LUKEWARM FINISH: Deron Williams and the Nets fell apart in the third quarter, losing 105-85 to the defending champion Heat at Barclays Center last night, leaving Williams and Joe Johnson (inset) searching for answers. (AFP/Getty Images; N.Y.Post Charles Wenzelberg)
The Nets left the court knowing they were dead even with the Heat.
Too bad it was only halftime.
With owner Mikhail Prokhorov watching from high above center court from his luxury suite, Miami outscored the Nets 36-14 in the third quarter to blow open a game that was tied at halftime and cruise to a 105-85 victory over the Nets in front of a sellout crowd of 17,732 inside Barclays Center.
The Heat (29-13) have swept all three meetings between the two teams this season, and all have been similar: competitive first halves followed by dominant second-half performances from the defending champions.
“It’s disappointing, because in any sport, you measure yourself up against the champion,” Gerald Wallace said. “They’re the champions, and they’ve embarrassed us all three times.
“What does that say for us trying to be a championship team? What does that say for us as a team?”
It says the Nets (27-19) still have plenty of work to do in order to come close to being on the same level as not only the Heat, who have now beaten the Nets 13 times in a row. It also says the Nets, who have now been blown out by the Grizzlies, Rockets and Heat within the last week, aren’t living up to the potential that Prokhorov, who said before the season that the Eastern Conference Finals is a realistic goal for this group, believes it has.
“We didn’t [just] lose those games,” Wallace said. “We got our ass kicked in all three of those games. Those teams just pretty much dominated us. Memphis dominated us, Houston dominated us, and Miami in the second half dominated us tonight.
“We’re saying we want to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, we want to compete in the playoffs and eventually compete for a championship, but we’re having letdowns against some of the top teams in the league, and we can’t do that and be a successful team.”
With 7:28 left in the third quarter, the Nets trailed 58-57 after Brook Lopez — who led the team with 21 points, seven rebounds and three blocks after being named to the All-Star team earlier in the day — scored off an assist from Deron Williams.
But the Heat then exploded for a 15-0 run over the next 3:41, including a highlight-reel alley-oop from Dwyane Wade to LeBron James, that was capped by a Chris Bosh jumper to give the Heat a 73-57 lead.
It didn’t stop there, as the Heat closed out the quarter with a 27-6 run, topped off by a Ray Allen 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left in the quarter to send the Nets into the fourth quarter trailing 85-63 and the fans streaming towards the exits.
“This is a bad loss,” said Williams, who finished with nine points, five assist and six turnovers after spending the better part of the last two days sidelined by flu-like symptoms. “We hoped to come out and put a better effort out against these guys.
“With how close we are in the standings with them and a chance to gain a full game and just really try to prove we could play with them … we just didn’t do that today.”
One had to wonder if Prokhorov was wishing the NBA didn’t have a salary cap as he watched James cruise to what seemed like an effortless 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 34 minutes, while Wade added 21 points and Bosh had 16.
The loss was the second blow James dealt to the Nets yesterday, after calling them out before the game for the way they had played under previous coach Avery Johnson before he was eventually fired late last month.
“They’re playing like they want to play for their coach,” James said. “It sucks that Avery had to take the hit of them not wanting to play at a high level, but that’s how it looks to me.
“They haven’t changed their offense, they haven’t changed their defense. They’ve just picked up the intensity level, and you can tell they like to play for P.J.”