Credit: Rich Storry-USA TODAY Sports
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 8. 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 shots and also was 10 of 11 from the foul line.
Cameron Johnson added 23 and hit five of Brooklyn’s 18 threes. Spencer Dinwiddie contributed 15, Nic Claxton collected 14 and 10 rebounds while 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 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 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, but the Nets ended the half 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, 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.
Harris hit a 3 with 9:29 left to push the lead to 112-90 and Bridges drained a 3 to make it 122-92 with 5:44 remaining and finish it off.
–Field Level Media