Both teams came into the much-anticipated early season matchup in Brooklyn following surprising losses. The Nets dropped their season opener 98-94 in Cleveland against the Cavaliers, while the Heat lost their second game of the season to a D-League team masquerading as the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Nets played solid team basketball — an anomaly in their 10-21 start to the season — and held off a late 8-0 Heat run to win in a back-and-forth game. The Boston Celtics’ Brooklyn campus had a solid game, as Paul Pierce provided 19 points, Kevin Garnett brought solid defensive intensity, and there was even a rare “Jason Terry playing effective basketball” sighting.
Joe Johnson added 19 to lead the Nets in scoring with Pierce, as the Nets ended a 12-game losing streak against the Heat. The loss knocked the Heat into a losing record (1-2) for the first time in the LeBron James era since an opening night loss to the Boston Celtics in 2010.
Assistant coach Joe Prunty manned the sidelines for the second and final game for Jason Kidd, whose coaching debut was delayed by a two game suspension for a DUI arrest from the summer of 2012. I’m pretty sure the Willie Nelson impersonator in the Canadian tuxedo at the bar I watched the game at also got a DUI that early November night too, so there’s that.
