Adebayo fuels Heat dominance as Nets' offense falters again. Young duo shows flashes amidst another frustrating loss.
The Brooklyn Nets' ice-cold shooting performance led to an eventual 124-98 defeat against the Miami Heat in enemy territory Tuesday night.
Michael Porter Jr. struggled mightily opposite Miami's strong defensive-minded club and 2022 All-Star Andrew Wiggins. Porter Jr. came away with 9 points on a horrendous 3-for-17 night from the field.
For the opposition, it was 3-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo who left his imprint on the contest in every way. Adebayo finished with a 23 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and a career-high tying 6 steals, dominating on both ends.
Danny Wolf and Day'Ron Sharpe were the highlights of the evening for Brooklyn, as both displayed their well-rounded skill-sets while coming off of the bench. Wolf scored 11 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished 5 assists in 20 minutes of work.
Sharpe affected games in his usual way, by crashing the glass to collect 4 offensive rebounds (8 total) to pair with 4 assists and 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting.
Wolf and Sharpe were a major force in the late stages of the first quarter, taking turns assisting each other with sweet backdoor passes. The young frontcourt duo provided a valuable play-making spark for the Nets, as rookie floor generals Nolan Traoré and Ben Saraf struggled to initiate offense in the halfcourt.
Both combined for 12 turnovers and 4 assists. Traoré accounted for half of the giveaways and none of the dimes, authoring a rare 0-assist effort. He'd still score 14 hard-earned points in 22 minutes against Miami's strong defensive guard Davion Mitchell.
Though the Nets finished shooting 38.4% from the field and 18.8% from three-point range, the group made an effort to get to the free-throw line in what turned out to be a physical outing.
Brooklyn attempts 30 free-throws and connected on 26 (86.7%). Ziaire Williams and Noah Clowney each shot 8-for-9 from the charity stripe to finish with 16 and 17 points, respectively.
The Nets were able to remain in reach through the first 12 minutes, trailing 34-28 heading into the second quarter. Miami's defense turned up to another level in the second, holding the Nets to just one made field goal in the final 5:47 of the first half.
Brooklyn trailed 69-54 at the break, but not before Clowney and Miami's Tyler Herro (22 points) were hit with double technical fouls after a slight dust-up.
Brooklyn's second-half struggles brought about plenty of unforced errors, leading to 18 total turnovers on the night and 20 Heat points off of said turnovers.
Miami's fast-paced group won the transition scoring battle 23-13 by forcing the Nets' young ball-handlers into tough positions.
To Traoré's credit, he showed promise as a score-first guard when Miami's Adebayo-Kel'el Ware (11 points, 13 rebounds, 5 steals) frontcourt made passing angles nearly impossible to navigate.
Brooklyn falls to 15-46, and they'll stay put in Miami for the second half of a back-to-back against the Heat on Thursday night, when they'll try to prevent their skid from reaching double-digits.
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