Heat, Nets hope to end skids in Brooklyn

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets have both lost three in a row, so something will have to give Monday night when the two sides meet at the Barclays Center.

The Heat's slide is an ugly one with two home losses to the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks, sandwiched around a road setback to the Atlanta Hawks. The four-time reigning Eastern Conference champs had won two straight before this slide.

"We didn't play great, we know that, the last couple of games," said forward Luol Deng. "There's games that we've shown how good we can play together. As a group, we have to continue to work together."

The most recent setback came Sunday evening, a 91-84 loss to the Bucks in South Beach.

Mario Chalmers led the Heat with 18 points and Shawne Williams deposited 13 points with 11 rebounds. Chris Bosh and Deng, who surpassed the 11,000 point plateau in the loss, each had 10 points on a combined 5-for-28 shooting for Miami.

"This team is relying on me to do a better job and I have to do a better job," said Bosh, who did have five blocks on Sunday.

Dwyane Wade missed his second straight game recovering from a hamstring injury. Wade will travel to Brooklyn, but is listed as day-to-day. Josh McRoberts also sat against the Bucks due to a blister on his left foot. It was the second straight absence for McRoberts.

The Nets' losing streak came during an 0-3 western swing. Brooklyn fell to the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers. The Nets host Miami and Milwaukee, then hit the road for three straight.

On Saturday, the Nets fell to a Blazers team without All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge and key swing man, Nicolas Batum, 97-87.

Brook Lopez paced the Nets with 21 points, Joe Johnson supplied 19 and Deron Williams also netted 19 points with six assists for the Nets. Kevin Garnett went for 12 points and 12 rebounds in the setback.

"I came in here after the game and told the guys it's a long season, the league is very difficult and we'll be playing good teams every night," Garnett said.

Jarrett Jack scored 10 off the bench. Portland has long had one of the worst second units in the NBA, but its reserves outscored Brooklyn's, 34-15.

The Nets famously swept all four regular-season meetings last season, but fell in five games during the Eastern Conference semifinals. Things have changed. LeBron James is in Cleveland, Paul Pierce is in Washington, but the Nets last season ended a 14-game losing streak to the Heat.

Miami is 11-3 in its last 14 as the visitor in this series.