Miami @ Brooklyn preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 5, 2017 ) Miami 88, Brooklyn 107

The Brooklyn Nets traded away most of their top draft picks over the last few seasons but made some up in a trade on Thursday. The Nets, who serve as host in Mexico City to the Miami Heat on Saturday, picked up center Jahlil Okafor as the centerpiece of a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Brooklyn sent veteran power forward Trevor Booker and his $9.125 million salary in the final year of an expiring contract to the 76ers in exchange for Okafor, who was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 draft, shooting guard Nik Stauskas, who was the No. 8 overall pick in 2014, and a second-round pick. "It's an opportunity for both teams to move forward in a little bit of a different direction," Nets general manager Sean Marks told reporters. "I think we get an opportunity to get a look at two young guys, we get a pick, and we replenish some of the assets that we need and move forward with some of these guys." The Heat are losers of four of their last five games and spent the last two games getting whipped by Western Conference powers Golden State and San Antonio by a combined 40 points. Miami dropped its last three on the road and began a stretch with six of eight away from home at San Antonio on Wednesday.

TV: 6 p.m. ET, NBATV, FS Sun (Miami), YES (Brooklyn)

ABOUT THE HEAT (11-13): Miami felt better about the way it played at the Spurs, when it totaled 18 made 3-pointers and handed out 28 assists in a 117-105 setback. "It was one of our better, at least coherent games, other than the (18) turnovers," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. "We just have to get our hands around that and figure out how to get those numbers down. But we had some coherent actions to get the ball where we wanted it to go, the right people handling in certain spots. That was a little bit of an improvement." Shooting guard Tyler Johnson made his own improvement by scoring 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting after failing to reach 20 in any of his last 18 games.

ABOUT THE NETS (10-14): Brooklyn is playing two games in Mexico City and can sweep its trip on Saturday after earning a 100-95 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday. "It was about staying together and being aggressive," small forward Rondae-Hollis Jefferson told Newsday of playing in Mexico City. "The altitude was tough. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't. Credit the performance staff for putting together a process of playing, and it worked for us." Reserve point guard Caris LeVert scored a team-high 21 points in the win and is 13-of-23 from the floor in the last two games while totaling 16 assists.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Nets waived SG Sean Kilpatrick to clear space for the new players.

2. Heat PG Goran Dragic scored in single figures in four of the last five games.

3. Miami took the last five in the series by an average of seven points.

PREDICTION: Heat 108, Nets 101