On March 4, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, the Nets played against the Heat at home, Durant returned from this campaign, Durant scored 9 points in the first quarter of Durant's 4 goals, and the Nets led by 12 points in the first quarter, breaking the first place in the East.
This game is eye-catching, Durant returned after 47 days, the Nets have not been in good shape recently, losing back-to-back to the Raptors, ranking 8th in the East, 3 wins behind 7th, and desperately need a win. The Heat are number one in the East, though they were just killed by the Bucks yesterday. In their first two meetings, the Nets lost to the Heat.
The Nets started: Dragic, Curry, Durant, Brown, Drummond. The Heat's starting lineups were: Vincent, Dunroe, Strus, Adebayor, UteSevern. As soon as the first quarter came up, Durant missed three-pointers, Dragic hit a three-pointer, Brown counter-attacked to score, the Nets started 5-0, Strus's three-point shot opened the record for the Heat, the two teams scored alternately, Durant scored a high jumper, got the first point after the comeback, and the Nets led 9-7.
Durant then scored on another jumper, and Dragic assisted Curry Jr. to hit a three-pointer to give the Nets a 15-7 lead to stop the Heat. After the timeout, Dragic assisted on Drummond's dunk, giving the Nets a double-digit lead. Durant gradually found the feel, 4 consecutive hits, Adebayor played 2+1, the Nets always maintained a 10-point lead or so, Mills hit a three-pointer in the bottom corner, and the Nets led 26-13.
After the timeout, Martin hit two free throws to break the scoring drought, and Mills scored five consecutive points to give the Nets a 31-17 lead. The Heat improved slightly at the end of the quarter, narrowing the gap and giving the Nets a 35-23 lead in the first quarter. Durant hit four goals in a row after missing his first two shots, and had nine points and one rebound in a single quarter, Dragic had 3 points and four assists and Mills had eight points. On the Heat side, Adebayo 7 points.