The Miami HEAT defeated the Brooklyn Nets 88-84 Sunday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Chris Bosh led the way for the HEAT with 26 points and five rebounds.
Impact Performance of the Night: Chris Bosh made sure the HEAT would come out with a victory on Sunday night. Early on, Bosh was the beneficiary of some great passes from Dwyane Wade and got some nice looks. While Bosh primarily attacked from outside, he was 3-of-4 from downtown, he also aggressively drove to the hoop at times during the game. In all, Bosh shot 10-of-16 for his 26 points and also grabbed five boards.
The Deciding Run: While there weren’t any huge runs that decided the game, the HEAT went on a 7-4 run to go up 83-74 with 3:44 left in regulation. The Nets would get close, but the HEAT never relinquished the lead.
Earlier, Miami went on a 7-0 run to go up 37-27 with 7:21 left in the second quarter. Hassan Whiteside made his presence felt during the run.
Play of the Game: With about eight minutes to go in the second quarter, Dwyane Wade came up to press and swiped an errant pass from Mason Plumlee. Wade then passed it to Hassan Whiteside, who finished the play with a thunderous one-handed slam to put Miami up 36-27.
Another nice play came with 3:48 to go in the first quarter when Dwyane Wade threw up a nice lob from right around the free throw line to Hassan Whiteside. On the way up, Whiteside absorbed contact from Brook Lopez and finished the tough lay-in. Whiteside hit the ensuing free throw to put the HEAT up 22-12.
Lastly, with about five and a half minutes left in the third quarter, Dwayne Wade aggressively drove inside from the left baseline after he received a pass from Chris Andersen. Wade hung in the air to avoid Kevin Garnett and finished a tough layup to put Miami up 59-51.
Efficiency Rating: Offensive Efficiency: 100.8; Defensive Efficiency: 90.6
Trend to Watch: When Chris Bosh came back from injury, he had no trouble picking up where he left off. The two-man game between Wade and Bosh has perhaps been the HEAT’s most effective offense in the past week or so. Early on against the Nets, Wade found Bosh with some great passes that got him going. From there, Bosh continued to knock down jumpers with relative ease. Later in the game, Bosh returned the favor and found Wade for some nice looks as well. Wade finished the game with 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
It certainly helps matters when your team’s two best players are as unselfish as Bosh and Wade are.
The Takeaway: It was great to see Miami grind out a win and snap its four-game losing streak. Throughout the game, the HEAT forced the Nets into a lot of tough jumpers and made sure nothing came easy. Brooklyn shot just 39.5 percent for the game and had trouble finding offense. Hassan Whiteside continued to come up huge on both ends and certainly affected the game when he was in.
Down the stretch, Miami forced the Nets to take tough, contested 3-pointers to make sure a comeback wasn’t in the cards.
Notes:
- The HEAT have now defeated the Nets three times this season.
- Whiteside registered his first double-double in a HEAT uniform, as he scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He also blocked five shots.