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The Miami Heat just hosted the Brooklyn Nets for a final dress rehearsal before the 2026-27 season. For Mikel Brown Jr., it was also a milestone. After sitting out his team’s first three preseason contests with a rolled left ankle, MBJ played his first non-Summer League NBA minutes tonight.
Not to make it all about one guy, but when he’s your highest pick in since 2010 and it’s in a game that doesn’t count, his progression is mainly about what does.
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“[We] just want him to play as hard as he can,” Jordi Fernández said pregame. “We’re excited. I’m very excited to see him.”
Be that as it may, Brown Jr. came off the bench tonight. That means our story starts with Julius Randle and the rest of the usual bunch.
Unlike Brooklyn’s last two games, things weren’t so smooth to begin this one. The Nets struggled to get anything going at the offensive end during the game’s opening minutes. As advertised all summer, Miami’s size was difficult to play around, even with Bam Adebayo sitting. The Heat tallied four rejections within the game’s first eight minutes. The Nets began the game 1-of-10 from the field.
At the other end, Day’Ron Sharpe also picked up three quick fouls trying to box out or defend Nick Richards. Let’s just pretend he knew the starters weren’t going be playing a lot of minutes tonight anyway.
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Despite all those whistles, the game moved at a breakneck pace in the first as both teams looked to challenge each other on the break. Miami’s Davion Mitchell was especially ruthless in getting baseline to baseline, as was Andrew Wiggins, showing he’s still got it as a cutter.
So, with the ideal environment now established for a guy who can move, shoot, and pass, it was then time to unleash Brown Jr. Nolan Traoré and Chaney Johnson were first off the bench after Wagner’s premature entry for foul-prone Day’Ron Sharpe. Then, with 3:54 to go, Brown Jr. followed along side Noah Clowney.
It took MBJ only two possessions to get on the scoreboard with him making his first attempt of the night. Even with Steph Curry and Dame Lillard having normalized shots like this, I’d argue his first one was a…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mikel-brown-jr-makes-strong-022321894.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-15 02:23:00
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