NBA: Mikal Bridges leads Nets’ blowout win over Heat
FILE – Mikal Bridges #1 of the Brooklyn Nets goes to the basket during the first half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Barclays Center on March 23, 2023 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Sarah Stier/Getty Images/AFP
Mikal Bridges scored 27 points and the Brooklyn Nets snapped a season-worst, five-game losing streak by putting together a dominant second half in a 129-100 victory over the host Miami Heat on Saturday night.
The Nets (40-34) vaulted back into sixth place in the Eastern Conference with their first win since March 12. Brooklyn leads the seventh-place Heat (40-35) by a half-game and is 1 1/2 games behind the New York Knicks for fifth place.
Brooklyn turned a 14-point deficit into a blowout after halftime. The Nets outscored Miami 39-18 in the third quarter and 64-31 in the final 24 minutes.
Bridges made 7 of 19 shot attempts and also was 10 of 11 from the foul line.
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) March 26, 2023
Cameron Johnson added 23 points and hit five of Brooklyn’s 18 threes. Spencer Dinwiddie contributed 15 points, Nic Claxton collected 14 and 10 rebounds and Dorian Finney-Smith and Edmond Sumner chipped in 12 apiece.
Brooklyn shot 49.4 percent overall and a blistering 59.3 percent in the decisive third quarter.
Tyler Herro and Max Strus scored 23 points apiece to lead the Heat, who shot 47.5 percent but were a dreadful 6 of 19 in the third. Strus scored all of his points by halftime, shooting 9-for-10.
Jimmy Butler added 18 points and Bam Adebayo finished with 16 as the Heat were swept in the three-game season series with Brooklyn.
Miami made 13 of its first 16 shots and held a 36-28 lead through the opening quarter. Adebayo’s dunk opened a 64-52 lead with 2:35 remaining in the first half, which the Nets ended on a 13-5 spurt to get within 69-65 by halftime.
After Adebayo’s dunk cut Brooklyn’s lead to 79-73 with 8:36 left in the third quarter, the Nets ripped off a 17-2 run for a 96-75 lead on Dinwiddie’s jumper with 3:58 remaining. Brooklyn then took a 104-87 lead into the fourth when Sumner sped through the lane for a buzzer-beating layup.
Joe Harris hit a 3-pointer with 9:29 left to push the lead to 112-90 and Bridges drained a trey to make it 122-92 with 5:44 remaining to seal the win.
