Despite Kevin Durant being injured, the Nets miraculously escaped in Miami

We don’t know if it’s the arrival of Adam Silver, DJ Khaled or the arrival of the Irving-Durant tandem at the American Airlines Arena, but the Heat are pushing hard tonight to try to take Brooklyn down.

The Floridians first came up against the Nets during a huge first half in which both formations went head-to-head, with the collective involved to answer attacks from Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant (64-66). And then there was Kevin Durant’s two-part knee injury, which sidelined him late in the third quarter. At the time, the Nets were on a roll, especially when Tyler Herro celebrated with a 3-pointer to put his team ahead (80-79).

Brooklyn could have let it go at that point, especially when Tyler Herro tried to drive home the points early in the fourth quarter by scoring 8 straight points quickly to give his team the biggest margin in the game (90-81). But proudly, the Nets have managed to recover. Thanks to his accuracy, the Irving-Curry-Claxton trio then did what it took to get Brooklyn back in the game. The pressure even changed teams less than three minutes from the end, when Seth Curry slotted in a 4-metre shot in front of Victor Oladipo to take his side to +3 (97-100).

The Heat then got away with two dunks from Jimmy Butler, after a ground pass from Orlando Robinson in traffic, then put on a well done counter attack (101-100). Big game maker Kyrie Irving tried to kill the tension with a 3-pointer two meters behind the line. Fortunately for Brooklyn, Yuta Watanabe and then Royce O’Neale were a bit more on fire. It was enough for O’Neale to send the ball straight to the basket with 3.2 seconds left (101-102).

As is often the case in these situations, the referee then opted to let the players decide the outcome of the match. In this case, Jimmy Butler recovered the ball, cleared Yuta Watanabe and charged at Royce O’Neale to make contact in the air. It took Jimmy Butler little time to offer his team the win despite O’Neale’s mistake. Upon arrival, it was Brooklyn who won the first confrontation of the season between the two teams (101-102).

WHAT YOU SHOULD REMEMBER

– Coming out of Kevin Durant injury. This was definitely the evening news, especially since the Nets star was hit in the right knee twice! First there was a knee to knee shock with Kyle Lowry on an 8 minute penetration from the end of the third quarter. Then 7 minutes later, a counter-hit by Ben Simmons on Jimmy Butler sent Butler tumbling to KD, causing him to take an unconventional spin on the same knee. Released calmly, he is quickly sacrificed for the remainder of the match…

– Net reaction. Brooklyn could have let go when Kevin Durant left his team 13 minutes from the end, while Miami had a very good game up until then. But the Nets found a way to get back into the game and win, thanks to the energy of duty players like Royce O’Neale or Nic Claxton as well as the talent of the Irving-Curry pair. Seth Curry’s entry was decisive as he scored 9 of his 14 points in the final round, in addition to counter-attacking Bam Adebayo!

– Wrong or not wrong? Another end of the game that will feed the league’s reports on the question. Did Royce O’Neale tackle Jimmy Butler at the last second? A priori, the answer is obvious, but no doubt it will haunt Erik Spoelstra until the next match…

MATCH ACTION

If we continued Bam Adebayo’s devastating dunk on Joe Harris, guilty of wanting to play a valid part behind the arc under the panel, we would have defended this Lebronesque basket from Gabe Vincent to close out the first quarter. When TJ Warren had just planted two straight 3-point bullets, Gabe Vincent received a quarterback pass from Victor Oladipo with a time of 1.1 seconds. The Nigerian turned around to launch a target-finding prayer!

TOPS/FLOPS

✅ Kyrie Irving. Less noticeable after the break, the leaders produced a stunning first half, scoring 24 points. Regardless of the choice in question in the end, he’s still present, as in that lob towards Nic Claxton, or if only for the threat he represents to opposing defenses.

✅ Curry Seth. Which revived the Nets when Kevin Durant was just out and Tyler Herro was getting hot. Basket “clutch,” efficiency, was all Brooklyn needed at the time. The X Factor of this late match with Royce O’Neale.

✅Duo Herro-Butler. The Heat relied heavily on Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro after the break, perhaps too much, but the pair were not far from successful, on whistles.

⛔️Trio Lowry-Oladipo-Adebayo. Miami certainly expected a lot more in a game played for nothing. If Kyle Lowry has often struggled this season, Victor Oladipo and Bam Adebayo, who touched hands in the first half, put in an excellent performance and were unable to do so in this encounter, especially late in the game. .

FOLLOWER

Miami (21-20): The Heat will host OKC tomorrow night (1:30am).

Brooklyn (27-13): The Nets are preparing to meet the Celtics, their hangman in the final playoff round, this Wednesday night at home (01:30).