Miami Heat Escape Against Brooklyn

The Miami Heat played a tough back to back against Brooklyn Saturday night, and got the victory 116-113 in a down to the wire game.

Here’s how it played out…

Miami came into this game knowing that Brooklyn is a very tough team to beat, even without their star Kyrie Irving who will be out for the rest of the season with an injured right shoulder. Brooklyn has a bunch of guys who play hard and have something to prove every night. All Miami needs to do is touch up on their turnovers while playing against a team with guards who like to run on the break.

Miami picked right back up where they left off in Dallas by getting off to a good start shooting the ball. The ball didn’t stick to anyone’s hands and the ball movement looked great, which always begins once Butler starts to attack. Everyone was able to get their shots up, which was led by Goran Dragic’s 11 points and 5 assists at the half. He also got the crowd going after he hit a one handed three point floater at the buzzer to end the half. The Heat took a 57-49 lead at the half.

The second half began with another great stretch for Kendrick Nunn, who ended the game with 21 points on an efficient 9-14 shooting from the field. He was the main playmaker on the court at times with Goran while Butler and Bam took a break in the third. It was good for Miami’s two stars to get a breather on a tough back to back. It ended up being that Bam and Jimmy needed to come back in the fourth after Brooklyn made a big run after the Heat took a 14 point lead. As Brooklyn began to battle back, Butler began to take over with a clutch And 1, followed by a great give and go with Bam which helped the Heat take a 9 point lead with 5 minutes remaining.

The Nets would not go away behind a great fourth quarter from Joe Harris, who hit 3 threes in the fourth alone. Dinwiddie took the ball to the paint with a little over a minute left to cut the lead to 2. Then with 17 seconds left, Dragic decided to take matters into his own hands, as he has done in the past many times, and hit a big time step back jumper to extend the lead to 4. After a sequence of events, Brooklyn had the ball down two with 9 seconds left and this is where Miami’s two stars prove they are stars. Brooklyn sends Joe Harris off of a pick, in which Bam doubles out with Butler and forces Dinwiddie to throw a tough one handed pass over the defenders. The ball went right out of bounds which locked up a great Miami Heat victory, 116-113.

These types of games always uplift the spirits of a locker room. The attitude of the players was the total opposite of the other night against Minnesota. It seems as if they are definitely having fun again, which of course always comes after winning. Dragic finished the night with 19 points and 10 assists, also having a +8 in 32 minutes. This is the guy the Heat need down the stretch of games, especially come playoff time. Miami has a big game coming up on Monday against the best team in the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks. If Miami could pull off this win, they’d be 2-1 on the season against the Bucks, which would give great confidence closing in on the postseason.