The Miami HEAT defeated the Brooklyn Nets 104-96 Monday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Goran Dragic led the way for the HEAT with 20 points.
1. J. Johnson = Playmaker
As usual, James Johnson did a little bit of everything for Miami. For a majority of the contest, the 29-year-old bullied his way to the rack and either finished tough plays or drew contact. He also had a great stretch towards the end of the third quarter where he threw up a lob for Willie Reed, nailed a corner three and hit a pull-up jumper in transition. That was fine and dandy, but his put-back jam with 56.9 seconds remaining essentially sealed the deal.
Of course, Johnson also came to play on the defensive end too, as he guarded Bojan Bogdanovic and Trevor Booker well throughout the game. In fact, one of his best defensive plays came against Booker late in the first quarter.
With 2:55 left in the period, Johnson swatted Booker straight up and Dion Waiters came up with the ball. After taking it down court, Waiters then found Rodney McGruder on the right corner for the three in transition.
In all, Johnson scored 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, dished out five assists, grabbed four boards, blocked three shots and stole the ball twice. That’s called stuffing the stat sheet.
2. Dragic Stays on the Attack
Dragic had himself a quick start to the contest with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first quarter. To no one’s surprise, he mixed things up with aggressive drives to the rack and pull-up jumpers off screens. In all, he dished out eight assists to go along with his team-high 20 points.
3. Waiters At It Again
So how did Waiters follow up being named Eastern Conference Player of the Week? Well, he did exactly what earned him the accolade and remained hot from downtown. So hot that he tallied 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the first half and was key in the HEAT’s 17-0 run towards the end of the second quarter. Naturally, one of Waiters’ best plays of the game came during that flurry.
To get the sequence started, Hassan Whiteside blocked Brook Lopez with 1:13 left in the period. From there, James Johnson came up with the ball and took it down court. Once the forward approached the right wing, he whipped it to Waiters at the top of the arc, who drilled the difficult three despite Spencer Dinwiddie being in his grill.
As the evening wore on, Waiters set up his teammates with some great looks. The 25-year-old finished with 19 points, six boards and a team-high nine assists.
Other Takeaways:
-McGruder continued to play hard and attacked the Nets with some of his patented high-arcing runners and catch-and-shoot treys. On the flip side of the ball, he did a great job of defending both Isaiah Whitehead and Bogdanovic. In all, McGruder scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-6 from distance, stole the ball twice and notched a team-high plus-13 rating.
Game Notes:
-Miami has now won eight-straight games.
-Josh Richardson (left foot sprain), Justise Winslow (right shoulder surgery) and Josh McRoberts (left foot stress fracture) sat out.
Looking Ahead:
-Up next for the HEAT are the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night at 7:30 PM. Tickets for that game can be found here.
