NEW YORK — There was so much working against the Miami Heat in Brooklyn: The Heat’s fifth game in seven nights while missing three starters against a Nets team welcoming back superstar Kevin Durant from injury.
But as usual, the East-leading Heat stubbornly pushed forward to escape with a 113-107 short-handed win over the Nets on Thursday night at Barclays Center.
Overcome the absence of three starters in Jimmy Butler (left big toe irritation), Kyle Lowry (personal reasons) and P.J. Tucker (left knee pain), the Heat trailed by as many as 16 points in the second quarter.
After falling behind by 16 with 4:38 left in the second quarter, Miami closed the first half on a 19-10 run to trim the deficit to only seven entering halftime.
The Heat carried that momentum into the second half, opening the third quarter on a 21-7 run to pull ahead by seven points midway through the third quarter and take control of the game.
The Heat was in front the rest of the way, extending its lead to as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter. The Nets made a late run to cut the deficit to only two with just 2:23 to play, but that’s the closest they would get.
Center Bam Adebayo was the catalyst behind the comeback, finishing with 30 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
Max Strus got hot from three-point range, scoring 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting on threes.
Off the bench, the Heat got 27 points and eight assists from Tyler Herro and 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting from Caleb Martin.
After totaling 67 points on 57.4 percent shooting from the field and 9-of-18 (50 percent) shooting on threes in the first half, the Nets were limited to 53 points on 33.3 percent shooting in the second half as the Heat turned to its zone defense down the stretch.
Durant finished with 31 points on 10-of-21 shooting, four rebounds and four assists in his return from a sprained left MCL that forced him to miss the previous 21 games.
Along with missing Butler, Lowry and Tucker, the Heat remained without Markieff Morris (return to competition reconditioning) and Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery).
Oladipo was with the team in Brooklyn and went through a pregame workout with assistant coach Anthony Carter as he moves closer to making his season debut. The Athletic reported that the plan is for Oladipo to make his return on Monday against the Houston Rockets.
The Heat now returns to Miami to begin a season-long seven-game homestand on Saturday against Joel Embiid, James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers. The Heat plays 11 of its next 12 games at home.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Nets:
One night after the Heat wasted 14-point fourth quarter lead in a brutal one-point loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Heat narrowly held on to a lead lead on Thursday.
After extending its lead to 12 with 4:21 to play, the Nets went on a 10-0 run to cut the Heat’s lead to just two with 2:23 remaining.
Miami’s late-game offense was again shaky, as it missed five straight shots during that run.
But Adebayo came through to end that drought by hittng a five-foot jumper in traffic to push the Heat’s lead to four with 35.5 seconds to play.
Durant then missed a 6-foot jumper and Herro then took an intentional foul with 23.5 seconds remaining. Herro made both free throws to extend Miami’s lead to six and seal the win.
With three starters (Butler, Lowry and Tucker) out, the Heat used its 17th different starting lineup of the season and it featured a double-big look. It didn’t last long.
Miami started two centers in Bam Adebayo and Omer Yurtseven together along with Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson and Max Strus.
Adebayo and Yurtseven opened the game and played the first 5:57 together. But the Heat was outscored 19-8 during that stretch.
Yurtseven didn’t play again in the game, as Heat coach Erik Spoelstra opted to start Caleb Martin in Yurtseven’s place to begin the second half to surround Adebayo with four three-point shooters.
Yurtseven closed with two points and three rebounds in six minutes of action.
Before Thursday’s game, Adebayo and Yurtseven had only logged 12 minutes together this season. The Heat was outscored by two points in that limited sample.
Outscored 19-8 in first 5:57. Heat shooting 3 of 9 and 1 of 3 on threes.
The first-place Heat started four undrafted players on Thursday.
The double-big look wasn’t the only unusual aspect of Miami’s starting lineup. The Heat also started four undrafted players.
Vincent, Robinson, Yurtseven and Strus were not drafted. Adebayo was the only player in Thursday’s starting group that was drafted.
On the other side, Seth Curry was the only Nets starter who went undrafted.
While the Heat doesn’t usually start four undrafted players, it’s not as if most of them aren’t in the rotation. The only one among the four undrafted starters who hasn’t been a rotation regular this season is Yurtseven.
Durant made his return against the Heat and, as expected, he made an immediate impact.
Making his return from a sprained left MCL that forced him to miss the previous 21 games, Durant played well with 31 points on 21 shots.
Adebayo and Durant won a gold medal together as Team USA teammates last summer. On Thursday, Adebayo spent most of the night defending Durant but there wasn’t much that slowed him down.
“Where he is now in his career, you can’t game plan against him,” Spoelstra said of Durant. “There’s nothing you can do that’s going to speed him up, get him out of rhythm. He has seen literally every single coverage. He’s got every skill set, the range, the shooting touch to get wherever he wants to go on the court.”
Starting in his return, Durant scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting in his first eight-minute sting of the night.
The Nets really missed Durant, posting a 5-16 record in the 21 games he missed with the knee injury. Brooklyn fell to 25-14 when Durant has been available this season.
The Heat faced Goran Dragic for the first time since trading him to the Toronto Raptors as part of the sign-and-trade transaction for Lowry last offseason.
In a bench role, Dragic finished with nine points and seven assists against his former team on Thursday. It marked his first game against the Heat since Dec. 9, 2014, and he entered just 1-11 against Miami during his NBA career.
Before the game, Spoelstra said it would be “weird” to coach against Dragic.
“We’ll have to like rewind to what it was like to coach against him before I knew him and got to develop a relationship with him,” Spoelstra said. “But this is what the league is about. Players and usually staff members move around. He’s somebody we care about very dearly.”
How turbulent has this season been for the Nets? Dragic is the team-record-tying 19th different player to start for the Nets this season, as Brooklyn used its NBA-leading 36th different starting lineup.
Dragic, 35, signed with the Nets last month as a free agent after agreeing to a buyout with the San Antonio Spurs. The veteran guard played in just five games with the Raptors this season before Toronto announced in late November that Dragic would be taking time away from the team because of a personal matter, and he was ultimately traded to the Spurs at the Feb. 10 trade deadline.
“Overall, great human being,’ said Nets assistant coach Jacque Vaughn, who served as head coach on Thursday with Steve Nash in the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols. “Great to talk basketball with, great to have in the locker room, true professional, battle-tested. So his ability to play with Kevin, play with a smaller unit, play off the basketball and have the basketball in his hands, a luxury to have in our locker room.”
Among the Heat’s all-time leaders, Dragic ranks 10th in games played (391), eighth in shots made (2,335), sixth in three-point shots made (588), third in assists (2,034) and eighth in points (6,348). Although Dragic never won a championship in seven seasons with the organization, he’s considered one of the best point guards in Heat history.
