The Brooklyn Nets fell in South Beach on Thursday night, as playoff Jimmy Butler made an appearance. Butler, who rarely plays hard in the regular season, scored 36 points on 12-19 shooting to lead Miami to a 122-115 victory. Duncan Robinson, one of the NBA’s purest snipers, drained six threes and had 26 points for Miami, while Bam Adebayo added another 20.
Lonnie Walker IV scored 23 points to fuel the Nets, but it was just one of those nights in South Beach where Brooklyn was outplayed in every aspect of the game.
Jacque Vaughn’s analogy-filled postgame session included many baking references
Jacque Vaughn on tonight's loss to Miami:
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) November 17, 2023
"The recipe of the night, pretty much the cake was baked in the right recipe. The turnovers is the one piece, that discrepancy, and the team that made threes tonight that typically [don't], that's why our cake wasn't baked right" pic.twitter.com/ri9RpAZTTp
The Nets cake simply wasn’t baked right.
Miami was shooting just 36.4% from three this season entering Thursday’s game but nailed 15 of their 35 long-range shots (42.9%) and won the turnover battle by seven (16-9). Miami also made 23 of their 24 free throws, while Brooklyn (21-27) missed six.
Generally speaking, if you lose the shooting, turnover, and free throw battles, it will be tough to win a professional basketball game.
That is a clever analogy used by Vaughn, who is always very well-spoken with the media.
Erik Spoelstra was salty pregame
Brooklyn had won five straight over Miami before losing on Thursday, and Spoelstra was unhappy when questioned on why the Nets have beaten up the Heat in recent years.
Erik Spoelstra irritated when asked what the Nets have done that has given Heat difficulties in last several games (lost last 5 vs BKN): I'm not going to concede that...😳 pic.twitter.com/Tp38J1I02s
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) November 16, 2023
He does not have to concede it, but it is a fact. Miami’s organization seemed motivated to win this game and even attempted to troll the Nets on social media.
#WINNING, it's the Miami way pic.twitter.com/eJIdFTZujN
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) November 17, 2023
The Heat have won seven straight, and do win a lot, but the response from Miami’s social media team feels like a spicy response to the reporter who asked why Brooklyn has beaten Miami a lot recently.
The NBA needs more rivalries and spice, so I am certainly not complaining about these petty actions. No professional sports league is more petty than the NBA. These two teams will square off next Saturday in Brooklyn, so we will see if any off-the-court beef finds its way onto the court.
NBA Bench Ratings: Who has the best bench in the association?
NBA bench players are massively important to their teams, and often determine the outcome of games. The best bench units are usually on the best teams.