MIAMI — Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant have recently tempered expectations in the short term, both claiming their regular season was too disjointed to expect a championship.
But if Saturday’s laugher was any indication, the stars are selling themselves way short.
The Nets not only beat the Heat on the road Saturday night, 110-95, they embarrassed and taunted the supposed Eastern Conference contender. With the blowout already established, Andre Drummond, the hulking Nets center, flashed the peace sign to a trailing Tyler Herro on a fast-break before dunking.
It put the Nets up by 27 midway through the third quarter.
A few minutes later, Seth Curry nailed a 3-pointer off a turnover to balloon the lead to a game-high 37 points, sending courtside spectators Floyd Mayweather and Antonio Brown into a celebration. Much later, in the fourth quarter, Blake Griffin flashed his own two-fingered peace sign after burying a shot.
It was a Brooklyn (39-35) show on Biscayne Blvd., with Irving (11 points, six assists) and Durant (23 points, five assists) getting to sit the entire fourth quarter. It should provide ample rest for Irving’s home debut Sunday.
Miami (47-28) entered the night on top of the East but in a tailspin. Pat Riley’s bunch not only has lost four straight, it blew a 17-point fourth-quarter lead Friday night to the lottery-bound Knicks. Two nights earlier, star Jimmy Butler got into a heated argument with head coach Erik Spoelstra and teammate Udonis Haslem during a timeout. The foundation of that vaunted #Heatculture is showing cracks.
The Heat were shorthanded on the sideline, where Spoelstra was absent because his son was undergoing a medical procedure. Assistant Chris Quinn was the replacement and the Nets turned it into easy work with owner Joe Tsai watching from courtside.
It was a potential preview of a first-round matchup, a circumstance created by the Nets plummeting in February because of Durant’s sprained knee. Next to the other possible first-round matchups against the Sixers, Bucks and Celtics, the Heat probably present the most favorable opponent. Especially this iteration of the Heat.
Either way, as coach Steve Nash acknowledged Saturday, the Nets will likely first have to navigate a play-in game.
“We are where we are, so we have to play what’s in front of us,” Nash said. “And for us that’s likely the play-in game, and all that matters is that we are as prepared and as far enough forward as we can possibly be in the short amount of time to play well in the play-in game.”
They certainly looked prepared to say ‘peace out’ to the struggling Heat on Saturday.
