Brooklyn Nets seemed reinvigorated as they expect Kyrie Irving to make his home debut Sunday vs Charlotte.
Kevin Durant scored 23 points, Seth Curry added 17 and the Nets overwhelmed the Miami Heat 110-95 on Saturday night, sending the Heat to their season-worst fourth consecutive loss.
With that loss, Miami dropped from the Eastern Conference top seed. Philadelphia (46-27) moved into first in the conference, ahead of Miami (47-28) Boston and Milwaukee, which lost Saturday night in Memphis. Milwaukee and Boston are both 46-28, 0.5 games behind the no.1 seed.
Brooklyn (39-35) remained in the No. 8 spot, now a full game ahead of No. 9 Charlotte. The two teams will meet Sunday night.
“We can’t just rely on Ky and me back. We got to approach the game with the same type of intensity as we did tonight,” Kevin Durant said in the post-game presser.
Brooklyn outscored Miami 40-21 in the second quarter to take a 21-point lead into the half. They remained ahead for the rest of the game. The Nets are now 20-0 in games in which they hold a lead of 17 points or more and they improved to 6-3 when Irving is on the floor.
That was the second time Goran Dragic faced the Heat this season, and the first time he visited Miami since his trade the past offseason.
”I spent seven years, 6 1/2 years here. It’s always nice to get the reception that I did. … We had a blast, but right now, my focus is in Brooklyn,” the veteran guard said in the post-game presser, via NBA.com.
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