Mikal Bridges has career-high 45 points, Nets beat Heat

NEW YORK (AP)— In his third game since arriving in the Kevin Durant trade, MikalBridges had an electrifying scoring stretch to rival even thesuperstar he replaced.

Bridgesscored a career-high 45 points, including 15 in a row for Brooklynto break open a game that had been close for 3 1/2 quarters, andthe Nets beat the Miami Heat 116-105 on Wednesday night in thefinal game for both teams before the All-Star break.

“I just hadit going and my teammates found me every time,” Bridges said.

The Nets ledonly 90-89 before Bridges went to work with an array of drives,3-pointers and jumpers over the next three minutes. That pushed thelead to nine and when another Nets player finally scored, it was a3-pointer by fellow former Phoenix player Cam Johnson that pushedit to 108-96.

Bridgesscored 17 points in the final quarter to blow by his previouscareer best of 34 points. He was 17 of 24 from the field, 4 of 6 on3s and 7 of 7 at the line, and also had eight rebounds and fiveassists.

“I thinkoverall just his spirit and energy and juice, even at ourwalkthrough today, like he had the mindset it seemed like he wasn’tgoing to let us lose,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said.

Bridges wasthe runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year last season whoseoffensive game is growing. He said after the blockbuster trade lastweek that he understood why the Suns would trade him for Durant,and still does after averaging 25 points since while earning thenickname “Brooklyn Bridges.”

“You traded afuture Hall of Famer that averaged damn near 30 for his career, soI’m just trying to continue to get better and get to a point whereI can score a little more,” Bridges said.

Cam Thomasadded 19 points and Johnson had 18 for the Nets, who won for thefirst time since the two former Suns joined them in the lineup.

Bam Adebayohad 24 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for the Heat. Max Strusscored 18 points.

The Heat fellbehind New York into seventh place in the Eastern Conference, outof guaranteed playoff position, and will hope missing regularsTyler Herro, Kyle Lowry and Victor Oladipo get healthy during thebreak.

“We’ve got 23to go to get to where we need to get to,” Heat star Jimmy Butlersaid. “It’s all about being healthy, which is what going into thisbreak is going to do for us, come out swinging for the fences inthe right way.”

Bridgesscored on a jumper with 0.2 seconds left to give the Nets an 83-80lead after three quarters in which neither team led by more thansix points.

DuncanRobinson had six points in his first game since Jan. 4 surgery torepair a finger ligament.

TIP-INS

Heat: Lowrymissed his sixth straight game with left knee soreness. Oladipo hasmissed seven in a row with a sprained right ankle. ... Miami begana four-game road trip around the break. The Heat don’t play at homeagain until March 1.

Nets: BenSimmons was booed when he checked in four minutes into the game. Hefinished with two points, four rebounds and four assists in 20minutes. ... Seth Curry was scoreless in 10 minutes after missingfive games with a left adductor strain. ... Brooklyn plays nine ofits first 11 games after the All-Star break on the road.

HURTING HERRO

Herro missedhis second straight game with a bruised left knee but is stillscheduled to fly to Salt Lake City and compete in the 3-pointcontest at All-Star weekend.

“You’re notburning any calories in that and you’re certainly not colliding orjumping or doing anything,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He ismaking progress. He definitely is not ready to be able to play inan NBA game tonight and then we’ll just see how he feels the nexttwo days with his treatment, whether he’ll be able to do that. Iknow that he really wants to.”