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 Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes, Alan Anderson scored 17 points, and the Brooklyn Nets finished the exhibition season with a 108-87 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night.
The Nets went 5-2 in the preseason, the Heat 5-3.
Paul Pierce scored 16 points and Jason Terry added 14 for the Nets, who made 11 of 16 tries from 3-point range in the first half and eventually led by as many as 31. Brooklyn played without Kevin Garnett (rest) and Andrei Kirilenko (back).
"I felt really good. I'm happy to be back out there," Williams said. "It was great. I've been missing basketball. It was another step in the right direction."
Udonis Haslem went 8 for 9 from the field and scored 16 points for Miami, which got 12 from Mario Chalmers (on 6 for 7 shooting) and 12 from Ray Allen. Michael Beasley scored 11 for the Heat.
James and Bosh got the night off to rest.
"Well, we've got four days," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We've got four days to get ready. And we've had a productive October so our guys are looking forward to Tuesday."
The Heat will hoist the franchise's third NBA championship banner on Tuesday night before opening the season at home against the Chicago Bulls. Brooklyn opens Wednesday at Cleveland.
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Other than Garnett, the Nets went with their anticipated opening-night lineup, and all eyes were on Williams -- who had been out for the entire preseason because of a right ankle problem.
He looked good as new.
"He looked good," Nets coach Jason Kidd said. "He's gotten better and stronger. He probably wanted more minutes, but we're not concerned about that."
Williams made three 3-pointers in a span of 67 seconds of the opening quarter, and he added a short jumper early in the second quarter before coming out of the game for good.
"Surprisingly, he played with a lot of rhythm," Spoelstra said.
The game was tied at 40 with about 6 minutes left in the half -- and over the next 17 minutes, the Nets went on a 49-18 run to pull away.
NOTES: Heat F Rashard Lewis returned to the team after missing time because of a death in the family. He scored four points in 21 minutes. ... Mason Plumlee had 10 rebounds for the Nets. ... Chalmers had six assists. ... Heat G Dwyane Wade had a little bit of a bloody lip, courtesy of a first-half hit from Pierce. "I enjoyed my few minutes of banter with him," Wade said.
[Associated
Press; By TIM REYNOLDS]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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