We offer our predictions on tonight’s contest.
David Borghard: Nets, 96-89. Lopez will have 22 and 8 to lead the Nets in scoring. I’m also predicting a Garnett ejection after fighting with Beasley or Haslem. #HelloBrooklyn.
Devin Kharpertian: Heat, 97-91. With the Nets still putting their pieces together and the Heat going on three years as a Flying Death Machine, I don’t see a still-restricted Deron Williams leading the Nets to victory. With Andrei Kirilenko only slated to play a quarter’s worth of minutes tonight, the Nets will have to lay out an all-out assault to stop LeBron James — and then there’s the rest of the Heat to deal with.
Benjamin Nadeau: Heat, 92-85. I can’t pick Brooklyn tonight. Everyone is sipping on that Nets hype this year, but this game breaks down simply for me: 1) Deron Williams is still on a minutes restriction, 2) Kirilenko will only play, at a maximum, fifteen minutes, 3) Prunty’s rotations worried me. I thought the trade with Boston was supposed to keep Reggie Evans off the court late in the fourth quarter? Regardless, everyone needs to be at full strength in order for the Nets to make a real run at Miami. Tonight, that’s not the case.
William Rausch: Heat, 95-90. The Heat haven’t lost back-to-back games since December 2012, and unfortunately I don’t think that streak is coming to an end tonight. In a sign that this 2013-14 NBA season is going to be as awesome and LoL-laden as we thought, the Heat lost on Wednesday to the Philadelphia “Riggin for Wiggins” Sixers. In his NBA debut, Philly rookie Michael Carter-Williams almost had the fifth quadruple double in league history, so Lebron and Co. will have a little extra motivation to spoil the new Brooklyn Superfriends’ home opener. Add to that Deron’s limited minutes, and you have the recipe for an 0-2 start for the Nets. But if an 0-2 start in an 82-game season worries you, there’s no use in trying to talk you off the ledge with reason.
Max Weisberg: Nets, 94-92.
