How did the Nets sweep the Heat this season?
The Nets won all four regular-season meetings against the Heat. Can that success carry over to the postseason?
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
One of the major reasons the Brooklyn Nets acquired Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett was for matchups against LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Pierce and Garnett have history with James going back to his days with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and although the four-time MVP has recently gotten the better of the veteran duo in the playoffs, it hasn't been easy.
Thus far, the acquisitions of Pierce and Garnett have proved fruitful against Miami. The Nets won all four regular-season meetings this season, and they’ll look to continue that success when they get together in the Eastern Conference semifinals. History is on Brooklyn’s side: No team that has gone 4-0 in a regular-season series has gone on to lose a postseason series between the same two teams.
The Home Team
Just how did the Nets manage to beat the two-time defending champions four times in a row? All four games were close, with Brooklyn winning three of the contests by one point, and the fourth by nine points in double-overtime. During the first two games in Brooklyn, the Heat made fourth-quarter charges only to come up short. The second game was the double-overtime affair, when Miami erased a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to create a tie game at the end of regulation.
The two games in Miami both featured key defensive stops late to seal victories for Brooklyn. In the first, the Heat had a chance to win with 3.5 seconds left, but Shaun Livingston forced a Chris Bosh turnover. In the second, rookie Mason Plumlee blocked James at the rim to secure yet another stunning win.
Pierce played a key role in the season series, averaging 21.3 points while shooting 55.3 percent overall and 45.0 percent from three. The Nets, in general, had a lot of success shooting beyond the arc against the Heat, knocking down nine triples per game at a 40.9 percent clip. Joe Johnson shot 44.4 percent from three, Marcus Thornton hit exactly half in two meetings, and Mirza Teletovic hit 40.0 percent in three games.
Garnett only played in two of the meetings, but he had a positive impact when he was on the court. In the 62 minutes Garnett played against the Heat this season, Brooklyn outscored Miami by 11.0 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com’s stats page.
Of note: Dwyane Wade missed two of the losses to Brooklyn. In the two games Wade did play, he performed well, scoring 21.5 points per game on 56.5 percent shooting.
Brooklyn vs. Miami
James and Bosh were also solid in the season series. James averaged 27.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists while shooting 55.1 percent from the field, and Bosh averaged 15.8 points on 50.0 percent shooting.
The problem for the Heat was that they didn’t get enough help from the supporting cast. Despite the Big Three’s strong overall shooting percentages, Miami shot just 46.5 percent for the series. That’s compared to a 50.1 percent mark over the course of the regular season.
The three-point shooting also suffered, a problem James and Bosh had a hand in. The Heat shot 36.4 percent from deep during the regular season, but they only managed to shoot 33.0 percent against Brooklyn. James made just 28.6 percent of his treys in the series, while Bosh made a quarter.
With the Heat healthy and rounding into postseason form, one has to imagine they’ll perform better against the Nets than they did in the regular season. Miami has an extra gear that Brooklyn likely doesn’t possess, so it would be a surprise if the Nets advanced despite what happened earlier in the season.
That being said, this series should be hard fought and hotly contested. If the Heat emerge victorious, they’ll have earned it.
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