Brooklyn Nets: 3 takeaways from perfect ending in finale against Heat

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The end of the regular season could not have gone better for the Brooklyn Nets — a win to lock up the No. 6 seed and a rousing sendoff for Dwyane Wade.

Wednesday night couldn’t have gone much better for the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets secured their first winning season since 2013-14 with a 113-94 victory over the Miami Heat, while Heat legend Dwyane Wade got a big finish in the final game of his 16-year career.

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Wade posted just the fifth triple-double of his career, finishing with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, moving past Elgin Baylor into 29th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list in the process.

Wade retires with 23,165 points, moving past Baylor (23,149 career points), passing Baylor with a driving layup in the third quarter.

But while the night belonged to Wade — who had a star-studded group of supporters in one corner of the arena, as former teammate LeBron James was joined by friends and Olympic teammates Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul to take in the last last dance of Wade’s swan song.

Wade logged 36 minutes in his finale, playing on the back end of a back-to-back — hey, he has the rest of his life to rest — and going 10-for-28 overall and hitting 3-of-13 from 3-point range.

The Barclays Center crowd showed its appreciation for Wade’s career all night long, including chanting “Paul Pierce sucks” in response to claims by the former Net that he had a better career than Wade has had.

Pierce made that claim on ESPN’s NBA Countdown, where Pierce serves as a studio analyst, last week.

The crowd’s response was even more poignant considering that Pierce played a season for Brooklyn and hit the game-winning shot to clinch the franchise’s only playoff series victory since moving to the city in 2012.

As for the game itself, it was basically all Brooklyn after the Nets took control with a 13-0 run late in the first quarter. Brooklyn led by as much as 24 points in the second quarter before taking a 63-47 lead to the locker room.

The Nets took their largest lead at 29, 83-54, on Treveon Graham‘s 3-pointer midway through the third quarter. Miami got as close as 10 with a 12-2 run in the fourth quarter, but the Nets were able to pull away late.

The win gave Brooklyn a 42-40 record and locked up the No. 6 seed in the upcoming NBA Playoffs, where the Nets will take on the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers, with Game 1 to be played either Saturday or Sunday.

The playoff schedule — at least the early portion of it — will be announced at the conclusion of the regular-season schedule Wednesday night.

The Nets show just 37.7 percent (43-for-114) on the night, but 20 offensive rebounds to just eight for the Heat gave Brooklyn a decided advantage in opportunities. Brooklyn was 21-for-58 from 3-point range (36.2 percent), setting a franchise record for most attempts in a regulation game.

The Nets attempted 59 in a double-overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Feb. 10, 2018.

Brooklyn outrebounded Miami 68-54 overall. Each team scored 12 points off turnovers and 44 points in the paint, with the Nets having a 19-15 edge in fast-break scoring and a 16-11 advantage in second-chance points.

The Heat shot only 38.8 percent (38-for-98) and were a dreadful 8-for-41 (19.5 percent) from deep.

D’Angelo Russell led the Nets with 21 points and five assists in just 20 minutes. He was 7-for-11 from 3-point range and finished the season with a single-season franchise record of 234 made 3s and 635 attempts. Allen Crabbe had set both marks last season with 201 makes and 532 takes.

Shabazz Napier, seeing his first action since March 28 at Philadelphia, added 20 points and five dimes.

The Nets had three players with double-digit rebounds, the third time this season they’ve turned that trick. Jarrett Allen had 14 boards to go with two blocks, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and three steals and Ed Davis grabbed 10 missed shots.

Spencer Dinwiddie also dished five assists.

Rodions Kurucs finished with 15 points for the Nets, Graham — starting in place of injured DeMarre Carroll (sprained right wrist) added 11 and Caris LeVert had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in 20 minutes, starting for Harris.

Every Net who played (Jared Dudley was held out as a DNP-Coach’s Decision) scored, with Theo Pinson — just converted to a standard contract on Wednesday after playing most of the year on a two-way deal — and Alan Williams each scored four points and Dzanan Musa hit a 3-pointer from somewhere near JFK.

Udonis Haslem, likely playing his final game after 16 years with Miami, had 12 points and 11 rebounds, Justise Winslow logged four steals and Kelly Olynyk had two blocks.

Here are three takeaways from the regular-season finale.