Nets Struggle To Find The Rim In Return Home
Winning the first game back from a four-game road trip out West was a challenge for Kenny Atkinson’s team and it proved to be just that in their return to Barclays Center.
The Miami Heat defeated the Brooklyn Nets 120-107 on Wednesday night at the Barclays Center to send Brooklyn to their third straight loss.
Tyler Johnson scored a game-high 24 points for the Miami Heat in 31 minutes off the bench as Miami snapped a three-game losing skid.
The Miami Heat got after the Brooklyn Nets on the defensive end, hounding them into a less than spectacular 40 percent shooting night while limiting them to 28.6 percent from beyond the arc.
The Brooklyn Nets were once again without starting center Jarrett Allen, and it mattered as Miami scored 70 points in the paint, an unacceptable amount of you’re the Brooklyn Nets.
Erik Spoelstra’s team led by as many as 23 points, letting their foot off the gas pedal to begin the fourth quarter when Brooklyn sliced their lead to nine points, but they would finish out the game by limiting the slow starting Nets.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored a team-high 18 points for the Brooklyn Nets off of the bench in 29 minutes of action.
The Brooklyn Nets bench showed up to a degree as Dinwiddie was one of three of the Nets’ reserves to reach double figures.
D’Angelo Russell was ultra aggressive with his shot in the first quarter, attempting 14 shot attempts but only making three of them as the Nets trailed 37-21 after the first.
Russell finished 6-for-18 in the game and scored only 12 points as Brooklyn began life without Caris LeVert, who suffered a fractured right foot in Brooklyn’s 120-113 loss on Monday to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Brooklyn (6-9) can’t allow teams to have a tour of the paint as they did on Wednesday night and they can’t go out and not defend the basketball as they committed 15 turnovers.
It’s an ugly loss for Brooklyn, who admittedly tried fighting through a hazardous shooting night.
After winning three consecutive games to get back to .500, it’s another journey back there for Kenny Atkinson’s team.
The Brooklyn Nets will visit the Capital One Arena to take on the Washington Wizards on Friday night as they look to end their skid.
What are your thoughts on Brooklyn’s loss on Wednesday night? Leave your comments below!