Going into Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, Coach Jason Kidd expected aggression and desperation out of his Brooklyn Nets.

With their season on the line, he got that from his team as they took a near-double-digit lead into the closing minutes on the road against the reigning NBA champions. But a fiery 13-0 rally by the Heat over the final minutes left the Nets just short of a Game 5 upset, and their season ended with a heartbreaking 96-94 loss in Miami.

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As such, J-Kidd saw his first year as an NBA coach come to an end in gut-wrenching fashion. But when he was asked about the result after the game, Jason already sounded like a seasoned vet at the coaching game and provided the proper amount of perspective on his team’s performance in the series and the season.

“There’s always a winner and loser,” he said after the game. “We felt we had a great opportunity against the world champs and we came up short. No one wants to lose of for the season to come to an end, but to get to the second round is something for us to build on.”

Swingman Joe Johnson — who Coach Kidd has repeatedly referred to as the team’s best player this postseason led the way for Brooklyn in the season finale. He scored 34 points – 21 of which came in the second half – and pulled down seven rebounds. However, when the Nets looked to him one more time on the game’s final play, a stifling Heat double-team didn’t allow Johnson the opportunity at a final shot.

“We had the ball in the right guy’s hands,” D-Will said. “We just didn’t complete the play and they did. We were attacking and in basketball sometimes you don’t make shots.”

That wasn’t the case at the outset of the game, however. Brooklyn came out firing in the first quarter, jumping out to an 11-4 advantage less than three minutes into the contest behind a fast start from Paul Pierce.

While Pierce dropped a team-high nine points in the first, Miami’s Dwyane Wade was there with the counter for the home team at American Airlines Arena. After Brooklyn established an early seven-point lead, Wade sparked an 8-0 run that gave Miami a one-point advantage with less than five minutes to go in the quarter.

The teams traded buckets from there and two late free throw makes from Ray Allen made it 23-22 in favor of Miami after one.

The back-and-forth battle continued into the second quarter and Brooklyn reclaimed the lead just two minutes into it thanks to a goaltending call on a layup attempt from Marcus Thornton. Coach Kidd’s squad tried to hold onto the lead, but shots from Wade and Chris Bosh on consecutive possessions gave the home team a 37-36 edge.

Brooklyn Nets v Miami Heat - Game Five

The Nets responded soon after though, when Williams and Johnson conjured up an 8-0 run to close out the half with BK up 49-42.

At halftime, Johnson and Williams each had 10 points to lead the visitors, while Pierce was close behind with nine. As a team, the Nets shot 47.4 percent from the field over the first two quarters

Miami started the second half with a 7-0 spurt to tie the game, but after Pierce broke the deadlock, the duo of Johnson and Williams — better known as Brooklyn’s Backcourt — let loose. The duo led a 7-0 Nets run, which Johnson capped with a deep trifecta from  the right wing.

Moments later, Williams canned a three from the corner to stretch the Nets lead to 10—the largest advantage for either team all night.

Brooklyn Nets v Miami Heat - Game Five

The Heat built their resistance over the next few minutes, and when LeBron James followed a three-pointer from Bosh with a layup, it cut the Brooklyn advantage back down to three with three-and-a-half minutes remaining in the third.

However, Williams and Johnson came back swinging with a driving layup and triple on the next two possessions to push the Nets lead back to 70-62. Brooklyn maintained the lead for the rest of the third and on their last possession of the quarter, Johnson tipped in Pierce’s miss to put the Nets in front 75-66 going into the crucial final frame.

Miami came out of the gates hot to start the fourth, as Rashard Lewis and James sank treys to make it a one-possession ballgame. Never wavering, Johnson and Pierce ignited the Brooklyn offense once again. Their rally was highlighted by a corner triple from Pierce that pushed the lead back up to 82-73 with just over eight minutes to go.

Miami continued to fight back on its home floor, but Johnson had an answer for their every move in the middle stretch of the fourth. First he completed stout and-one with five-and-a-half minutes remaining and he later followed that three-point play up with a tough 20-foot step-back jumper to make it 91-83 with under five minutes to go.

At the time, that shot looked like it would ultimately send the series back to Brooklyn for Game 6, it instead marked the beginning of the end for the Nets. For the next four minutes and 39 seconds, Miami’s suffocating defense kept Brooklyn off the board, while its offense turned in a 13-point outburst.

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Allen’s 3-point make from the corner with 32 seconds remaining gave Miami its first lead since the second quarter at 93-91. On the other end, Shaun Livingston’s shot attempt fell short of the mark and Brooklyn was forced to put Allen, one of the league’s all-time best free throw shooters, on the line.

“Shaun had a good look that we though could’ve gone either way,” Coach Kidd said. “

[That was] Shaun being aggressive. He got the ball in the paint and we were attacking all night. We just couldn’t complete the basket.”

After Allen drained both shots to put Miami up 95-91 with 21.6 seconds to go, the pressure was on Brooklyn. Pierce missed a 3-point attempt, but Livingston corralled the rebound and sent it back to the perimeter, where some crisp ball movement allowed Williams to find Johnson for an open three in the corner.

Johnson made the most out of the opportunity, draining the 3-pointer to put the Nets within one, 95-94.

The Nets fouled James on the ensuing Miami possession, and he went 1-of-2 from the foul line, opening a window of opportunity for Brooklyn with 9.5 seconds on the clock.

Unfortunately, on the Nets’ final inbound, the Heat defense locked in on Johnson, the ball slipped and he was unable to recover and get a shot off before the buzzer, allowing Miami to clinch the series 4-1 and send Coach Kidd and his team home early.

“You give the Heat credit, they were attacking there in the fourth quarter,” Jason said. “Both teams were attacking. They made plays, they made shots, and we didn’t.”

Miami outscored Brooklyn 30-19 led by 14 key points in the frame from James. After a 20-point first half, Wade finished with 28. Johnson led all scorers with 34 points, including 12 in the first half. Pierce finished with 19 after his nine-point first and Williams tallied 17. The Nets shot just 36.4 percent from the field in the final frame and finished at 47.4 percent for the game.

The difference in the game again came in the paint, a repeated troubled spot for a Nets team that lost its best post player, big man Brook Lopez, early in the season. On Wednesday, Miami outscored Brooklyn 42-28 in the key. In addition, the Heat made 29-of-31 foul shots while Brooklyn only earned 15 attempts from the charity stripe.

NEXT UP

A long offseason awaits the Nets as Coach Kidd waits it out to see what type of team he will lead in year two next season. For his part, Jason hopes there is continuity, as he and his players embraced the 2013-14 as a learning experience and a steppingstone for future success.

“It’s a process,” he said. “We just put this team together. Now it’s time to keep building and keep the process of going forward and getting better.”

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