The Miami Heat (1-2) dropped their second straight road game with Friday night's 101-100 loss at Brooklyn -- certainly not how coach Erik Spoelstra wanted to celebrate his 43rd birthday.
Don't be duped by the final score. Brooklyn outplayed Miami most of the way until the Heat used a ferocious rally to pull close in the final minutes.
Dwyane Wade, who sat Wednesday night at Philadelphia to rest his knees, started for a Heat team that suffered only three two-game losing streaks all of last season.
It was Miami's first meeting with the revamped Nets, who with newcomers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are expected to contend for the Eastern Conference title.
Wade's 3-pointer with 50 seconds left cut Brooklyn's lead to five, the closest Miami had been since midway in the third quarter. After a Garnett miss, Mario Chalmers' 3-pointer with 18.1 seconds left made it 96-94. After that, the Nets hit 5 of 6 free throws to earn the win.
LeBron James scored half of his 26 points in the fourth quarter.
The Heat got off to another slow start, falling behind 11-3 at the outset. In the first two games, Miami trailed Chicago 9-2 and Philadelphia 19-0.
Cold-shooting spurts hurt Miami. The Nets were able to get out in transition during their early run, and got hot from outside during an 18-4 third-quarter run that built a 16-point cushion.
Miami hit 7 of 14 from behind the arc after shooting 16 of 40 from 3-point territory at Philadelphia on Wednesday night.
Some of Miami's shooting woes were misses on good looks, but the offense has yet to seem in sync.
One good sign, Wade got to the free-throw line 11 times (making 10). He had 21 points and shot 5 of 12 from the floor.
The Heat's reserves, who played well in the first two games, were outscored by Brooklyn's bench 36-22.
Brooklyn's 18-4 run in the third quarter to turn a 53-51 edge into a 71-55 cushion. The Nets hit 7 of 12 shots, and Miami missed 8 of 9, during the spurt.
Paul Pierce had 19 points (5-of-10 shooting), five rebounds and six assists. He clearly was pumped going against LeBron James for the first time this season.
Brooklyn outrebounded Miami 40-30. The Nets had 33 defensive boards -- Miami only four offensive -- something that enabled the home team to get out and run. The Heat were outrebounded by nine in their loss at Philly.
Heat return home to play the Washington Wizards at AmericanAirlines Arena 6 p.m. Sunday.
Charlie McCarthy can be reached at mac1763@bellsouth.net or on Twitter @mccarthy_chas.
