The Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat meet at Barclays Center Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern for their first meeting of the season. Here’s how to catch it all.
The Brooklyn Nets return to Barclays Center for a one-game homestand after finishing off a 2-2 Western Conference swing with a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis that will have lasting repercussions.
Leading scorer Caris LeVert left just before halftime with a dislocated right foot and will be out for several weeks.
That means the Nets (6-8) — who used the same startling lineup for the first 13 games of the season before Jarrett Allen missed Monday’s game with an illness — will have their third different lineup in as many games when the Miami Heat (5-8) visit Brooklyn.
While the Nets have lost two straight games, the Heat arrive having lost three in a row at home.
Both teams lost Monday to teams that were dealing with the aftermath of the trade of Jimmy Butler from Minnesota to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Brooklyn fell to the Timberwolves on Monday 120-113 as the Nets’ poor shooting didn’t allow them to fully capitalize on Minnesota’s 23 turnovers. The Nets shot just 39.6 percent for the game (40-for-101), compared to the 52.5 percent shooting from the Wolves (42-for-80).
D’Angelo Russell had a season-high 31 points to go with six assists in the loss, making a career-high nine 3-pointers. Ed Davis had 14 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson — who started in place of Allen — had 14 points and three steals.
Miami, meanwhile, were handled pretty easily by the short-handed 76ers, 124-114. Goran Dragic paced the Heat with 22 points and five assists and Hassan Whiteside finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The Nets are just 49-70 against Miami since the Heat joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1988, but have won the last three meetings between the teams.
Miami owns the longest winning streak in the series, a 13-game run from Nov. 14, 2009, to Jan. 30, 2013. The Nets’ longest string of success was a five-game streak from March 15, 2002, to April 5, 2003.
The Heat have the highest-scoring game in the series, as well, putting up a 134-119 win over the New Jersey Nets at East Rutherford on Feb. 6, 1991. The most lopsided game between the opponents was a 108-78 win by the Heat over New Jersey in Miami on March 6, 2012.
The high individual scoring effort in the series belongs to Vince Carter, who dropped 51 points for the New Jersey Nets in a 95-88 victory at Miami on Dec. 23, 2005.
Alonzo Mourning scored 43 points for the Heat against the Nets in a 99-85 win at Miami on Feb. 23, 2000, a total matched by Dwyane Wade in a 106-103 Heat win at East Rutherford on Dec. 20, 2008.
Since the Nets moved to Brooklyn in 2012, they are 8-14 against the Heat, with Brook Lopez holding the single-game scoring lead with a 33-point effort in a 109-106 loss to Miami at Barclays Center on Jan. 25, 2017.
*-Historical research courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.
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Miami Heat at Brooklyn Nets
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Time: 7:30 p.m. Eastern
TV: YES Network
Live stream: NBA League Pass
The skinny
Season series: First meeting (Nets won last season, 3-1)
Records: Miami (5-8), Brooklyn (6-8)
Scoring: MIA 110.8 (13th), BKN 109.1 (t-18th)
Defense: MIA 111.6 (t-18th), BKN 110.1 (14th)
Off. Rating: MIA 107.9 (14th), BKN 109.8 (9th)
Def. Rating: MIA 108.5 (19th), BKN 110.2 (24th)
Pace: MIA 101.95 (14th), BKN 98.91 (24th)
Shooting: MIA 44.1% (24th), BKN 45.1% (15th)
3-point: MIA 37.4% (6th), BKN 36.5% (t-8th)
Opponent shooting: MIA 45.1% (10th), BKN 46.1% (t-15th)
Opponent 3-point: MIA 37.4% (t-25th), BKN 35.5% (t-17th)
Injuries
Miami: QUESTIONABLE–Derrick Jones Jr. (illness); OUT–James Johnson (sports hernia surgery), Dion Waiters (left ankle surgery), Dwyane Wade (personal).
Brooklyn: QUESTIONABLE–Jarrett Allen (illness); OUT–Caris LeVert (dislocated right foot), Treveon Graham (left hamstring strain).
Last meeting
March 31 at Miami: Caris LeVert hit a floater in the lane with 34.2 seconds left to give the Nets the lead for good, with Dwyane Wade missing two shots down the stretch, including a short jumper in the restricted area with 1.8 seconds left, as Brooklyn beat the Heat 110-109 in overtime.
Miami blew a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter and the Nets took a 101-99 lead with 1:10 left in regulation when Rondae Hollis-Jefferson converted an and-one, but Wade tied it with 59.2 seconds to go with a pair of free throws. The teams then traded misses as the clock wound down.
LeVert blocked Justise Winslow‘s drive to the rim, Spencer Dinwiddie and Hollis-Jefferson both missed short jumpers on the next trip down the floor and Goran Dragic misfired on a mid-range fadeaway as time expired.
Hollis-Jefferson led seven Nets in double figures with 20 points and also had 14 rebounds. LeVert finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists off the bench. Dinwiddie notched 12 points, 12 assists and three steals in a reserve role and Jarrett Allen added 12 points and two blocks.
Dragic and James Johnson scored 18 points apiece for the Heat, with Dragic and Kelly Olynyk each grabbing eight rebounds and Johnson dishing five assists. Hassan Whiteside went for 14 points and two blocks and Winslow finished with 11 points and a pair of blocked shots.
What’s next?
Miami: at Indiana, Friday; vs. L.A. Lakers, Sunday; vs. Brooklyn, Tuesday
Brooklyn: at Washington, Friday; vs. L.A. Clippers, Saturday; at Miami, Tuesday