FLORIDA – Royce O’Neale scored on a go-ahead basket as Brooklyn Nets pulled off a 102-101 escape over Miami Heat in the 2022-2023 NBA Season on Sunday night (Monday in the Philippines) at the FTX Arena in Miami.
Down 100-101 after back-to-back dunks by Miami’s Jimmy Butler, O’Neale was at the right place at the right time to score on a miss by teammate Kyrie Irving to put Brooklyn on top, 102-101, with three seconds left.
The Heat still had a chance to snatch the victory but Butler was met by the double teaming defense of O’Neale and Yuta Watanabe forcing the former to miss his shot attempt at the buzzer.
O’Neale finished the game with eight points, six rebounds and six assists as the Nets stayed at second place with 27-13 slate. It was also the team’s 18th win in the last 20 matches.
Kyrie Irving led the way with 29 points, including six three-pointers, Seth Curry added 14 markers with half coming in the fourth quarter, while Nicholas Claxton and TJ Warren ended with 13 and 10, respectively, for Brooklyn.
Kevin Durant also made his presence felt with 17 points but exited late in the third quarter with a right knee injury. He will undergo MRI testing later in the day to determine the severity of his injury.
Butler led the 21-20 Heat with 26 points, Tyler Herro added 24 markers, while Bam Adebayo, Max Strus and Haywood Highsmith contributed 10 markers apiece in the loss.
Meanwhile, James Harden recorded his 71st NBA career triple-double as the Philadelphia 76ers (24-15) cruised to a 123-111 victory over Detroit Pistons (11-32) at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
The former NBA MVP winner finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists as the 76ers snagged the win despite the absence of star forward Joel Embiid.
Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 23 points, Montrezl Harrell added 20 markers, while Paul Reed, Georges Niang and Tobias Harris had 16, 14 and 12 markers, respectively./PN
