After coming back from seven points down midway through the fourth quarter with a 13-0 run, the Brooklyn Nets came up empty over the final four minutes before Miami’s Bam Adebayo connected for the game-winning jumper at the buzzer to give the Heat a 109-107 win over the Nets at American Airlines Arena in Miami.
Landry Shamet poured in a career-high 30 points for Brooklyn, and his 3-pointer with five minutes to go lifted the Nets into a 100-99 lead. Shamet followed with another 3-pointer and Joe Harris drew a goaltend on a drive to put the Nets up 105-99 with 4:04 remaining. But the Nets didn’t make another basket — Kyrie Irving’s two free throws were their only points the rest of the way.
“We didn’t execute down the stretch,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash. “We didn’t get into our sets a couple times. Passed up an open look at the end. Just wasn’t sharp offensively at the end. That was it. Overall defensively I think we held them to 45 in the second half; scrapped, fought, great, just couldn’t execute down the stretch and we’ll learn from this, get better. Lot to be proud of tonight. We just didn’t execute in the last two minutes.”
Shamet shot 10-for-15 overall and made 7-of-12 3-pointers while playing 38 minutes.
“He was great,” said Nash. “Obviously made a lot of shots but also was able to drive the ball for us a little bit, get in the guts of their defense. It was a huge performance, very important for us to stay in this game with his effort and it just shows that he’s got some potential to expand his game and do a little more.”
Irving had 20 points and nine assists and Harris scored 12. Bruce Brown had 11 rebounds and eight points.
The Nets were without Kevin Durant for most of the afternoon as he left the game with 7:57 remaining in the first quarter and was declared out the rest of the way due to a left thigh contusion.
Durant had scored Brooklyn’s first eight points before the Heat scored nine straight to jump into a 14-8 lead. Trailing 30-24, the Nets scored seven straight late in the quarter on Nic Claxton’s rebound tip-in, a Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot 3-pointer, and Jeff Green’s transition finish on a lob from Alize Johnson to take a one-point lead.
Miami took a 32-31 lead into the second quarter and pushed that to 42-35. The Nets evened the game at 44 with a 9-2 run, capped by a Shamet drive and 3-pointer. At that point, midway through the quarter, Shamet had 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. The two teams combined to make 23-of-41 3-pointers in the first half before Miami took a 64-60 lead into halftime.
Brooklyn scored the first eight points of the second half, with consecutive threes from Blake Griffin and Shamet putting the Nets up 68-64. A 7-0 burst midway through the quarter began with a Harris 3-pointer before Brown put back a rebound and Irving scored for a 79-74 lead. The Heat outscored the Nets 12-5 from there to the end of the quarter to take an 86-84 lead into the fourth.
A 10-2 run had put Miami up 99-92 with 6:50 remaining, but from there the Nets scored 13 straight. Brown scored inside and three straight 3-pointers followed — first Harris, then a pair from Shamet that lifted the Nets into the lead. Brooklyn took a 105-99 lead with 4:04 remaining before the Heat outscored them 8-2 through Adebayo’s game-winner at the buzzer.
“I felt like we were in the right positions, let them get comfortable most of the game,” said Irving. “So they were playing well, hitting a lot of shots. You’ve got to give credit like I always say, but there was definitely some preventable plays out there that I feel like just could have been better, including myself down the stretch when they came to double. I felt like I definitely could have made those last three shots. I was definitely trying to create some separation toward the end of the game. I didn’t come up with it, and they capitalized on it. So they definitely took advantage of the spots where we either took long shots or we missed a shot and they caught us in transition and got some easy looks.”