Wade Gets 30, Heat Pull Away From Nets 110-99
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MIAMI (AP) — Dwyane Wade might not mind a few more games against the Brooklyn Nets this season, since they seem to bring out his very best.
Wade continued to doom Brooklyn with 30 points and nine assists, Hassan Whiteside finished with a career-high 27 points off the bench and the Miami Heat pulled away to beat the Nets 110-99 on Monday night.
Josh Richardson scored 16 points in a spot start and Justise Winslow added 13 for Miami, which clamped down defensively in the second half.
Brook Lopez scored 26 points for Brooklyn, which had its streak of seven straight games with 100 or more points — the team's longest in two years — come to an end. Thaddeus Young made his first 10 shots and scored 20 for the Nets, who got 14 from Sean Kilpatrick.
Wade is averaging 27.1 points in his last seven games against the Nets. He shot 14 for 19 from the field on Monday, helping ensure that Joe Johnson's first game against his former team would be a winning one.
Johnson shot just 1 for 8 and finished with two points and seven assists. He was bought out by the Nets last month and signed with Miami after clearing waivers, helping the Heat playoff push since.
Miami was without point guard Goran Dragic, who was at the arena briefly before being sent home to continue fighting a fever and a cold. He is expected to fly with the team on Tuesday for its three-game trip to Los Angeles, Sacramento and Portland.
Winslow left with 2:55 remaining, limping off after getting stuffed by the rim on a dunk try. The ball bounced skyward and dropped through the net anyway, but he was in obvious discomfort as he left the game.
Brooklyn made 20 of its first 30 shots, but went 21 for 47 — 45 percent — the rest of the way.
TIP-INS
Nets: Brooklyn's two-game winning streak was snapped. The Nets haven't had a three-game streak yet this season. ... Young's best game without a miss in his NBA career remains a 6-for-6 effort for Philadelphia against Milwaukee on Jan. 27. 2010. ... Lopez has faced the Heat 21 times; his teams are 3-18 in those games. But he's scored 90 points in his last four against Miami.
Heat: Miami has won the season series with the Nets seven times in the last eight seasons. The Heat went 3-1 against Brooklyn this season. ... Rapper and Heat fan Flo Rida performed a concert for fans immediately following the game, on a new plaza on the arena's east side. ... Chris Bosh, who has now missed 20 games since a blood clot was detected in his leg and prompted him to resume a regimen of taking blood thinners, was on the Heat bench.
JOHNSON'S WINS
The Heat are 11-4 since Johnson signed with Miami. He has a legitimate chance to win more games with the Heat than he did in 57 games with the Nets this season; Brooklyn was 15-42 with him in the lineup this season. "I just wanted to go somewhere to have a chance with a contender and do what was best for me and my family," Johnson said.
LARKIN RETURNS
It's still a big deal for Nets point guard Shane Larkin to return to Miami, after being a college star for the Miami Hurricanes. Larkin has been on three teams in his three NBA seasons, and could choose to be a free agent again this summer. He's started at the point in each of Brooklyn's last three games. "He obviously keeps our pace up. His speed and quickness in the open court has been a very good lift for us since he was starting," Nets interim coach Tony Brown said.
UP NEXT
Nets: Visit Orlando on Tuesday.
Heat: Visit the L.A. Lakers on Wednesday.
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