When compared and analyzed among the other wins the Nets secure this season, the bright spots amid a rebuilding campaign defined more by exits and acclimations than the wins sprinkled in between, this one won’t go down as the smoothest.
As the one with the best shooting percentages.
As the one where one of the stars took over and poured in career-best numbers.
Instead, this — a 102-86 victory over the Heat at Barclays Center — featured sequences like the one with just over five minutes left that gave the Nets a seven-point lead.
Cam Johnson fed Nic Claxton with a pass near the basket, but his layup bounced off. So did Keon Johnson’s attempt at a tip-in off the rebound.
The Nets needed Claxton, following up Johnson’s miss with a tip-in attempt of his own, to convert the third-chance basket.
They needed stout defense, which held the Heat to just 35.6 percent shooting from the field and just nine points in the fourth quarter.
Cam Johnson finished with 18 points, while D’Angelo Russell added 17 and Claxton added 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
The Nets got clutch baskets from their bench in key spots.
They erased deficits and then built a convincing advantage of their own by the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
And on a day that started with the Nets nearing a buyout with polarizing point guard Ben Simmons to end his disappointing tenure, their defense helped secure their fourth win in five games.
Even with the deadline arriving 3 p.m. Thursday, that still served as the backdrop to everything unfolding.
The Heat just dealt Jimmy Butler — suspended the last time these teams met on Jan. 25 — to the Warriors in a multi-team blockbuster and are still waiting to acclimate Andrew Wiggins into their lineup.
The Nets are approaching the end of the Simmons era, with a buyout nearing that would conclude a disastrous tenure stretching two-plus seasons.
He was away from the team and ruled out Friday morning.
It didn’t take long — less than five minutes into the game — for the Nets to fall behind by double digits, but they managed to erase that deficit and even take a 3-point lead by the end of the frame behind five 3-pointers.
Jalen Wilson didn’t hesitate to elevate for one off the bench. Johnson and Russell each hit one, too.
But then, that wrinkle to the Nets offense disappeared.
They only hit two more across the next 24 minutes — and just five more for the game. So their offense needed to materialize from other avenues.
They needed the balanced scoring attack that carried the rebuilding group to most of their previous wins this season.
That allowed them to keep pace with the Heat and prevent another sizable deficit from emerging.
But once the fourth quarter arrived, they started to pull away.
After Russell hit a 3 to put the Nets ahead again, Tyrese Martin and Trendon Watford — both reserves — each followed with baskets. They hit 3s.
They forced turnovers.
And in a lasting image of the night, the type of one that helps the growing pains of a rebuild and exits such as Simmons’ fade away for just a few moments, Keon Johnson, a young piece and former first-round pick starting to emerge, soared toward the basket for a dunk — hanging on the rim for an extra second as the Barclays Center crowd roared around him.
