Despite loss to Heat,

On three straight possessions in the fourth quarter, the Miami Heat needed a play, and for three straight possessions, Jimmy Butler delivered as the Nets fell in a close one, 109-106. The difference between the two potential Eastern Conference playoff teams on Sunday was clear: One team had its star, the other did not.

Spencer Dinwiddie, of course, has been the Nets’ star during their stretch without both Kyrie Irving (right shoulder impingement) and Caris LeVert (thumb surgery). And much like the other games during that span, he did not disappoint. Dinwiddie finished with 29 points, including a tough three with 4:24 to go in the fourth quarter.

But Butler had hit his own tough three earlier, a step-back over David Nwaba that made it a one-point game. When the Heat failed to score over the next three minutes, Butler put on his cape and became Superman, one trip to the foul line at a time.

“I just continue to play in a way where I take what the game gives me,” Butler said. “I know whenever the fourth quarter rolls around, it may be my time to take some good shots, some bad shots, get to the line.

“Hopefully it never comes down to that, but when it does, I’ve gotta be able to pull through for my guys.”

Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson said his team defended Butler the way they had drawn it up, but whether it was putting Butler on the foul line three straight possessions or open shots that just didn’t fall, the Nets didn’t make enough plays down the stretch to come away with the win.

“If you go down the ledger,” Atkinson said, “there’s so many opportunities where we could have done better.”

The Nets may have been able to do better, but sometimes against star-caliber talent, there is nothing you can do. The team has seen glimpses of this from Irving earlier in the season, and more recently from Dinwiddie, who was the latest Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

Butler’s star shone brightest late in the fourth, accounting for five points in that crucial 40-second span where he got to the foul line. Those points include the pair of free throws that gave the Heat a 107-106 lead with less than 30 seconds to go.

“He got to the free-throw line. That’s his M.O. That’s what he does,” Dinwiddie said. “He likes to get into the mid-range, start pump-faking and get to the line. That’s literally his game. He was able to get to his stuff.”

Crunch time is when Butler makes his money, and he cashes in on both ends of the floor. He got a block on a Dinwiddie step-back with 1:16 to go in the fourth, and when Dinwiddie blew by Heat big man Bam Adebayo for a potential go-ahead layup with 12 seconds to go, it was Butler who rotated from the weak-side to contest at the rim.

Star players do what Dinwiddie said: They “get to their stuff” when it matters most. Butler’s ability to make plays down the stretch was the difference.

But the Nets were on pace to beat this Heat team, now with a 14-5 record, until Butler put the team on his back. Some on the team feel they should have won: Atkinson drew up an after-timeout play that created a wide-open look for Joe Harris at the top of the key with 45 seconds to go and the Nets up one.

“If Joe hits the three, and I hit the layup,” Dinwiddie says, “it’s a completely different ball game.”

It wasn’t a different ball game, and the Nets lost this one because they didn’t make plays down the stretch, but Jimmy Butler did.

It was easy to write off the Nets’ success without both Kyrie Irving and Caris LeVert at first due to strength of schedule, and for good reason: Only one of the first six games they played without Irving was against a playoff-caliber team, and they lost that game to the Pacers by 19.

But the Nets’ last three games have been against playoff-caliber Eastern Conference foes: twice against the Celtics and once against the Miami Heat. The Nets lost in

Boston by 11, turned around and beat the Celtics by five in Brooklyn, then lost to the Heat by only three in a game they probably should have won.

Still, the Nets are 6-3 while playing without their two starters, and their success is no fluke.

Spencer Dinwiddie has become this team’s leader without Irving, and now has an Eastern Conference Player of the Week honor to show for his efforts.

“It creates more optimism for where we can be when we get heal