NEW YORK _ This was what Erik Spoelstra was worried about coming in.
The wounded dog taking a bite out of all that had been right for his Miami Heat.
And wouldn't you know it, just like that, the Brooklyn Nets' seven-game losing streak is over, with the Heat falling, 117-113, Friday night at Barclays Center.
"When you're a coach, you don't love it when teams are desperate and have seven straight losses," Spoelstra said, "because you understand the type of intensity and desperation."
It was a message not necessarily received by a Heat team that exited 27-11, despite 33 points from Jimmy Butler and 22 from Bam Adebayo.
Down 10 early and then up 69-57 at the half, the Heat saw the Nets push all the way back to an 89-89 tie entering the fourth, outscoring the Heat 36-12 on 3-pointers over the first three periods.
From there, the Nets moved to a 112-111 lead with 69 seconds left on a Caris LeVert 3-pointer, with Brooklyn later going ahead 114-111 on a Taurean Prince basket with 25.9 seconds to play.
A Duncan Robinson missed 3-pointer followed, effectively ending it.
With the loss the Heat fell to 10-10 on the road.
"It tough to win on the road," Spoelstra said ahead of the game. "We've had some signature wins on the road so far this year, but we're only 10-9. So after some of those wins, we've come back with, a quote, unquote, uninspiring loss. Three times we have, in particular."
Make it four.
"We have to bring the appropriate level of focus and effort, knowing how tough it is to win on the road, how difficult it has been for us to win on the road, being basically a .500 team all year," he said.
After waiting for teammates to take 17 shots in Wednesday night's victory over the Indiana Pacers before his first official attempt. Butler this time activated his offense early.
He was 5 of 5 for 11 points within the game's first five minutes, on the way to 19 in the first half.
And when fans tried to distract him in the second period with a chant of "T.J. Warren" after his Wednesday tussle with the Pacers forward, Butler made both attempts. Fans tried it again on Butler's next trip to the line _ and two more conversions followed, as part of his 9 of 9 on free throws in the first half.
It all was part of Butler's third 30-point game of the season.
