The Nets have lost their 11th straight game today. The team has struggled with Kevin Durant being injured and the struggles continued today with a loss against the Heat. Kyrie Irving had a great game with 29 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. He had support from his rookie Cam Thomas who scored 22 points, but it wasn’t enough to get his team over the hump. The Heat had 7 players with double-digit scoring and won the game in the end. Bam Adebayo was the star for the Heat with a team-high 19 points and game-high 14 rebounds.
It was pretty impressive that the Nets kept the game close against the 1 seed in the east, the Miami Heat. The heat was leading by as much as 21 points in the game. Uncharacteristic of the Heat culture that defines the team, the Heat let up in the 4th quarter and allowed the Nets to bring the game to within 1 point. The score was 113-111 after Jimmy Butler missed a free throw and the Nets had the ball with 13.8 seconds left. But the Heat played great defence and forced a turnover with 3 seconds left, to get the W.
The turnover was made by the rookie Cam Thomas that was trying to get the ball to Kyrie. But Kyle Lowry had other plans and stole the ball. He then passed it to PJ Tucker who ran out the clock until he was fouled with 2 seconds left. The loss extended the Nets losing streak to 11 and the Heat kept the 1 seed in the east, improving to a 37-20 record.
The Nets are in a very bad place right now and their only hope is that Ben Simmons is the player he was before the playoffs last year and that he can help them win games. Since Kyrie can’t play home games, the Nets will have a tough time winning at home. Their next game is against the Kings at home and it is unknown whether Ben Simmons will play in that game. For the Net’s sake, I hope he does because it will be tough beating a kings team with De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis without their superstars.
