Miami Heat vs. Brooklyn Nets Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 3/3/2022

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY

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Heat: 41-21

Nets: 32-31

There's a very good possibility that we could be talking about the Miami Heat is the best team in basketball rather soon. And I don't want to put that as a enter on Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, or any other team in the Eastern Conference, but the heat continued to, no client ended hot going into this game Thursday against the Brooklyn Nets.

At the time of publishing Miami is playing the first game of a back to back on Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks. Miami enters that Wednesday matchup having won nine of the last 10, including a win over Brooklyn on February 12, 115-111.

But in Miami last game however, they did pull off an impressive victory over the Chicago Bulls at home, 112-99.

Not only did Miami hold MVP candidate DeMar DeRozan to just seven of 16 shooting from the field, but the Miami offense shot nearly 50% from the floor. Gabe Vincent, who replaced Kyle Lowry in the starting lineup due to personal reasons, led the way with 20 points and made four 3 pointers.

"When the opportunity comes you want to take advantage of it," Vincent said. "We miss Kyle and can't wait to get him back."

It was enough to offset a rough shooting night for Jimmy Butler, who finished with 15 points on just four of 13 shooting. Bam Adebayo had 15 points and seven rebounds to go along with five assists, and Tyler Herro also led the way with 20 points off the bench.

It's been the kind of run that Miami has needed in order to separate itself from the rest of the pack in the Eastern Conference, and thanks to the injuries with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the inconsistencies with the Milwaukee Bucks, it's allowed Miami to take over the conference lead in a sense.

And this game on Thursday is going to be another case of them being able to take care of business rather easily.

Another day, another instance where the Brooklyn Nets just refused to find ways to win. I don't think they purposely find ways to lose, but time is running out very quickly for Brooklyn to make a playoff run without its big names on the board.

And it's fair to say that when Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons eventually joined the team, they're going to be able to grind out some wins and make things very interesting in the playoff race. But with 19 games to go and currently having lost 15 of 18, things continue to look dire every single day.

Because as we remember now, Kyrie Irving cannot play games in Barclay center. Kyrie Irving also cannot play games in Canada unless he is vaccinated. So not only did the Nets not have their point guard available for their first game against Toronto at home two days prior in which they lost by 36, Brooklyn did not have Irving available in their rematch in Toronto soon after in which Toronto won 109-108 on Tuesday.

You know it's bad when James Johnson is your leading scorer with 19 points on 711 shooting and right after that, Seth Curry has 18 points but takes 16 shots to get there. Brooklyn shot 50% from the floor which is actually very good, but not good enough to take down an actual good team in Toronto who had every single starter score in double figures.

"Obviously, everybody knows the situation we're in," Johnson said. "But the guys in the locker room, we understand it a little bit different. We understand where we're at, we understand how close we really are to becoming what we want to become this year."

Well that would require everyone being accounted for, but Brooklyn probably wins that game with Irving in the lineup. And I know it seems like I'm beating a dead horse when it comes to Kyrie, but at the end of the day this could have all been avoided if he did not wait for a mask mandate in New York to come through. It has to be one of the reasons why James Harden wanted out of Brooklyn and who knows what is to come of this group going forward should this continue to be an issue?

Just imagine if they have to play Toronto in the playoffs. If Irving doesn't get the shot, he's not going to be able to play. And at that point it might not matter if Durant and Simmons are in the lineup. Because sometimes you need that third guy to carry the scoring load for you on most nights. And as much of this is a experience factor for the Nets who don't normally get this much playing time, you really don't want this going forward.

Irving will not play Thursday, and neither will Durant, Simmons, or Andre Drummond. And that's just the way it is right now, and it would not be shocking if Brooklyn completely fell out of favor at some point.

Normally I'm not a fan of taking a team playing a back to back and having to deal with travel, but I think we can make an exception here. Brooklyn is just not good right now, and the fact that they are playing against a very good Miami team that is extremely stout defensively does not do well for the home team. This is probably the best case scenario that Miami could have asked for and I feel that at the end of the day, Miami will get the job done and show what happens when you have a full, healthy team. Heat by 12

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PG: Gabe Vincent

SG: Duncan Robinson

SF: Jimmy Butler

PF: P.J. Tucker

C: Bam Adebayo

PG: Goran Dragic

SG: Patty Mills

SF: Seth Curry

PF: James Johnson

C: LaMarcus Aldridge

Heat: Kyle Lowry (out, personal), Markieff Morris (neck, out), Caleb Martin (Achilles, questionable)

Nets: Kyrie Irving (out), Kevin Durant (knee, out), Ben Simmons (conditioning, out), Andre Drummond (day-to-day), Joe Harris (ankle, out)

Points: Jimmy Butler -- 21.7

Rebounds: Bam Adebayo -- 10.2

Assists: Kyle Lowry -- 7.9

Points: Kevin Durant -- 29.3

Rebounds: Andre Drummond -- 10.2

Assists: Kevin Durant -- 5.8