MIAMI ā It was weird seeing Joe Johnson beating the Nets, but watching Dwyane Wade bullying Brooklyn? Yeah, thatās all too famiš¦©liar.
Facing the Nets for tź§he first time since his contract was bought out and he signed with the Heat, Johnson had an understated game but still helped šthe Heat to a 110-99 win Monday night. He got plenty of help from Wade and Hassan Whiteside, underscoring just how far apart Johnsonās old team is from his new one.
āIt šwas surreal. Itād been a long time since Iād played against him. ā¦ It was very weird,ā sš °aid Brook Lopez, whose team-high 26 points went to waste. āIām happy for him, happy for the situation heās in. He seems to be enjoying it. [I] obviously wish him all the best luck. Wish we couldāve got a win against them.ā
The Nets couldnāt, despite facing a Heat team without Gošran Dragic or Chris Bosh. Wade torched them as usual, with a game-high 30 points and nine assists. He posted up, set up like a point-forward on the elbow, ran the attack as a lead guard, abused Sergey Karasev ā did almost everything.
Whašt little he didnāt, Whiteside š ŗ(27 off the bench) and Johnson (seven assists, four rebounds) did.
āIām fond of Joe Johnson,ā interim coach Tony Brown said. āHe helped our young guys as the season progressed. š Heās the ultimate professional, and I wish him nothing but success going forward.ā
He just would have preferred the Nets (21-52) had the success Monday. They were within 6ź§9-65 when Miami seized the momentuām with a 9-0 run.
Wade found Justise Winslow for a dunk, then Whiteside hit a turnaround jumper. Wade stripped Bojan Bogdanovic ašnd went the other way for a layup. After Sean Kilpatrick lost the ball to Luol Deng, Winslow capped the run with a 3-pointer for a 78-65 cushion with 3:16 left in the period.
The rest was academic.
āIt almost looked like [Wade] was a buź©µlly down there. ā¦ We had no answer for him,ā Brown said, šadding of Whiteside, āIād love to be his agent right now.ā
Still, with Johnson 11-4 as a starter for Miami (43-30) since his Feb. 27 arrivź¦al, this is one of those situations where everybody wins.
Johnsonź§ is averaging 12.8 points per game, on 51.4 percent shooting and 48 percent from dešep for Miami which is en route to its ninth straight postseason. Meanwhile, the Nets have given minutes to their young wings like Bogdanovic and Karasev.
āWe have to approach every game like itās aį£ Game 7,ā Johnson said. āThis is the most fun time of the season, gearing up for the postseason. š Thatās where I wanted to get to.ā
Johnson wasnāt going to get there with Brooklyn, where he spent šparts of four seasš³ons, but the team was rebuilding, he wasnāt happy with his play, and it was time for all parties to go their separate ways.
āIt was touź¦°gh,ā Johnson said. āšBut at the end of the day, we play this game for the love of it. You really have to respect the game, regardless of the circumstances.ā
From Brown to Lošpez, the Nets said Johnson did just that.
āFor me, I just learned so much from him,ā Lopź¦¦ez said. āHe was the consummate professional.ā
Winslow got shaken up when he hit the deck after šLopez rejected his dunk attempt. But the ball bounced up in the air and fell through the rim anyway.šÆ Thatās the kind of night it was for the Nets, which saw their streak of 100-point games snapped at seven.