Jimmy Butler had one of his lowest scoring games of the season last month, and the Brooklyn Nets’ Mikal Bridges scored a career-high 45 points against the Miami Heat.
Butler is encouraging the Heat to victories with his recent scoring outburst, and his hot streak is occurring at a time when the new-look Nets are floundering.
The Heat are now No. 1 thanks to Butler’s hot streak. 6 in the Eastern Conference going into Friday’s game, and when the teams meet for their third and final time on Saturday in Miami, he wants to put on another strong performance to push the Nets even further down the standings.
The Heat (40-34) are gaining ground on the fifth-place New York Knicks and were half a game ahead of the seventh-place Nets (39-34), who have lost five of their last six games.
Brooklyn’s visit on January 8 marked a pivotal moment for the team’s direction and gives it a 2-0 lead in the series.
Kevin Durant sustained a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee when he collided with Butler in the third quarter of a 102-100 victory. Durant was traded to the Phoenix Suns on February 9, three days after the Dallas Mavericks traded Kyrie Irving, making it his final game with the Nets.
The Nets were in their third game with Bridges when the teams met on February 15, and the best game of his career helped Brooklyn win 116-105. In the second half, Bridges scored 15 straight points, and he did it while Butler was held to 13.
Butler has averaged 26.3 points on 60.5 percent shooting, including 52.6 percent from three-point range, since that game, the sixth time he has been held under 15 points. The Heat are 8-5 since the All-Star break, having lost their first two games. Butler has scored at least 23 points 11 times.
Steward delivered his fourth 30-point round of the month Wednesday when his 35 assisted the Intensity with pulling ceaselessly down the stretch in a 127-120 triumph over the meeting New York Knicks.
During this week’s two-game series against the Cavaliers, the Nets suffered losses in two distinct ways.
On Tuesday, the Nets fell behind by as much as 24 points before coming back to win 115-109. On Thursday, Brooklyn had an eight-point lead with 2:13 to go, but Cleveland’s Isaac Okoro hit an open 3-pointer in the last second to win the game 116-114.
Thursday’s loss came after Brooklyn couldn’t get a guarded bounce back on a missed free toss by Donovan Mitchell with 10 seconds remaining.
Thursday, Bridges scored 32 points, but the Nets scored 23 in the fourth quarter and committed five of their 16 turnovers, including an errant pass by Dorian Finney-Smith with 13.3 seconds left that set up the final sequences. Two of those points came in the fourth quarter.
