Improved Decision Making Among Things to Watch for in Brooklyn Nets vs. Heat

The Brooklyn Nets will face off against the Miami Heat for the third time this season.

The two faced off against each other on Tuesday, with the Heat emerging victorious in a 124-98 blowout win.

Michael Porter Jr. struggled mightily with his shot, finishing with nine points on a paltry 3-of-17 shooting.

Porter played just around two and a half minutes in the third quarter before being subbed out for Ziaire Wiliams but reentered the game in the fourth quarter. However, he still struggled to get much going, failing to provide the spark Brooklyn so desperately needed to get back into the game.

Miami's collective defense was tough for Brooklyn to figure out, as it was blowing up driving and passing lanes and closing out hard on Nets shooters. Brooklyn shot 6-of-32 from the field, including a disastrous 6-of-32 from 3-point range.

Nolan Traoré and Ben Saraf combined for zero assists and 12 turnovers, with Bam Adebayo perfectly anticipating many of Traoré's decisions and using his size and length to be a menace in the passing lanes.

For all of the success Traoré has been seeing at the next level so early on in his career, battles against teams that scout their opponents well and will make you pay for your mistakes are going to happen, and he needs to be less predictable with the ball in his hands and learn to manipulate defenders.

Traoré's floater game and shot creation in the midrange have looked sharp so far, but he has a golden opportunity to show Nets coach Jordi Fernández that he has the want to to get better and prove that he is capable of making better decisions with the ball in his hands two days later against the same opponent.

The Nets could also benefit from seeing Nic Claxton show a little more initiative on both sides of the floor and take more pride in organizing the flow of the offense and taking his matchup with Adebayo more personally.

Claxton isn;t afraid to mix it up against some of the league's best talent, but he needs to do a better job of showing that same fire even when times are low.

The bottom line is that the Nets need to show the same defensive fire the Heat have and show more willingness to fight through adversity late in games if they hope to snap their nine-game losing streak.