Heat Defeat the Nets for the Fourth Straight Time in the Barclays Center 102-98

After snapping a four game losing streak with a win at Chicago Monday night, the Miami Heat (25-21) traveled to Brooklyn Tuesday and defeated the Nets 102-98, dropping the Nets record to a dismal 12-34 on the season.

With a combined 54 points, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh led the Heat to the victory.  The Heat have now beaten the Nets twice in three meetings this season.

At the end of the first half, in last night’s game, Brooklyn led by six points. By the end of the third quarter, the Heat turned things around and grabbed a lead they would never lose.

Nets center Andrea Bargnani led the team with 20 points. Forward Joe Johnson added 15 points of his own as well as eight of his team’s 24 assists. While this game marked Bargnani’s second highest point-scoring game of the season, his points plus those of his teammates were not enough to pull out another win over the Heat.

In their win, the Miami Heat made 90% of their free throws, only missing one. Wade and Bosh recorded 27 points each, with Wade also contributing eight assists to the win. Wade says it was the Heat’s ability to restrict the Nets offense that sealed the win.

After making two free throws late in the fourth quarter, Brooklyn center Brook Lopez propelled the Nets to close in on the Heat 94-93 with 2:31 to go. Both Bosh and Wade quickly responded, with Bosh making one free throw and Wade adding in seven points of his own. The Nets continued to play hard as guard Donald Sloan made the last five points for the team.

Tuesday night’s game marked the second win for the Heat in their five-game road trip. Miami will conclude the trip in Milwaukee against the Bucks (20-27) Friday night, the team they lost to in Miami last Tuesday.