“We arrived with the state of mind of a playoff game. » With this sentence, Cameron Johnson summed it all up. The Nets really needed to approach a game with this will because the last few days had been very tough.
Already because the franchise remained on five losses in a row. Then because, for lack of victory, the Nets had lost their sixth place, the last directly qualifying for the playoffs.
It was therefore necessary to react, and quickly. Therefore, what better than to face the new owners of this sixth place, the Heat, and in Miami moreover?
“We had to win this game”assures Cam Johnson at the New York Post. “It was the closest thing to a playoff game, with significant consequences, at this stage of the season. It was a crucial meeting for us. We tried to win it. »
The Nets will make the difference in the second half, which will be totally dominated with the score of 64-31! Max Strus and his teammates had feasted in the first half, but the Brooklyn defense will then stifle them.
“We remained calm and serene at half-time. We didn’t tremble and that’s good,” commented Jacques Vaughn. “We stayed together and that’s the most important thing”, insists Mikal Bridges. “We did a remarkable job to get back on track. We need every game and this one in particular. We fought, we gave it our all. »
Brooklyn, the Heat’s pet peeve
Therefore, this authoritative success of the Nets makes it possible to break the black series and take back the sixth place.
The gap is still small (0.5 victory) with Miami but Brooklyn is in front, and in the event of a tie with the Florida franchise, the Nets will have the “tiebreaker”, with a record of three wins in three games against the Heat.
But Jacque Vaughn doesn’t want to think about all that yet… “We need a dynamic, confidence, the assurance that we can get there”, does he list for SNY. “No need to complicate things more than that. »
As Darvin Ham can support him on the Los Angeles side, the Nets coach does not plan. He is only aiming for the next match, no further. “It’s like March Madness: one game and that’s it. I do not discuss the ranking with my group. We take the days one after the other. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Kevin Durant | 39 | 36.0 | 55.9 | 37.6 | 93.4 | 0.4 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 5.3 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 29.7 |
| Kyrie Irving | 40 | 36.9 | 48.6 | 37.4 | 88.3 | 1.0 | 4.2 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 27.1 |
| Mikal Bridges | 18 | 34.5 | 49.7 | 39.8 | 90.0 | 0.9 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 2.4 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 25.8 |
| Spencer Dinwiddie | 18 | 35.5 | 42.2 | 29.9 | 80.0 | 0.4 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 8.4 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 18.0 |
| Cameron Johnson | 17 | 30.7 | 42.2 | 33.9 | 82.4 | 0.6 | 4.1 | 4.8 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 15.8 |
| Nicholas Claxton | 68 | 29.6 | 70.0 | 0.0 | 52.9 | 2.4 | 6.8 | 9.2 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 12.5 |
| cam thomas | 52 | 16.6 | 43.7 | 37.5 | 85.8 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 10.3 |
| Seth Curry | 55 | 20.8 | 46.1 | 40.7 | 97.9 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 9.6 |
| Tj Warren | 26 | 18.9 | 51.0 | 33.3 | 81.8 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 9.5 |
| Royce O’Neale | 69 | 32.0 | 39.0 | 39.3 | 73.1 | 0.7 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 3.7 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 8.9 |
| Joe Harris | 66 | 21.5 | 45.9 | 42.8 | 62.5 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 7.8 |
| Edmond Sumner | 48 | 14.4 | 45.7 | 35.7 | 92.9 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 7.4 |
| Ben Simmons | 42 | 26.3 | 56.6 | 0.0 | 43.9 | 1.0 | 5.3 | 6.3 | 6.1 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 6.9 |
| Dorian Finney Smith | 19 | 28.0 | 31.6 | 26.1 | 81.3 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 6.3 |
| Dru Smith | 5 | 11.3 | 52.0 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 6.2 |
| Patty Mills | 38 | 13.5 | 42.0 | 38.2 | 91.3 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 6.1 |
| Yuta Watanabe | 50 | 17.0 | 50.7 | 45.7 | 75.6 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 5.9 |
| Day’ron Sharpe | 39 | 11.4 | 53.2 | 54.5 | 62.2 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 4.0 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 4.6 |
| Markieff Morris | 27 | 10.6 | 40.2 | 40.8 | 100.0 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 3.6 |
| David Duke | 18 | 9.6 | 45.9 | 12.5 | 55.6 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 3.4 |
| Kessler Edwards | 14 | 5.7 | 25.0 | 16.7 | 50.0 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| Nerlens Noel | 3 | 14.4 | 16.7 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 1.0 |
| Alondes Williams | 1 | 5.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
