Heat's dominant frontcourt stifles Nets' offense. Despite historic blocks, Brooklyn's streak extends, falling to Miami.
The Brooklyn Nets fell for the second straight game to the Miami Heat in enemy territory Thursday night by a score of 126-110.
Brooklyn might not like the end result, but their head coach Jordi Fernández surely appreciated the level of fight from his players.
Miami forced 19 Nets turnovers and to render Michael Porter Jr.'s 27 points and 13 rebounds null. Their frontcourt duo of Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware and 3-time All-Star Bam Adebayo led the charge, grabbing 7 offensive rebounds combined (18 total rebounds).
The former picked up his 5th personal foul with 6:56 left in the third quarter, but the latter stepped up on his way to a monstrous 16-point, 11-rebound, 7-block and 5-steal performance in just under 32 minutes of action. Adebayo notched 21 points and 7 rebounds despite sitting most of the second half.
Porter Jr. and Co. played with great pace to begin the night, with Nolan Traoré constantly attacking downhill in the halfcourt to rack up 9 points and 9 assists.
The rookie's aggression opened up lanes for himself and his teammates, but Ware presence around the rim led to many altered attempts at the rim.
Still, the Nets only trailed 31-26 at the end of the first quarter thanks to some hot shooting and consistent defensive pressure.
Miami gained a 14-point lead with 4:20 remaining in the second frame, but the Nets stormed back with a 14-5 run in the final three minutes and change to cut the deficit to 60-56 Heat at the halftime break. Porter Jr., Traoré and Terance Mann (7 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) broke through the Heat's strong defensive front for a few key rim-runs to finish the half strong.
The third quarter saw a few more strong pushes from Brooklyn, but the Heat's star scoring guard Tyler Herro turned things up a notch. He'd score 12 of his 25 points in the frame through a variety of tough floaters and three-point hits.
Supported by Ware's elite defensive night, Miami pulled away in the second half to eventually notch the 16-point victory. Though the second-year big man swatted 7 shots, Brooklyn's Nic Claxton made a bit of history in that category, as well.
A Claxton rejection in the third quarter gave him 600 career blocks, moving into fourth-place on the Nets' all-time blocked shots list.
'Clax' finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds, Noah Clowney tried his best to keep the Nets afloat with a 17-point night on 5-for-9 shooting from three-point range, and the high-energy forward Ziaire Williams turned in another efficient scoring night with 15 points on 55.6% from the field.
Brooklyn falls to 15-47, and they'll travel to face the Eastern Conferences No. 1 seeded Detroit Pistons and MVP candidate Cade Cunningham on Saturday night.
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