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Heat-Nets Preview

Oct 31, 2010 - 2:36 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Miami (2-1) at New Jersey (2-0), 1:00 p.m. EDT

After acquiring LeBron James and Chris Bosh, the Miami Heat might have expected an instant boost to an offense that ranked among the league's worst last season. So far, the presence of those stars is paying off more at the other end of the court.

The Heat will try to follow up their best defensive effort of the season by winning their third in a row when they visit the surprisingly unbeaten New Jersey Nets on Sunday afternoon.

After falling 88-80 in Tuesday's season opener at Boston, Miami bounced back with a 97-87 win in Philadelphia the following night. The Heat then produced a stunning rout of Southeast Division rival Orlando in Friday's home opener.

The Heat (2-1) limited the Magic to 30.4 percent shooting overall and a 4-for-24 performance from 3-point range en route to a 96-70 win.

"Every night is not going to be like this," forward Udonis Haslem said. "But we had an unbelievable focus. We wanted to fly around, use our speed, our quickness and our athleticism."

The stifling effort gave Miami a league-best average of 81.7 points allowed through its first three games. Last season, the Heat gave up the second-fewest points per game in the NBA at 94.2.

"The guys now can't go back on this," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "They've shown me what we're capable of defensively and I will hold them to this standard now in terms of the effort."

The offense, meanwhile, has yet to take off in earnest. While Dwyane Wade has surpassed 25 points in each of the last two games, James hasn't topped 16 in either of those contests after scoring 31 in the opener. Bosh has yet to exceed 15 points in a game.

It might be surprisingly difficult for the Heat to break out against the Nets, who are 2-0 for the first time in eight seasons.

New Jersey averaged a league-low 92.4 points during its franchise-worst 12-70 campaign in 2009-10, but has topped 100 in each of its comeback victories this season.

The Nets trailed by seven with 1:40 to go in a season-opening, 101-98 victory over Detroit on Wednesday, then rallied from eight points down in the final 3:41 of a 106-100 win against Sacramento on Friday.

Devin Harris scored six of his 21 points during a 17-3 run to put away the Kings, while Brook Lopez scored a team-best 29. Both players have exceeded 20 points to help the Nets start strong on their season-opening four-game homestand at their temporary new home, the Prudential Center in Newark.

"It says we're a team of a lot of heart but that's not something we want to make a habit," Harris said. "It's good to know we can make these comebacks."

New Jersey won four in a row to open the 2002-03 season but didn't record its third win in 2009-10 until Dec. 30. To earn a third victory Sunday, they'll have to overcome their struggles in this series.

Miami held New Jersey below 90 points while sweeping last season's four meetings. The Nets have also dropped six of seven at home to the Heat.

These teams will meet again Saturday night in Miami.