As good as Game 7 of the Raptors series was for the Nets, Game 1 of the Heat was bad. Brooklyn was able to keep pace with Miami on its home court in the first half, as the Nets were down just three points after two quarters, but faded away quickly after the intermission, going on to lose by 21 points in their first and only defeat at the hands of LeBron and the Heat this season.
Brooklyn and Miami were very even in the opening 12 minutes, as neither team was able to get enough key stops or make enough open shots to really break away. The Nets settled for too many jump-shots, though, allowing the Heat to quickly control the paint on both offense and defense. This made every Nets’ layup highly contested while allowing the Heat to get a lot of open chippies.
However poorly the Nets looked through 24 minutes, they were down by just three points at the half. Miami was up by as much as 10 points in the second quarter but a quarter-ending 14-6 Brooklyn run capped off by a long Deron Williams buzzer-beating three brought the score to 46-43 in Miami’s advantage by the midpoint break. This gave Jason Kidd’s team some momentum after a mostly lackluster opening half.
Unfortunately, though, the Heat started off the second half hot, and thanks to a missed, open layup by Andray Blatche that could have cut the Nets’ deficit to 56-54, Miami was able to put together a 8-0 run to go up 16, 70-54. This surge basically sealed the game, as Brooklyn wouldn’t be able to cut into the Heat’s mounting lead until another at-the-buzzer Deron three, this one banked, put Miami up 13 after three quarters.
The Nets would never put up much more of a fight after that point, and Kidd didn’t even play any of the starters at all in the frame. This may have been to an assumption of his that his tired team wasn’t going to come back and that it should rest for Thursday’s Game 2. It could have also been Kidd experimenting with lineups to see what would work for the next game of this series. Regardless, clearly the Nets’ coach didn’t think his team had much of a chance in this one, especially after losing the third quarter 33-23.
Some other observations I had from the game: A pretty okay first half was played by the Nets tonight, but the second half was a totally different story. Brooklyn just didn’t play with the effort and execution needed to beat a team with the talent of the Heat. That missed Blatche layup propelled this game from a competitive one to a rout, and the Nets can only expect the same thing to happen if more opportunities are missed in Game 2 and in subsequent games….Jason Kidd put Shaun Livingston back into the starting lineup for Alan Anderson tonight. Livingston wasn’t bad, playing some good defense and scoring nine points in nine shots but Anderson was bad, going just 2-for-7 from the field and looking overmatched wherever he played. Marcus Thornton (11 points) was by far the best Brooklyn reserve, as none of the others could get much going on offense or defense….Joe Johnson (17 points on 7-for-11 shooting) was the Nets’ best scorer again. He was able to hit some big threes off good passing and made some of his patented floaters and mid-range jumpers, but was too hot from the field to only take 11 shots. Granted, he didn’t play in the fourth quarter but should definitely get more than 11 shots if he’s playing that well….Deron (17 points on 7-for-10 shooting) was also able to score some, even if six of his points came on two crazy buzzer-beaters at the end of the second and third quarter. His jumper was on tonight, and hopefully it is again on Thursday.
Looking Ahead
Game 2 is Thursday night in Miami, and it’s a game the Nets really need to win, as a loss would put them down 2-0 in the series but a win would tie it up a one game apiece.
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