The Miami Heat just hosted the Brooklyn Nets for a final dress rehearsal before the 2026-27 season. For Mikel Brown Jr., it was also his first. After sitting out his team’s first three preseason contests with a rolled ankle, MBJ played his first non-Summer League NBA minutes tonight.
Not to make it all about one guy, but when he’s your highest pick in over 20 years, and it’s in a game that doesn’t count, his progression is mainly what does.
Be that as it may, Brown Jr. came off the bench tonight. That
means we started with Julius Randle and company.
Unlike Brooklyn’s last two games, things weren’t so smooth to start out. The Nets struggled to get anything going at the offensive end during the game’s opening minutes. As advertised all summer, Miami’s size was difficult to play around, even with Bam Adebayo sitting. The Heat tallied four rejections within the game’s first eight minutes. The Nets began the game 1-10 from the field.
At the other end, Day’Ron Sharpe also picked up three quick fouls trying to box out or defend Nick Richards. Let’s just pretend he knew he knew the starters weren’t going be playing a lot of minutes tonight anyway.
Despite all those whistles, the game moved at a breakneck pace in the first as both teams looked to challenge each other on the break. With the ideal environment now established for a guy who can move, shoot, and pass, it was time to unleash Brown Jr.. Nolan Traoré and Chaney Johnson were first off the bench after Wagner’s premature entry for Sharpe. Then, with 3:54 to go, Brown Jr. followed beside Noah Clowney.
It took MBJ only two possessions to get on the scoreboard with him making his first shot attempt. Even with Steph Curry and Dame Lillard having normalized shots like this, I’d argue his first one was a highlight…
It’s worth noting the Nets ran much of the offense through Traoré while he and Brown Jr. shared the floor in the first, had more to do with the team’s desire to ease Brown Jr. into the lineup than anything else.
Brooklyn continued to trail Miami through the second. While shots started to fall at the other end, they continued to look out of sync defensively. They were especially putrid in transition, where the Bucks got 11 first half points. Giannis Antetokounmpo was also just doing Giannis Antetokounmpo things. He tallied 18 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and three blocks in 16 first half minutes while shooting 7-8 from the field.
The Nets, however, went into the half down only three, largely thanks to a redemptive burst from Sharpe and a handful of tough makes from Michael Porter Jr. Egor Dëmin also got his second drive-by of the preseason on a future Hall of Famer…
Brooklyn went ahead after Dëmin set up Sharpe for an easy floater roughly three and half minutes into the second half. The Nets also did a far better job getting back in transition during that stretch, disrupting what once looked like an automatic source of offense for Miami. That was, at least until Day’Ron Sharpe picked up his fifth foul of the game and a seat on the bench with 6:06 left in the period. Once again playing the unfortunate role fo the little guys on the basketball court, Brooklyn saw Miami enjoy an 8-0 jolt to jump back in front.
On the bright side, Brown Jr. came back in to drop eight points and three dimes in the third, playing without any turnovers for the entire game as well. He finished with 15 points, two assists, and two steals while shooting 4-7 from the field and 2-5 from downtown.
Brooklyn still hung around early in the fourth, helped by Wagner making his third triple of the game in as many tries. And down nine with eight to go, they even brought Randle and Porter Jr. back into the game.
However, Nets couldn’t capitalize. Miami’s deep bench, with little left to lose and everything to prove, did. Led by Simone Fontecchio, they quickly put Miami up 16 with roughly six to go.
After that, even Fernández, ever the competitor, had to admit the risk of leaving his starters on the floor wasn’t worth whatever message an undefeated preseason might send. With about five to play, he put Grant Nelson and Drake Powell into the game for their first minutes. They played with Josh Minott, Danny Wolf, and Traoré the rest of the way.
Porter Jr. led the Nets with 27 points while shooting 9-17 from the field and 4-8 from deep. Dëmin followed with 17 points and three assists while shooting 5-12 from the field and 4-7 from deep. Randle tied Brown Jr. with 15 points, picking up five assists and five boards in the process. Traoré quietly enjoyed another solid evening with an 12/5/2 line.
The Nets fell 144-128, but that final score mattered less than everything that came before it. It was another night when the players Brooklyn needed to see thrive did, and that’s all you can ask for in an exhibition. Nobody got hurt, too.
So, while not a perfect preseason in one sense, it was as in another.
Final: Miami Heat 144, Brooklyn Nets 128
Next Up
We’re back (for real) one week from today, with Brooklyn beginning the regular season at home vs the Charlotte Hornets on October 21st. The Nets haven’t won a season opener since the 2020-21 campaign, when a starting lineup featuring Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, Joe Harris, Kevin Durant, and DeAndre Jordan smoked the Golden State Warriors by 26 points.
With Kon Knueppel potentially out due to a hamstring injury, Brooklyn has a fair shot to break that streak on Wednesday. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. EST.
