Where were you on January 26th, 2016? To me, today will forever be remembered as The Andrea Bargnani Flu Game

With Goran Dragic out for his 8th straight game and Hassan Whiteside sidelined with a strained hip, there was a massive opportunity for the Nets to start another elusive winning streak. After putting together their best win of the season against Oklahoma City on Sunday, supporters of this team would not have been surprised to see a flat and sloppy Nets team tonight.

However, that would just not be the case as the Nets raced out to a 20-10 lead, hardly missing a single shot in the process. Lopez, with 6 and 5, and Young, 8 points, lead the way against the weakened Heat frontcourt and attacked with confidence, certainty, and prowess.

Yes, how often do we use these words to describe the Brooklyn Nets?

Even better, we’re pretty used to writing about Lopez, Young, and Joe Johnson in this space, but what made this a special night was the simple all-togetherness. In the second quarter, in particular, there was a fun moment between Sergey Karasev and Andrea Bargnani, two of Brooklyn’s most often maligned players, as they executed a pick + pop to perfection. Simple? Yes. Refreshing? Totally.

The Nets, under the direction of Tony Brown, pushed the pace, shot three-pointers like a basketball team playing in the 21st Century, and played some attractive-looking basketball.

50% from the field, 50% from three, 24 assists.

We’ll take it.

And yet, there was a really great game here. Between Dwyane Wade going vintage Flash and Chris Bosh abusing the Nets in the paint, the Heat, a likely playoff team, made it incredibly difficult. Exploding for a lethal 26-16 edge in the third, the Heat took a 77-73 lead into the final frame.

Fueled by Bargnani (!!) and Larkin (!!), the Nets stayed within striking distance throughout the quarter, but some untimely turnovers and missed free throws pushed them to the brink. With 3:55 left, though, Lopez drew a double-team in the post and Johnson nailed a massive three-pointer before tricking Justise Winslow into a bad foul on the next possession, cutting the lead to just one.

The Nets, looking for someone to go toe-to-toe with Wade (27 points), forced the offense through Lopez with middling results. After an And-1 by Wade, he followed it up promptly with a crafty step-back via an Ellington ankle-breaker, but even a Sloan desperation three couldn’t quite pull things back.

Listen, the Nets lost, this is par for the course these days. Yes, there were some awful turnovers and decision-making, but this was fun! This was optimistic! This was hopeful, right? After lifeless blowout losses against the Jazz and Cavaliers last week — this is a massive improvement, no matter how you slice it.