This is not your 2011-12 Miami Heat team. However winning cures everything and flat out makes everything smell better.
Dion Waiters strikes again!
Waiters scored 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, including another clinching three this time with 6.8 seconds left, and Miami overcame an 18-point deficit in the final period to beat the NBA worst Brooklyn Nets 109-106 on Wednesday night.
Waiters, who played college basketball in the state of New York specifically Syracuse University, was coming off his second straight game in which he tied his career high of 33 points.
Wayne Ellington had 22 points and Goran Dragic contributed 17 for the Heat. Yes, they are last in the Southeast Division, but they have won a season-best five straight games.
Where’s Brooklyn at?
Brooklyn is heading in the opposite direction. The Nets have not won at home since a 120-118 victory over Charlotte on Dec. 26.
Brook Lopez scored 33 for Brooklyn, including a career-high seven 3-pointers. Brooklyn is now 9-36, has lost 14 of 15 and owns the worst record in the NBA.
Heat fans here is encouraging information; Rodney McGruder’s 29 starts are the most by a Heat rookie since Mario Chalmers started all 82 games in 2008-09.
Miami has won five straight in Brooklyn since losing 104-95 in double overtime on Jan. 10, 2014.
It took 92 days for the Nets and Heat to play each other this season. They have now begun a stretch in which they will face each other three times in 17 days.
Miami will keep their coats packed as they visit Chicago next. The Heat have lost twice to the Bulls this season. Miami lost at home, 98-95, on Nov. 10, and in Chicago, 105-100, on Dec. 10. The Heat swept the series 4-0 last season.
