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Brooklyn Nets guard Armoni Brooks celebrates a three-point shot during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
MIAMI – Armoni Brooks practiced Tuesday on Long Island for Brooklyn’s G League team. He was told to board a flight to Miami a few hours after that practice, mainly due to roster depletion.
Good call.
Brooks scored 17 points off the bench in 16 minutes, Mikal Bridges led Brooklyn with 21 points and the Nets erased a 15-point deficit in the second half to beat the Miami Heat 109-105 on Wednesday night.
“That’s the best part of basketball, showing who you’ve got and sticking together as a team and getting a win along the way against a really good team,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said.
ARMONI BROOKS IS LOCKED UP
17 points | 5 p.m pic.twitter.com/619SlfkHjv
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 2, 2023
The Nets outscored Miami 55-25 when Brooks was on the floor, 36-16 in his two second-half stints. He was 6 of 7 from the floor, 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
“Landed last night around 7 o’clock, we went shooting and got ready to play,” Brooks said.
It was his first NBA game since April 2022 and it was Trendon Watford’s Nets debut. He had 11 points and was a plus-19 in 14 minutes. Lonnie Walker IV added 17 for the Nets, Dorian Finney-Smith scored all 15 points in the second half for Brooklyn and Cam Thomas scored 13.
Tyler Herro scored 30 points for Miami, which has lost four in a row to fall to 1-4 — its worst start in five games since opening 0-5 in the 2007-08 season.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves at this time of year,” Herro said. ‘Of course it’s still early. But at some point this has to matter to us. We can’t keep losing and think that’s okay.”
Bam Adebayo scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Miami, and Jimmy Butler scored 20 points for the Heat.
“We don’t want to dig this hole too deep,” said Adebayo, now the Heat captain. “That’s the concern.”
Brooklyn’s bench outscored Miami’s 50-26.
Miami nearly blew a 19-point lead in the season opener against Detroit, winning that game by one and escaping when Cade Cunningham missed a 3-pointer as time expired.
Against Boston on Friday, an early 13-point lead wasn’t close enough in what became a 119-111 loss. And against the Nets, Miami saw its 15-point lead disappear relatively quickly in the second half.
“We definitely have to persevere,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “We have to find a way to sustain it more consistently and better, and that’s what we’re focused on. … We just have to be better at keeping our game going.”
Miami led by 16 in the first half and led 75-60 with 4:30 left in the third quarter. The Nets outscored Miami 38-17 over the next 12 minutes.
The Heat fell to 6-3 playing on Spoelstra’s birthday during his tenure as head coach. Miami had won its last five birthday games – the last loss coming in 2013 in Brooklyn.
Miami used its fourth starting lineup in as many games, this time with Adebayo back in the starting lineup after missing Monday’s loss at Milwaukee and with Kevin Love sidelined by a bruised left shoulder. Rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. took Love’s spot in the lineup.
NEXT ONE
Nets: Visit Chicago on Friday in a regular-season tournament game.
Heat: Host Washington on Friday in an In-Season Tournament game.