The streak rolls on. The Brooklyn Nets began a three game road trip on Tuesday night against the Miami Heat. The Heat were too hot to handle and handed the Nets their ninth straight defeat, 124-98. Fortunately for the Nets, they didn’t have to travel between games. Unfortunately for the Nets, they have to play the Heat one more time.
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No Egor Demin. Drake Powell and the three two-ways are with Long Island. Grant Nelson remains with Brooklyn on a 10-day.
Miami won the first two meetings. This is the last meeting between the teams this season.
Michael Porter Jr is looking to bounce back tonight. He tied a season low with nine points and Tuesday was only the third time this season he’s been held below ten points. When he doesn’t play well, Brooklyn’s slim chances of victory drop all the way to zero.
Every game is a lesson for the Nets, and without Demin for the foreseeable future, Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf will have plenty of chances to learn on the job. They had respectively terrible games against the Heat defense, and Jordi Fernandez wants them to be a lot better this time around:
“I know they’re better. There’s not an excuse if their young, I’ve watched them play, and they’re way, way better than 12 turnovers to zero assists. The assists — sometimes if the shots don’t go in, it’s hard to get assists. I don’t know about the potential assist. I have to look at it, but the turnovers for sure, like how they organize the team, how vocal they are, all that it’s important.”
No time better than the present to learn and grow.
👀 Player to watch: Bam Adebayo
Adebayo has been one of the better, more versatile defenders in the league throughout the 2020s. However, he doesn’t have as much hardware as you’d think. He’s never finished higher than third in Defensive Player of the Year voting and has only made 1st Team All Defense once. Although he hasn’t gotten love from the voters, Bam knows that everyone sees his value:
“From my peers and the people who play against me and understand that you’ve got to put me in the corner, so I don’t mess up your offensive schemes, that’s what matters more… that’s real in basketball. A lot of people who are doing surveys wouldn’t know that. They just think because, ‘Oh, he’s a DPOY because he has five blocks a game.’”
An inspired closing run by the Heat could cause voters to change their mind. As it stands, he’s leading one of the best defensive units in the NBA this year.
Nic Claxton and Day’ron Sharpe have the assignment of slowing down not just Adebayo, but Kel’el Ware off the bench as well. It seems like the Heat still have reservations about Ware, but he fills up the box sheet every night he gets real minutes. And for a team that’s older than you think, they need some youth somewhere.
30 years ago, we received a blessing
