NEW YORK — Two-time NBA championship-winning head coach Erik Spoelstra still believes the Nets have enough time to build the chemistry needed to win a championship this season. And in the first half of Kevin Durant’s return to the rotation after a month-and-a-half nursing a sprained MCL, you could see why.
The ball whipped around the floor to the tune of 19 first-half assists, Durant looked unstoppable with 17 early points and the Nets — without Kyrie Irving (ineligible to play in New York City), Ben Simmons (back tightness) and Joe Harris (season-ending ankle surgery) — made early work of a Miami Heat team short three of their best players in Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and gritty two-way wing P.J. Tucker.
But the Heat are the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed for a number of reasons, and here are two of them: chemistry and continuity. Where they lacked talent, they compensated with a level of cohesion that wasn’t enough for the Nets to overcome at the Barclays Center, spoiling Durant’s long-awaited return with a 113-107 come-from-behind victory.
