NOTHIN' BUT WET
Leaky roof only drama in listless loss
Every time the Nets appear to be turning a corner, to be getting things figured out, they remind you they still have a long, long, long way to go.
That was certainly the case again Tuesday night, when they came into their game against the Heat riding a twogame winning streak and facing a depleted Miami team missing its best player, Chris Bosh, who didn’t even make the trip because of a calf injury.
But instead of taking advantage of the injuryriddled Heat — who also were missing Josh McRoberts (torn meniscus) and Danny Granger (illness) — and putting together their first threegame winning streak of the season, the Nets came out lifeless and floated their way to a disappointing 9591 loss to Miami in front of 16,827 inside Barclays Center.
“Because we’re not good enough,” said coach Lionel Hollins, offering a blunt assessment of why his team hasn’t been able to carry over success at any point this season. “You have to be good enough to win multiple games. … You’ve got to be a good team.
“We’re struggling to be that right now. We’re trying to be. We’re working at it. We’ve made progress … but we’re not there yet.”
They’re not nearly there yet, not after almost exactly repeating the way they played when Miami came to Brooklyn last month and beat the Nets despite being at less than full strength — with the only difference being Dwyane Wade missed that game instead of Bosh. This time Wade, who was questionable with an illness himself, looked like the best player on the court, finishing with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists.
“Dwyane Wade made a special statement that he’s still a special player,” Hollins said, “and you’ve got to give him his due.”
The Nets (1013), mean while — who flew to Toronto after the game to face the Eastern Conferenceleading Raptors Wednesday night — spent the game missing shots (they shot 39 percent) and throwing the ball away (17 turnovers leading to 20 Miami points), falling into a doubledigit hole they couldn’t recover from.
To add insult to the injury of another loss, the Nets sprung a leak in the roof of their billiondollar arena late in the first quarter, with play being halted after a Luol Deng 3pointer gave the Heat a 2421 lead with 1:47 remaining when officials noticed water on the floor.
“It was like being at an AAU game that’s delayed by a thunderstorm,” said Mason Plumlee with a smile after finishing with 21 points and nine rebounds.
It was determined the leak was from construction on a new “green” roof for the building, and play resumed about 30 minutes later. But by that time, it appeared the delay had put the Nets under water.
Miami (1213) promptly went on an 114 run after the break, taking a 3525 lead early in the second quarter, and the Heat’s lead would hover around 10 points for the rest of the first half.
“We came out, I missed a pass, we threw the ball away,” Plumlee said. “We didn’t come out sharp. That’s not an excuse, but we didn’t come out well.”
But after appearing lifeless for basically the entire first half, the Nets finally got going after the break, opening the second half with a 123 run to pull within 5857 on a Joe Johnson fastbreak layup as he and Plumlee pulled them back into the game.
Miami was able to repel that run, however, and after taking a 10point lead into the fourth led 9383 lead with 1:39 left in the game after a pair of Wade free throws.