The Brooklyn Nets will visit the Miami Heat on Wednesday night in an NBA game that will be Free Live Streaming Online from the American Airlines Arena in Miami. The game will tip off at 7:00 PM ET.
Though they're one of only two opponents to beat the defending champions twice this season, the Nets haven't won in Miami in more than six years and no team has been better at home over the past three months than the Heat.
Brooklyn, however, heads to south Florida on Wednesday night with the Eastern Conference's best record in 2014 at 22-9 after winning six of seven.
"(The Nets) are playing some great basketball right now," said LeBron James, who has won the last 17 games he's played against them going back to his Cleveland days. "We look forward to playing a team that's been playing good."
Miami had the better record in the new year and was riding an eight-game win streak until recently dropping three straight -- all on the road -- to match its longest skid of the season.
It ended Monday when the Heat (44-17) kicked off a four-game homestand with a 99-90 victory over Washington to clinch a playoff spot.
Miami is a league-best 16-2 at home since Dec. 10 -- winning the last six -- with the only losses coming to 40-win teams Golden State and Oklahoma City.
Brooklyn (32-30) has dropped eight straight there since Feb. 1, 2008, but enters this visit with a chance to win three in a row over the Heat for the first time since the 2005-06 season.
The only other team to beat them more than once is Chicago. However, the Bulls have had some success in recent years against Miami whereas the Nets had lost 13 straight meetings coming into this season, and eight of nine since James' arrival were decided by double digits.
It appears Paul Pierce will play through his shoulder injury after doing so Monday, when he scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter of a 101-97 win over Toronto. That left the Nets within three games of the Raptors for the Atlantic Division lead.
"I knew the implications of this game. Maybe if it was a different type of game, (I sit out)," said Pierce, who hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:14 to play. "But this was one of our biggest games of the year. Division rival, a lot on the line tonight, so you can always pen me in with those type of games."
The game will be live streaming online at www.espn.com/watchESPN
