes into the third quarter (48-72). Center Andre Drummond hung from the basket to defend the lead a minute later (51-74).
Let’s go Heat
Seth Curry, with his third triple of the night, continued to humiliate a totally disoriented Heat (53-80) and Drummond once again imposed his strength crushing the rim to make clear the superiority of the visitors (55-82).
Claxton, from “alley oop”, and Curry, with his fourth triple, delved into a wound that Miami, losing ball after ball (21 decisive losses in the entire match), did not know how to close (57-91).
The Heat, resorting to the bench and with good performances from Caleb Martin, Dewayne Dedmon, Vctor Oladipo y Max Strus maintaining the type, they seemed to have given up the game when the third quarter concluded with 68-96.
The fourth quarter began with the Heat bench showing its face, but the Nets also have good backups and Blake Griffin He called them with three triples in a minute and a half (74-105).
With the starters of both teams resting for most of the final set, it was clear that the match was decided in favor of the visitors. The Nets enjoyed the game as a preview of a possible playoff matchup with the conference leaders that ended 92-110.