Nets interim coach Tony Brown got the pace and ball movement he has been preaching, with Brooklyn’s offense pretty much looking the way he wanted Tuesday night. That defense, though — that’s another story.
As usual, the Nets had no answer for Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. They fell to the Heat 102-98 at Barclays Center in front of 15,267 — including owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who made a rare trip stateside and watched from his suite as Bosh took over in the game-changing third quarter and Wade in the game-clinching fourth.
“Well, Wade and Bosh got us again. … It’s just hard to slow those guys down,’’ Brown said. “We just had a couple guys that put extreme pressure on you defensively. Beginning of the game, to take the lead at certain points is rewarding. But there are no moral [victories]. We want to win games.’’
It would’ve been nice to win this one, with Prokhorov and the Nets’ Russian braintrust in the building. Instead Prokhorov saw Bosh and Wade each score a game-high 27 points — Bosh with seven in a 20-7 run to open the second half, and Wade with 13 in the fourth quarter. And he heard fans chanting “Let’s Go Heat!” as Miami trotted off the floor.
Prokhorov has proclaimed he will spend more time in New York and be more hands-on with the team searching for a general manager and head coach. Asked how those searches are going, he said: “You will be the first to know.”
Pressed further, he said: “I need to [do] my homework before I speak.”
On Tuesday, he got a firsthand look at what amounts to part of Brown’s audition.
The Nets got a surprising 20 points off the bench from Andrea Bargnani, shot 50.7 percent and moved the ball well, seizing a 57-51 lead after a first half that saw them hand out 16 assists and commit just three turnovers. But they came out of the locker room for the second half and saw Bosh score seven points in a 9-1 run that gave Miami a 60-58 lead.
The Nets never led again.
The run reached 20-7 and the deficit ballooned to 71-64 on Wade’s dunk with 2:37 left in the third. Joe Johnson, who has thrived as point-forward lately, had 15 points and eight assists, but he also cooled off in the second half, with just two assists and five turnovers after the break.
“It was more us. I take a lot of the blame for it because [of an] uncharacteristic five turnovers from myself especially in the crucial late parts of the game,’’ Johnson said. “It’s hard to win like that especially against a great team like Miami. We gave ourselves a chance, but we just had a lot of unforced turnovers.”
Brooklyn spent the rest of the game chasing, and got within a point at 90-89 on Johnson’s 3-pointer with 3:35 to play, and 94-93 with two minutes left. But Thaddeus Young missed a driving hook shot and Wade — who had scored 28 in Miami’s Dec. 16 win — converted a conventional three-point play at the 1:31 mark and a tough shot over Brook Lopez for the icing, putting Miami up 99-93.
“This is me. As I said earlier, this is me playing healthy,’’ Wade said without a trace of false modesty.
“Typical CB, typical D-Wade. They do just a great job of moving the ball consistently on offense,’’ said Lopez, who had 13 points and 10 boards. “You can tell they’re always composed regardless of the score. They obviously come from a championship pedigree; they’ve been there before. They’re always confident in themselves and their team.’’
Miami played without Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside.