The Miami Heat (4-1) made team history when they crushed the Brooklyn Nets (1-2) in a 103-73 game at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.
The win marked the first time in the franchise's 25-year history that a Heat squad has ever gone 4-0 at home to open a season, an impressive sign for the defending champions. The victory also marked the Heat's 11th consecutive victory over the Nets.
Behind Dwayne Wade's team-leading 22 points and LeBron James 20 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, the Heat capitalized on a bevy of Nets turnovers to score 31 points, making sure Brooklyn paid dearly for their mistakes.
"When we get stops, we're going to break open a lot of games because we can score," James told the Associated Press, as reported by ESPN. "So that's the No. 1 key."
Brooklyn's Deron Williams led the team with 14 points, but only passed out three assists, well below his 8.3 assists ratio in the 2012-13 campaign. Meanwhile Nets power forward Kris Humphries had a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds, but it wasn't enough to overcome Brooklyn's 19 turnovers against a team famous for capitalizing on turnovers.
New Nets acquisition Joe Johnson had a bad night from the field, shooting only 4-for-14 from the field for only nine points, according to NBA.com. Forward Gerald Wallace did not play.
"They're tough when you're turning the ball over," Nets coach Avery Johnson said. "I thought there were times when we got our half-court defense set that we were decent. We got the ball out of LeBron's hands some, out of Wade's hands some, but then we didn't recognize their shooters and their shooters made shots tonight."
Up next for the Heat Friday is an away game against Josh Smith and the Atlanta Hawks at 7:30 p.m. in Atlanta. Meanwhile, the Nets hope to rejuvenate themselves when they head to Orlando Friday to play the 2-2 Orlando Magic at 7 p.m.
For more information on these games, visit NBA.com for more details.