Mikal Bridges leads Nets in decisive win against short-handed Heat

The Brooklyn Nets ended their longest losing streak of the season by defeating a short-handed Miami team, winning 112-97 in front of a packed Barclays Center crowd of 17,817.

This victory marked the beginning of a five-game homestand and brought an end to Brooklyn’s three-game slump, improving their record to 7-8. Up next, they’ll face Chicago on Sunday.

Mikal Bridges led the game with 24 points and six rebounds, while Spencer Dinwiddie (14 points, 11 assists) and Cam Johnson (19 points, 10 boards, game-high plus-29) achieved double-doubles.

Remarkably, all five members of the Nets’ starting lineup scored in double figures.

“It was good. It could kind of be a trap game, them on a back-to-back,” Bridges said afterward in an on-court interview.

“Yeah, every game is important. Hopefully at the end of the night, we’re, what, 7-8 in 15 games and don’t have a three-game losing streak and break out of that,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “So that’s what’s the most important thing, is [this] game. I won’t look beyond that.

“Whatever game presents itself, that’s the important game for our group. We got to continue to get better on a nightly basis. That’s a challenge for this group to continue to grow together and continue to learn how to play with each other on both ends of the floor, communicate with each other. Tonight, we get an opportunity to do that.”