Miami Heat Out To Compound Brooklyn Nets' Woes In Regular-Season Matchup

The Brooklyn Nets are slated to square off against the Miami Heat on Wednesday, February 15 at the Barclays Center in a battle of Eastern Conference rivals coming off a loss.

In their initial meeting in January, the Nets won by a hairline, 102-101. However, a lot has changed since then with Brooklyn ridding themselves of their top stars such as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

The Nets have sustained two-consecutive losses, the last one at the hands of the New York Knicks, 106-124.

In that game, a returning Spencer Dinwiddie led the way with 28 points and four assists.

Backing him up was Cam Johnson, who ended up with 14 points and four rebounds.

With the exit of Durant and Irving, the Nets need to find a new go-to guy.

Dinwiddie is no stranger to filling this role although Nets coach Jacque Vaugh admitted that they are still going through the process of improving their offensive efforts.

"That was the overall challenge, just to be able to put the ball in the basket," Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said in a report by ESPN. "And it's something we're going to work on and stress as a group."

The Nets are ranked 17th in the league in team offense, scoring 114 points per contest.

On the other side, the Heat will be looking to pull the rug from under the Nets and rebounds from a 108-112 loss to the Denver Nuggets

Jimmy Butler is expected to man the offense anew along with Bam Adebayo and Max Strus.

Against the Nuggets, Butler finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists.

Strus chipped in 23 markers in the losing effort, while Adebayo had 19 points.

The Heat are expected to rely on their defense to contain the Nets as they are second in the NBA right now, allowing opponents 108.2 points per match.

However, Miami's offense needs work since they are norming 108.4 points per outing.

The Heat are -1 favorites to prevail over the Nets, whereas the moneyline set is -118 for Miami and +100 for Brooklyn.

The Nets-Heat match will be telecast over YES at 7:30 PM ET with a special digital simulcast via the NBA League Pass.