The Heat will welcome the Nets to the AAA fresh off their thrilling OT win over Atlanta last night.  If you didn’t see the game winning 3 pointer by Vince Carter, I suggest you look it up online.  It was one of these from 4-point range.  Even with the win, the Nets have only won 3 of their last 8 games, but are a very good road team (10-5 record).

WHO TO WATCH

Rookie center Brook Lopez has been proving to the 9 teams that passed over him in last summer’s draft (including the Heat) just what they are missing.  He has been in my opinion the ‘big-guy’ Rookie of the Year, providing much more production then say…Greg Oden.   Lopez is a great free throw shooter and has become the 3rd leading scorer on the Nets behind Devin Harris and Vince Carter.  He also has 6 double-doubles on the year, 2 of which have come in his last 8 games.  Lopez vs Joel Anthony should be a fun matchup to watch. 

THINGS TO CONSIDER

The Nets have had success of late playing a zone defense.  It started in their game against Detroit on Wednesday after Vince Carter was ejected for arguing an out of bounds call, but carried over against the Hawks.  They held the Pistons to a season low 83 points, then held Atlanta to only 91 points (including an OT).  This is interesting considering the Heat only scored 76 against the Magic last night and have struggled against a zone.

Nets coach Lawrence Frank has been taking some criticism for sticking with forward Yi Jianlian as a starter despite his recent struggles.  That is actually putting it mildly, as over his last 10 games Yi is shooting only 32% from the field while grabbing 6 boards per game…but he continues to start.  His confidence has come into question and has been called a “soft finisher” by local Jersey media. 

KEY TO THE GAME: Break The Zone

This will be imperative if the Heat want to get back to their winning ways.  They have the talent, but will need to execute by keeping the ball moving and using the pick-n-roll to get the Nets out of their defensive positions.  D-Wade will need to get back to his driving ways, which should make their D collapse, then look for Chalmers/Cook open on the wings.  And of course the Heat will need to hit those open shots, which has been a struggle in recent games.  If Miami manages to rack up the assists they shouldn’t have a problem grabbing the W. 

NETS NOTES

New Jersey is 11-2 when Devin Harris scores 25 or more points, and are 8-3 when he takes 10+ free throws. 

Lawrence Frank was ejected during the Nets overtime comeback last night, and he admitted it was to fire up his team.  The nets looked terrible in the first half, only scoring 29 points (shooting 31%).

Not much in the line of HOT READS today, but big thanks to ooba for this nice article about the great D-Wade from the Washington Post.