NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets welcomed the Miami Heat to Barclays Center on Monday for a matchup on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and lost in overtime 96-95.
For the Nets, Mikal Bridges had 26 points, nine rebounds, and six assists while Cam Thomas had 23 points and three assists off the bench. Royce O’Neale had 15 points and Nic Claxton had nine points.
For the Heat, Jimmy Butler had 31 points and five rebounds while Tyler Herro had 29 points and 11 rebounds. Bam Adebayo had 11 points and Caleb Martin had nine points.
In the first half, it was the makings of a game that would not be appealing to the eye as neither team was good on the offensive end. Fortunately for the Nets, they appeared to be more rested than the Heat and their effort and energy on both ends allowed them to score some crucial points in transition.
In the second half, this game flipped on its head as Miami won the third quarter 37-24 on the backs of Butler and Herro combining for 26 points in the period to allow the Heat to steal the momentum. That made this game an intense one down the stretch as Brooklyn matched Miami’s energy and it came down to Butler missing one of his patented shots to force overtime.
In overtime, there were some crucial possessions where the Nets and the Heat had plays that could have gone either way and it took some reviews to sort out the madness happening on the court. Towards the end of overtime, it took a Butler foul that probably should have been challenged by Brooklyn head coach Jacque Vaughn given that the Nets had one challenge left. Bridges missed a decent look on the other way and took some contact along the way, but no foul was called.
Here are your Nets player grades following Monday’s loss: