Brooklyn Nets destroy Miami Heat in fourth quarter, win 102-86

A 31-9 fourth quarter, and a dominant defensive effort as a whole, propelled the Nets to their fourth win in five games.

The Brooklyn Nets have a newfound sense of security.

Not the organization — there are over two months left in this way station of a season and untold seasons left in this rebuild — but the players. Oh yeah!

Following Friday’s news of Ben Simmons’ impending buyout agreement with the team, there is no more news to be broken. Perhaps Bojan Bogdanović, who has yet to appear in a game this season, will be bought out as well. Perhaps Tosan Evbuomwan or Tyrese Martin will be converted to a standard contract.

But prior to Brooklyn’s game against the Miami Heat, the roster Jordi Fernández would have for the final 31 games of the season finally felt set.

At shootaround and pregame, Cam Johnson, Keon Johnson, and Fernández all said what you’d expect about Simmons, now away from the team, that he was a joy to play with or coach on and off the court, that he persevered through myriad injuries in admirable ways.

But they were even more eager to discuss the weight that had been lifted off their shoulders. Cam Johnson chuckled and told us his contingency bag was now unpacked.

As for the contents? “Don’t worry about that, just know it’s unpacked.”

And Brooklyn, looking for their fourth tank-shredding win in five games, played like it against Miami. Freely and together, a quality Keon Johnson had praised earlier in the day: “Everyone wants to see each other do well. I feel like that’s a big component into just having that type of energy around in the locker room, just knowing that your brothers gonna fight hard night in and night out for you.”

The Nets could have fractured within the first three quarters, receiving four technical fouls from a trigger-happy officiating crew, unable make a jumper (finishing 27% from three), and having to immediately fight back from double-digits.

But they handled it all. By halftime, it was tied, thanks to efforts across the board. Cam Johnson scored 11 of his team-high 18 points before the break, showing why he’s going to compete in this year’s Three-Point Contest…

Not only is Johnson still a Net, but he is primed to continue helping the team win ballgames. It’s likely not the outcome he or fans expected at this season’s onset.

Still, he was merely part of a collective on Friday. Seven Nets scored at least eight points, but all ten who touched the floor contributed to a suddenly stifling defense. The team recorded a season-high 13 blocked shots as well as eight steals, helping them feast in transition and mitigate the effects of their poor outside shooting…

Still, Miami held a six-point lead entering the fourth quarter. Not as bad as it could have been given Brooklyn’s lack of shooting Terry Rozier’s early explosion off the bench, but not quite befitting of how hard the Nets had played up to that point. Turnovers, offensive boards, deflections, and I guess technical fouls, every hustle stat favored the home team.

But Brooklyn turned it up to another level in the fourth quarter, winning the period by an astounding 31-9.

It started with back-to-back D’Angelo Russell threes, bringing him to 17 points on the night…

…and continued with Trendon Watford bully ball. Perhaps the main beneficiary of Ben10’s departure, Watford seemed poised to slide into the backup point guard role, and made one hell of a case on Friday night.

He scored eight points in the fourth quarter, either posting up smaller defenders or bruising his way downhill on drives, finishing with 12/4/3 in perhaps his strongest performance since returning (again) from injury.

Watford credited his strong fourth quarter to “just not being afraid to fail and not — not thinking too much on it.”

Aside from the offense — nine points allowed?! Holding the Heat to under 10% shooting from the floor!?

It was the culmination of an awesome two weeks for Brooklyn’s defense, the Wizards loss aside. And it was captained by a resurgent Nic Claxton, who posted 12/10/1/2/4, continuing to look more and more like his old self…

“We need that level of energy, communication, intensity,” said Fernández in postgame. “And you know, I’m very happy with the positive steps he’s taking, and like I said, he is the anchor of our defense.”

D’Angelo Russell first said that Claxton was yelling at them all night, with a chuckle, then expounded: “It’s what he does. It’s contagious. He’s so emotionally into the game that we feed off of him. If he’s frustrated, ‘why are you frustrated?’ And we try to help with that. And usually it may be something a guard got beat in the lane, and he may have the foul, or something like that. He challenges us, and we respond. So that’s what he does. He’s the anchor here, Day’Ron as well. Those guys are great.”

As for the man himself, who now has 15 blocks in his last five games, he kept it simple in his postgame comments: “That was a beautiful win … that’s one hell of a defensive performance for the whole team, and that’s how you win a basketball game.”

Final Score: Brooklyn Nets 102, Miami Heat 86

Milestone Watch

• This is the second time in the tracking era (1996-97) that the Nets have scored 30+ points and surrendered fewer than 10 points in a fourth quarter (30-9 on 1/21/19 vs. Sacramento…no that is not the infamous comeback game from that season).
• Brooklyn has held four of its last five opponents under 100 points, after holding just four of its first 47 opponents under 100 points.
• Not only did Clax block four shots, but that also marked his team-high 10th double-double of the season.
• As previously mentioned, their 13 blocks were a season-high.

Jordi Fernández discusses Team Canada resignation

Earlier this week, SportsNet Canada reported that Jordi Fernández was stepping down from his post as the head coach of Canada men’s national basketball team.

At the time, Fernández declined to comment on his decision, but did so before Brooklyn’s contest against the Miami Heat. The explanation he gave was two-pronged.

The first is family: “I mean, if I’m going back two summers ago with my kids being three and five, and now they’re five and seven. You realize how much you miss.”

The second is the Nets: “Trying to build what we’re trying to build here in Brooklyn, I decided that was the best thing. The responsibility to work here through the summers is very important ,and what we’re going to go through, the growth starts in every summer with the coaches, with the players, everybody being around. That’s where you get better, and that’s what I value.”

Cam Johnson to compete in 3-Point Contest

Turns out the Brooklyn Nets will be represented in San Francisco during 2025 All-Star Weekend after all.

Cam Johnson, one of the NBA’s renowned marksmen making ___ of his 3-pointers this season, will be participating in the Three-Point Contest, looking to become the first Net to capture the crown since Joe Harris in 2019.

The NBA announced Johnson’s participation, along with the rest of the field, in a press release on Friday afternoon…

“I think it’s the right decision. In my opinion, the best shooters in the NBA should be shooting in the three-point contest. They did a great job selecting him,” said Jordi Fernández pregame.

Next Up

Photo by Brock Williams-Smith/NBAE via Getty Images

A whole weekend off for the Nets, then another home game on Monday, this time against the Charlotte Hornets. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

• Boxscore: Brooklyn Nets 102, Miami Heat 86 – NBA
• Game Highlights: Brooklyn Nets 102, Miami Heat 86 (Video) – NBA
• Nic Claxton on the Nets win over the Heat (Video) – YES Network
• Nets postgame crew on the victory over the Heat (Video) – YES Network
• Jordi Fernández gives his thoughts on the victory over Miami (Video) – YES Network
• Trendon Watford on Nets’ win, strong fourth quarter (Video) – YES Network
• Heat held to 9 points in fourth quarter of first game since trading Butler and lose 102-86 to Nets – Brian Mahoney – AP
• Nets outscore Heat 31-9 in fourth for comeback win – Reuters
• Nets beat new-look Heat for first post-trade deadline win – Andrew Crane – New York Post
• Nets shut down Heat in fourth quarter to secure fourth win in five games – C.J. Holmes – New York Daily News