The Brooklyn Nets small forward Royce O’Neale is a steady running mate for Kyrie Irving, and they logged every second of the fourth quarter on Sunday. Yuta Watanabe logged the next-most playing time at 9:40, followed by Seth Curry to help take some of the playmaking load off Irving.
“It was a combination of what group was going to be out there to help us at that time,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said. “So [the Heat] were really being aggressive with Ky so we needed another ball-handler in the game. That’s how Seth came into play.
“Then because they were trapping, [we] put Yuta in the corner. Hopefully he gets an open 3 and stretches the floor for us. He was pretty solid defensively, so that was my rationale in finishing with that group.”
