Late Turnover Makes Nets Come Up Short Against Heat 116-113
The Nets let a close one slip away against the 4th seed Heat when they fell 116-113 Saturday night at the American Airlines Arena. They are now 0-3 on their current road trip and are in danger of finishing it winless unless they can pull off an upset against the Celtics or Grizzlies before returning to Barclays Center.
This was a hard fought game for Brooklyn, but in the end an untimely turnover and their inconsistencies are what cost them the victory.
After an inbound pass and the score being 115-113 with 9.1 seconds left to go in the fourth Brooklyn ran a play for Joe Harris to shoot a three-pointer to go for the win, but the ball never made to him. With 1.7 left on the clock the ball slipped out of Spencer Dinwiddie’s hand, resulting in the turnover. The Nets then had to foul Goran Dragic, where he would hit one of two free throws to seal the deal.
“We had a drawn out double screen away for Joe. Obviously they switched everything…so I was going to throw it to Wilson,” said Dinwiddie. “Technically [it was the] right read, [but] errant pass on my end. So I take full responsibility for that.”
Putting things into perspective, despite this mistake Dinwiddie did a lot for this team tonight, getting a double-double with 25 points and 12 assists. Without him it wouldn’t be this close of a game.
As mentioned though the team’s inconsistencies played a role.
In the first half Brooklyn only shot 41.9% from the field and 27.3% from deep, and they only had one player score in double digits in Dinwiddie dropping 10.
In the second half the Nets bounced back shooting 51.2% FG and 45.5% 3FG. They also dished out 18 assists (they had 30 tonight) and had three players score in double digits (Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince and Joe Harris).
With Miami clicking on both sides of the ball though, especially with that defense late in the game, it was too much for Brooklyn to handle.
Kendrick Nunn led the way for the Heat with 21 points.
