1. The HEAT continue to shoot incredibly well and continue to be rather confusing at the same time.
This was one of the best first halves they’ve ever had, as a franchise, from an offensive perspective. With 9-of-15 shooting from three, they put up an Offensive Rating of 156.8 – a number which rivals just about any half they’ve ever had even if there are a few that were marginally higher over the past three or four seasons. Brooklyn was constantly on their heels trying to either keep up with Miami’s off-ball movement or stay in front of the interior pressure of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. The HEAT have been a different offensive team over the past couple of weeks largely thanks to incredible and efficient shotmaking. The first half only furthered the trend.
The defense has been going in the other direction, though. Even with the explosive offense, turnovers, fouls, second chances and some slower half-court rotations proved costly as the Nets, hitting 40 percent from three themselves, found themselves down just four headed into the break. This is a Brooklyn team that has ranked No. 27 in offense since All-Star, too.
Only one of the trends would continue from there, as the Nets being able to stay on the HEAT’s heels despite the explosive first-half proved to be a harbinger of things to come. Less than a minute into the third, it was Brooklyn by two. By eight, a couple minutes later with the Nets living on open threes to power a 14-2 run. Then 16, a 20-4 run. Jimmy Butler slowed things down once the lead stretched to 21 and kept the door open entering the fourth, but a 39-18 period is a 39-18 period.
The rest of the game didn’t get any better as Brooklyn took it, 129-100, with an Offensive Rating approaching 150 to sweep the season series.
2. Perhaps the less said about the rest of this game, the better. Miami had a chance to go 1.5 games up on Brooklyn with a win, which would have brought them within a game of No. 5 New York – with a game against the Knicks looming this week. Instead, they drop back down into the play-in tournament behind Brooklyn, a team that owns the tiebreaker over them.
The play-in is still far from a forgone conclusion and another win over the Knicks would put them right back in the conversation for No. 5, but these opportunities are few and far between. In a season where the margin for error has been effectively zero, the same can be said for the next few weeks unless New York and Brooklyn do some of Miami’s work for them. The shotmaking of the past few weeks has been a major reason to hold onto hope of late but figuring out the defense – and the number of open threes opposing teams are generating – figures to be top of the priority list, especially in games like this where your opponent isn’t turning the ball over.
3. Max Strus, have yourself a half. Until missing a last-second heave, Strus was 9-of-9, including 5-of-5 from three, for 23 points – tying his career-high for highest scoring half of his career.
The three-point shooting isn’t a surprise, even if it’s been a relative down year at 34 percent, it has always felt as though he was underperforming his true-talent averages and that it was just a matter of time until he caught fire. What turned this into such an incredible half, then, wasn’t just the shooting, it was the fact that he went 4-of-4 in the paint, either diving to the rim off the ball or straight up attacking with it. Brooklyn might be the team that switches the most in the league this season – with Miami still right there but switching a bit less overall – but they were regularly a step behind Strus as they miscommunicated their coverages, either giving Strus a free lane – the Nets were playing their centers high up on Bam Adebayo to account for Strus handoffs, an obvious example of his shooting gravity – or letting him turn the corner before the designated switcher could get to the ball. Strus has long said that he’s more than just a shooter, and this half should be his highlight reel for those statements – just about perfect both outside and in. Unfortunately by the time Strus returned to the floor in the third quarter, the game had almost entirely flipped.