The Brooklyn Nets closed out their preseason schedule with their first loss, falling 144-128 to the Miami Heat before a sellout crowd of 19,600 at Kaseya Center on Wednesday night.
Nets coach Jordi Fernández had no interest in dressing up what went wrong.
“[The problem was] just defense. I mean, it was a very poor defensive game,” Fernández said. “[It’s the] second time that we’ve given up in one half 70 points — 69 in the first half, 75 in the second. That’s unacceptable. And if we want to be a competitive team, we have to play better defense than that.”
Brooklyn finishes preseason 3-1, but the defeat exposed a problem that will follow the team into the regular season: an inability to protect the rim. The Nets were outscored 62-38 in the paint, letting Miami shoot 31-for-40 from close range.
Much of that damage came from Heat star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists and three blocks in just 23 minutes, a plus-15 for the game. He had 18 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three blocks by halftime alone, when Miami led 69-66.
Antetokounmpo’s early dominance was made easier by foul trouble for Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe, who picked up three fouls in the first 4:49 of the game. With Sharpe on the bench and Miami playing without star center Bam Adebayo, Brooklyn tried to attack the paint on offense but had no answer defensively, falling behind by as much as 13 points.
There were bright spots. Michael Porter Jr. led all scorers with 27 points, shooting 4-for-8 from three. Rookie Mikel Brown Jr. scored 15 points in his preseason debut, while second-year players Egor Dëmin (17 points, 4-for-7 from three, three assists, two steals) and Nolan Traore (12 points, five assists) each had strong nights.
Dëmin briefly ignited a Brooklyn comeback in the third quarter. His assist to Sharpe put the Nets ahead 76-75, and a three-pointer off a Porter feed gave them an 84-83 lead with 7:12 remaining in the quarter. But Miami answered with a 10-0 run, and the Nets never got back in front.
All-Star Julius Randle struggled, shooting 4-for-13 and finishing a team-worst minus-19, while veteran Moritz Wagner was minus-13 in 22 minutes. Porter, for all his scoring, grabbed just one rebound.
The Nets also absorbed an injury scare early in the third quarter when guard Davion Mitchell fell into Sharpe’s knee and needed six stitches to close a facial cut.
Fernández has made clear that preseason results don’t count in the standings, but he wants the effort and execution to carry over. Wednesday’s game showed a Brooklyn team with scoring punch from its young players but a defense that, by the coach’s own admission, is not yet competitive.
