Monday night at the Barclays Center, Jason Kidd’s Brooklyn Nets played like a team on the edge in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Brooklyn battled the defending NBA champion Miami Heat shot-for-shot for the whole game and every Brooklyn player that saw the floor played with hustle and heart, knowing that a big home win in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals would tie up the series 2-2.

Miami Heat v Brooklyn Nets - Game Four

However, LeBron James’ historic 49-point performance and one big shot from Chris Bosh proved too much to overcome as Miami secured a 102-96 victory to take a 3-1 series advantage and once again put the Nets on the brink of elimination.

James went 16-of-24 from the field and sat for less than five minutes of the heated contest, but the Nets were still in the game to the very end, when Chris Bosh broke a 94-94 tie by knocking down a corner three with 57.3 seconds remaining. The Nets managed just one field goal in the final 4:25 and Miami’s shot-making down the stretch proved to be the difference.

“Both teams were trying to find a way to make a basket,” Jason said of the last few minutes. “Both teams defensively were holding pat, and they made the shot and we didn’t.”

Miami had Brooklyn on its heels at the outset, as they opened up the game on a 10-3 run. To make matters worse for Coach Kidd’s crew, starting point guard Deron Williams picked up his second foul less than five minutes into the game, which forced Jason to bring Alan Anderson into the contest much earlier than expected.

Foul trouble continued to mount when, shortly after making a great move through the lane that resulted in a running dunk, Paul Pierce picked up his second foul. Once again, Coach Kidd was forced to make a lineup adjustment on the fly, subbing out Pierce for Mirza Teletovic.

Miami Heat v Brooklyn Nets - Game Four

However, Brooklyn never wavered and fought their way back into the contest, weathering James’ 12 first-quarter points to go into the second quarter down just five points, 27-22.

James and the Heat continued their sharp shooting into the second frame, going a staggering 13-for-18 from the field in the quarter. Still, Brooklyn continued to hang in the game. Williams returned to start the second and buried a huge trey to open up the quarter. He added a long two just a few moments later while drawing contact from Ray Allen, and made the ensuing foul shot to make it a one-point ballgame.

The Nets defense stepped up from there and side forced a 24 second violation on Miami’s next possession. On the other end, Williams and Andrei Kirilenko made the most out of the opportunity, as D-Will drove through the lane and flipped the ball to Kirilenko, who maneuvered through traffic, made the lay-in and was fouled by Wade on the play.

Miami Heat v Brooklyn Nets - Game Four

Kirilenko‘s made free throw put Brooklyn on top 31-29. Brooklyn was able to take a lead of as much as four midway through the second frame, but when James returned to the game, he took it over. The Miami star finished the half with 25 points on 9-13 shooting from the field and the Heat held a 56-49 lead at the break.

“He was going. A lot of his shots were in the paint. We tried to keep them out of the paint, but it’s a little bit harder when you talk about it,” Jason said. “

[Lebron] is not going to settle. Tonight he didn’t settle. He put pressure on our defense.”

Brooklyn was buoyed by Williams and Joe Johnson, who each had eight points, and Shaun Livingston, who contributed seven. As a team Miami shot 63.2 percent from the field in the half and the Nets shot just 48.6 percent, making them lucky to be hanging in the game.

The Heat attempted to pull away from Brooklyn in the third quarter when they took an early nine-point advantage. However, as they have done all season long, Coach Kidd’s crew never lost its will and clawed its way back into it.

The Nets followed Miami’s spurt early in the half with one of their own and when Kevin Garnett finished a thunderous putback dunk just five minutes into the second half to make it a two-point game, it ignited the Barclays Center crowd.

From there, the Nets had ample opportunities to pull ahead late in the third, but Miami took a 79-76 advantage into the fourth.

Brooklyn started the fourth quarter in aggressive fashion. Alan Anderson pulled them within one when he hit two out of three foul shots to open up the frame and Williams recorded a steal on the next Heat possession.

On the opposite end, Williams dished the ball up to Paul Pierce, who slammed it home to give Brooklyn its first lead of the half, an 80-79 advantage.

Williams added to the advantage when he followed up his own missed jumper and put it back in to make it 82-79 in favor of the Nets. The Heat responded quickly with a layup by James and a three from Mario Chalmers to jump back in front by two. But Brooklyn answered with consecutive layups from Pierce and Shaun Livingston to go back up 86-84.

Miami scored five of the game’s next six points to pull ahead 89-87, but Pierce was at it again and made a circus shot while drawing contact from Wade. His subsequent free throw put the Nets ahead 90-89 with 4:25 remaining.

However Pierce’s circus bucket was the last Brooklyn field goal until the final seconds of the game.

Miami Heat v Brooklyn Nets: Game FourJames gave Miami a two-point lead again when he buried a long three-pointer. Johnson answered with a pair of free throws and after James’s layup gave the heat a 94-92 edge, Garnett did the same as Johnson, knotting the score at 94-94. Fruitless possessions followed for each team.

Garnett missed a 17-footer with 2:02 to go and after Bosh misfired on a three, the Nets got the ball to Johnson, who backed down James and fired a short jumper that missed the mark. Bosh grabbed the rebound and called a timeout with 1:15 remaining.

“The game was tied and we had a chance to win,” Coach Kidd said. “We got the ball to our best player and he got some good looks that just didn’t go down.”

Out of the timeout, Miami finally found the separation they were looking for when Wade and James used a screen and roll to get Bosh open in the corner for a trey that put the Heat ahead for good.

On the Nets possession that followed, Johnson again tried to post up on LeBron on the Nets’ next possession, but he could not get his shot to fall, which forced Brooklyn to foul Miami. Allen went to the line twice and went 4-of-4, helping the Heat secure a 102-96 win. Afterward the Nets lamented the missed opportunity.

“We had our chances,” Garnett said. “When you’re at home, you just want some chances to win, and I thought we had chances.”

James 49-points was a postseason high for him as a member of the Heat. After the game the Nets lauded the performance of the Heat’s four-time MVP.

“He’s tough,” Pierce said of James. “Especially with his strength, his speed, when he ducks his head to try to go to the basket, it really took away a lot of my aggressiveness in the first quarter when I picked up two fouls. So I was trying not to pick up my third foul there in the second quarter, and he realized that, and he just kept going to the hole. At the end of the day, he’s tough to guard one-on-one. You got to try to slow him down, you’ve got to try to send multiple guys at him, make him kick the ball, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

NEXT UP

The Nets now take the trip down to Miami for Wednesday’s crucial Game 5, when they will attempt to extend their season and force another game in Brooklyn.

“We’ve just got to get one game,” Pierce said. “That’s the mindset. The series is far from over. We’ve got to go down there, try to get one game and force the series back home.”

The Nets are 2-0 in elimination games under Coach Kidd, after winning Games 6 and 7 during their first round series with the Raptors. They’ll need to win three more to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

“Obviously the series is not over,” Johnson said. “But we really have to have urgency going to Miami and we got to come out ready to roll.”

Tip-off of Wednesday’s Game 5 from American Airlines Arena in Miami is slated for a 7 p.m. EDT tip-off and the contest can be seen on TNT.

RELATED LINKS