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Heat hold off Nets at leaky Barclays Center

Dec 17, 2014 - 4:37 AM Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Workers solved a hole in the Barclays Center roof on Tuesday, but the Brooklyn Nets never recovered from the one they dug themselves against the Miami Heat.

Dwyane Wade scored 28 points, Luol Deng added 18 and the Heat held off a late Nets rally en route to a 95-91 victory.

The game was delayed 31 minutes late in the first quarter due to a leakage in the arena's ceiling. The Heat were in the midst of a 10-0 run, and they never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.

Brooklyn trailed by 10 with just over a minute to play, but two free throws from Mason Plumlee and 3-pointers from Joe Johnson and Bojan Bogdanovic cut the deficit to 93-91 with 35.1 seconds remaining.

The Nets forced Wade into a contested 3-pointer that drew iron, and Deng gained position on the block for the rebound over Bogdanovic, who was whistled for a foul with 11.8 ticks left.

Deng made both free throws and Miami successfully bounced back from Sunday's 18-point home loss to Chicago.

"To me this is one of the most gratifying wins of the season. To be able to pull it out shows a lot character and toughness," Wade said.

Plumlee had a team-high 21 points with nine rebounds in the loss, while Deron Williams finished with 15 points and 11 assists.

Play was stopped with 1:47 remaining in the opening frame after water began dripping in front of the Nets' bench. Towels and trash cans were used as temporary fixes. and both teams retreated to the locker room when there was no quick resolution.

The arena's Twitter feed released the following explanation:

"Tonight's delay was caused by a water leak due to the installation of our new green roof. We've taken all necessary steps to rectify."

The Heat were leading 24-21 at the time, and when played resumed, the lead grew to 28-21 following four Mario Chalmers free throws.

Miami was ahead 55-45 at halftime, and it was still a 10-point game, 76-66, heading to the fourth.

Williams scored on consecutive possessions to pull the Nets within 87-83 with 3:17 remaining but turned the ball over the next two times down the floor.

Six straight Miami points stretched the margin back to double digits at 93-83.

Game Notes

The Heat were without star forward Chris Bosh (calf) for a second straight game ... Wade played through a stomach virus ... Miami opens a seven-game homestand Wednesday against the Jazz ... Johnson netted 16 points.