In a strangely not too cold Brooklyn, the match between the hosts, i.e., took place on December 18th Netshey Miami Heatcertainly accustomed to other types of climate at the Kaseya Center in Florida. Even though it was at the beginning of this new NBA season, the match, at the starting line, still promised a spectacle.
View from the press seats inside the Barclays Center
The situation at the starting line
In fact, the Nets were coming off a very good period of form but were still underdogs at the start, while the Heat were in a spiral of 5 defeats in a row, with the last victory dating back to a couple of weeks earlier. Despite this, the odds were still on their side, considering Brooklyn’s decidedly lesser technical qualities.
The head coach’s team Jordi Fernandez could have won the fifth victory in the last seven games, an event that had not happened for more than 10 months, while the Heat were desperately looking for the victory that could have put them on the right path before a very important matchup like the one against the other New York team, the Knicks.
The last time the two teams faced each other, the Nets crushed Miami 102-86, albeit in the last game of the season that didn’t have much to contribute to the final standings. Considering the current ranking situation, those who would have had the most to lose would have been the Heat, while the Nets had nothing to gain other than a lot of confidence for the future of the championship.
In fact, like all recent seasons, the Nets do not start with great aspirations, even though the path they have taken in these last few meetings is definitely the right one. First and foremost, the guard’s late draft pick Egor Deminarrived from BYU. The eighth overall pick in the draft immediately proved decisive in his three-point shooting, becoming the rookie with the most 3-point baskets made after 23 career games. On top of that, the 19-year-old Russian is at 81 assists for the season, making him the fifth all-time for the Nets after 23 games this season.
The real driving force, in terms of points scored, is instead Michael Porter Jr.who came into this matchup with 25.6 points per game. For the opposite team, however, he is the leader Norman Powellhis best career season in terms of average points scored per game. Our Simone Fontecchiohowever, arrived at this appointment with 9.6 points per game, improving for now the 5.9 average obtained last season in Detroit.
The story of the match
The Brooklyn Nets arena is located in the center of Downtown Brooklyn, in an area surrounded by skyscrapers and completely immersed in the urban environment of New York. Although it was easily reachable on foot for me, getting from any point in Brooklyn and Manhattan is still really simple, having a subway stop dedicated to this place. Among my experiences so far in American stadiums, this is perhaps the one in which I felt the closeness of the fans the most, as the Nets are the team from only one of the five “boroughs”, or neighborhoods, of New York. Representing all the other 4 are the Knicks, making the Nets fans a decidedly closer and warmer audience.
Barclays Center from outside
My first NBA experience in New York therefore could not have had a better premise, fortunately respected by the excellent game observed inside the Barclays Center.
The match starts well mainly for Miami, which dominates the first section which leads to the first inevitable timeout for Brooklyn, being behind 19-10. The only protagonist of this section of the match on an offensive level is Powell, which immediately gets 10 points, while Mitchell creates important opportunities getting 4 assists. What makes the difference for Miami is undoubtedly their physicality, which the Nets are unable to counter in any way.
The first quarter then continues in a fairly similar way, with the Nets attempting a comeback that is not absolutely easy only thanks to Just now e Porter Jr.. Despite this, after another timeout, the other Nets players also try to get the game back on track, reducing the gap to just 3 points. The Heat ended the quarter badly mainly thanks to the lack of contribution from the bench. Fontecchio finds the first minutes of the match but remains dry and above all not at all involved in Miami’s game. 30-27 the final after the first quarter.
In the second quarter the pace of the two teams definitely begins to increase, with the Heat increasing the gap but having to put significantly more intensity into the match compared to the first quarter. Miami’s bench then begins to be more decisive, especially thanks to Jaquez Jr., which rises to 13 points. Also Fontecchio scores 2 points, his first of the match. The contribution of the bench of the Nets it is however equally important, especially thanks to Wilson e Wolf. However, what makes the negative difference is the defense, which is decidedly too permissive in leaving space for the Heat players.
Just when Miami seems to be better able to manage the lead, which reached +7 in the middle of the first quarter, Brooklyn recovers completely and returns to -1, with a final dunk of Clowney which leads to an inevitable timeout for the Heat.
Surprisingly, after taking a couple of minutes to reflect, the Heat even went behind, only to regain the lead thanks to scoring baskets. Wiggins e Powell. The latter is then the protagonist of the most beautiful basket of the evening, which came from a hail mary at the end of the first half which brings Miami to a stronger gap of 5 points, driving the many fans of the Florida team crazy with joy.
The first half thus ends 54 to 49, with a more than fair partial for what we saw, that is, great disorganization and defensive inattention from the Nets also accompanied by a certainly not offensive exuberance from Miami.
The third quarter picks up exactly where the two teams left off, with the Nets conceding important points to the Heat especially with turnovers. Despite the difficulties, the Nets remain hungry for a comeback, retaking the lead twice in a row. Porter Jr. e Claxton they are undoubtedly the main authors of the comeback, yet, as in the case of the first minutes of the match, a considerable contribution also comes from the bench, once again better than that of Miami.
Once again Brooklyn, just when it seems to have found continuity, is once again overtaken by Miami, thanks also to the best quarter of Fontecchio which gets 5 points in it alone. The partial of 77 to 73 brings the two teams to the final part of the game, which however begins with two minutes of total absence of points, a symptom of an evident tiredness of both teams.
The basket of Adebayo breaks the teams’ fast and brings Miami to +6, which in this phase remains focused despite the Nets evidently starting to make more fouls to try to break the Heat’s more constant rhythm.
With one foot already on victory, the Nets, even more nervous, concede a gap of -12 after a bad foul by Mann which was upgraded to an intentional foul. The only one to try in the finale, despite the obvious outcome, is Porter Jr.which rises to 28 final points. For Miami the leader of this statistic is instead Powellat 24. With the result of 106 to 95 the match ends, with many Miami fans satisfied with the trip.
The post-match commentary
Even though it wasn’t the best offensive performance, as reiterated by the HC Erik Spoelstra in the post-match conference, the important thing for Miami was to find a victory that certainly gives confidence in view of the clash with the other New York team, namely the Knicks.
Having the fortune of being able to follow that match live too, we will certainly be able to know with more certainty: have the Heat really returned to the splendid form of two weeks ago or was the victory against the Nets just a coincidence in a dark period?
Lover of the United States, to whom I have dedicated a blog(@Speaking of USA), and its sports, I enjoy spending time writing articles about the NFL and the NCAA college championship, as well as women’s basketball.
Related reading
