Nets dig deep for impressive win in Miami

MIAMI — The shorthanded Nets went into Miami missing three starters.

They found a huge gutcheck win over the reigning Eastern Conference champs.

With a cobbled together lineup, and despite a double-digit deficit, Brooklyn stormed back for a 109-105 come-from-behind win over the Heat to stun a sellout crowd of 19,600 at Kaseya Center on Wednesday night.

They did it without starters Nic Claxton, Cam Johnson and Spencer Dinwiddie. And they did it trailing by as many as 16 in the game, and eight in the final period.

That is, before ripping off a 19-4 fourth-quarter run — including 11 unanswered — to pull out the result.

“Yeah, when times get tough, what are we going to do? We just stayed with it, stayed through adversity,” said Mikal Bridges, who had nine of his team-high 21 points in that pivotal final stanza.

“They were making shots and were moving it, and we didn’t just pout, be down 16 and go down 20 and go down 25. We just kept going, kept playing and we just played for one another, the coaches, everybody, all one unit it just felt like us versus everybody out there.”

The fourth quarter was the definition of a team effort for the Nets (2-2).

Brooklyn outscored Miami 34-22 in the fourth. It shot .579 overall and 6 of 10 from deep, while holding the Heat to .375 and just 3 of 11.

“Staying together as a team and pulling out a victory on the road against a really good team. We challenged our guys at halftime really to play [the way] we were capable of playing, and I think we did that in the first half,” coach Jacque Vaughn said.

And they did it with Lonnie Walker IV and Armoni

Brooks — the latter twoway just called up due to their depleted state — finished with 17 each off the bench.

Brooks was plus-30 in just 15 minutes. He and Trendon Watford were plus-12 in the fourth quarter, Walker a plus-15.

“It is all comes down to your preparation, your work ethic, teammates and coaching staff having trust in you, and whenever you get that opportunity just try your best to take advantage of it,” said Brooks, who shot 6 of 7, including 5 of 6 from deep. “You never know when it’s gonna come, but when you hear your name called, you’ve got to be ready and go out there and execute.”

The Nets overcame a 6:16 first-half stretch without a basket that put them in a hole, falling behind by double digits.

Brooklyn saw its deficit grow to 56-40 when Tyler Herro (30 points) hit a 3-pointer with 31.3 seconds left in the half.

It was still 77-63 with 3:53 left in the third when the Nets reeled off eight unanswered to get back in the game.

Cam Thomas capped the run with a floating bank shot that pulled Brooklyn within 77-71, but the alwaysstoic guard got whistled for a surprising technical by official Nick Buchert. It slowed the momentum, but didn’t stop it.

Trailing 86-78 after Haywood Highsmith’s 3, the Nets ripped off 11 unanswered. Vaughn went with a position-less lineup and tightened up the defense on Herro.

Brooklyn forced a couple of turnovers, and Ben Simmons’ block of Herro at the rim turned into Watford’s go-ahead left-corner 3 for an 89-86 lead with 8:38 to play.

After Bam Adebayo put Miami back ahead, Simmons found Royce O’Neale for a 3-pointer of his own and a 92-90 lead. The Nets stretched it to 97-90.