After their painful defeat the day before at Madison Square Garden, Erik Spoelstra’s players presented themselves very weakened at the Barclays Center. Still no Tyler Herro, but also no Duncan Robinson, nor Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo, absent for this back-to-back, third match played in four days by Miami.
A boon for Brooklyn, certainly deprived of Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas, but less weakened.
The Nets, who had three consecutive defeats, will quickly succeed in exploiting Erik Spoelstra’s experimental rotations. Spencer Dinwiddie quickly takes stock of the area, with Cameron Johnson at the end of the chain. The strong winger is already at 12 points after the first 12 minutes (26-22).
Clumsy in the first quarter, it was then Mikal Bridges who took over from his “twin” with 11 points in the second quarter. To allow the Nets to widen the gap (63-53) at halftime.
Brooklyn will not look back, even if Caleb Martin, Kevin Love and Jaime Jaquez Jr. do not give up the match. Mikal Bridges continues to split the racket to finish at the circle and the Nets’ lead increases inexorably. Enough to afford a quiet end to the match (112-97) and put an end to this bad series of three consecutive defeats.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– Erik Spoelstra tinkers as best he can. Without his four best scorers (Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson), the coach tried to tinker with what he had left. Logically insufficient, while Haywood Highsmith was injured in the fourth quarter. But the Heat was too weakened to hope to make weight, with a suffering attack which failed to exceed 100 points scored.
– Spencer Dinwiddie’s readings. Miami’s only chance was to turn this match into a battle of the trenches, banking on the Nets’ external clumsiness. But Brooklyn found solutions against the Florida zone, with Spencer Dinwiddie who made the right reads at the head of the racket. The leader thus finished the match with a double-double, with 14 points and 11 assists, therefore receiving congratulations from his coach.
How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D=defensive rebound; T = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Pts = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
