The Brooklyn Nets take a trip to South Beach on Sunday to battle the Miami Heat and won 102-101. This is the first time that these teams have played each other this season.
For the Nets, Kyrie Irving had 29 points and six assists while Kevin Durant had 17 points and four rebounds despite leaving the game in the third quarter with a knee injury. Seth Curry had 14 points off the bench and Nic Claxton had 13.
For the Heat, Jimmy Butler had 26 points and nine rebounds while Tyler Herro had 24 points and four rebounds. Bam Adebayo had 10 points and Haywood Highsmith had 10 points as well.
This was a tightly contested game from the first buzzer to the last. Both teams were not playing much defense in the first half as points in bunches were coming in transition. Brooklyn did a poor job of boxing out as they allowed Miami to finish the game with 16 offensive rebounds.
In the second half, both teams played better defense as the intensity on both ends rose. Each shot became more important as the misses started piling up. Durant left this game in the third quarter after Jimmy Butler fell into his knee on a night that he became the 14th all-time career scorer in NBA history. Royce O’Neale called game on a huge offensive rebound and putback of an Irving miss.
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