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Heat snap five-game skid with 106-95 victory vs. Nets behind Powell, Ware

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel on

Published in Basketball

NEW YORK — Little has been easy for the Miami Heat lately and little will be easy for the remaining two games of this trip, on Friday night against the Boston Celtics and Sunday night against the New York Knicks.

So if there was a moment for Erik Spoelstra’s team to make things right, to snap a season-worst five-game losing streak, this assuredly was it, against a Brooklyn Nets team that entered 7-18.

But just as the losing streak included a home loss to the now 6-20 Sacramento Kings, nothing was a given about this one.

And nothing was given by the Nets.

So with offense again a struggle, it took a late closing kick before the Heat were able to shed the skid, emerging with a 106-95 victory Thursday night at Barclays Center.

In what stood as a three-point game midway through the final period, the Heat finally put it away even with Bam Adebayo in foul trouble.

Norman Powell led the Heat with 24 points, with Adebayo contributing a season-high 17 rebounds. The Heat also got 22 points and 12 rebounds from Kel’el Ware in his return to the starting lineup.

Mostly, the Heat offense was choppy and uneven, a night salvaged only at closing time, with Jaime Jaquez Jr. providing late scoring punch in his 19-point performance.

Those numbers helped the Heat overcome the 28 points of Nets forward Michael Porter Jr.

Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday night’s game:

— 1. Game flow: The Heat pushed to an early 11-point lead, with that advantage down to 30-27 going into the second period. After the Nets briefly took their first lead in the second period, the Heat went into halftime up 54-49.

The Nets also went ahead in the third, before the Heat went into the fourth up 77-73.

It then got further dicey for the Heat when Adebayo was called for his fifth foul with 7:20 to play, leaving Spoelstra no choice but fourth-quarter trial by fire with Ware.

A pair of solid defensive possessions followed, staking the Heat to an 84-77 lead, with a Ware 3-pointer later helping put the Heat up 95-84, matching their largest lead to that point.

— 2. Ware again: With Tyler Herro missing a fourth game with a toe contusion, the Heat reverted to their big lineup, with Ware back in the opening mix alongside Adebayo, in a first five rounded out by Powell, Davion Mitchell and Andrew Wiggins.

 

Ware opened 4 of 4 from the field, also with four rebounds in that opening stint, consistently providing a scoring target at the rim.

Ware tied his career-best streak with a blocked shot in a 10th consecutive game, matching a streak from earlier this season.

— 3. Bam’s boards: For his part, Adebayo was up to 10 rebounds with 8:04 left in the second period, helping to compensate for a 1-of-7 start from the field.

Adebayo had 11 rebounds by the intermission, but only two points at that stage, missing both of his first-half free throws.

Adebayo’s second conversion did not come until 53 seconds into the second half, amid yet another uneven offensive performance.

— 4. Powell play: Powell went from the injury report with calf soreness to 10 of the Heat first 19 points, opening 4 of 4 from the field, including 2 of 2 on 3-pointers.

Powell then was up to 15 points by halftime, including a 41-foot heave that beat the halftime buzzer, with three of the Heat’s seven first-half 3-pointers.

Powell scored in double figures for the 25th consecutive game, the second-longest such streak of his career (35 in 2020-21 with Toronto and Portland).

— 5. Jakucionis time: First-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis received the first rotation minutes of his career when he entered with 4:20 to play in the opening period, cast alongside point guard Dru Smith.

Jakucionis’ only previous NBA action had been 54 seconds of mop-up duty in the Dec. 1 home rout of the Los Angeles Clippers.

His first NBA points came on a 3-pointer with 2:10 to play in the opening period.

Jakucionis’ night was limited to his 7:30 stint in the first half, with the 3-pointer his lone attempt.

Jakucionis’ time came with the Heat without Nikola Jovic and Pelle Larsson, as well as Herro.


©2025 South Florida Sun Sentinel. Visit at sun-sentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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