The Nets are still without their leading scorer.

Their roster has navigated exit after exit and acclimation after acclimation during what was pegged as a rebuilding year.

The offense relies on a balanced attack to top opponents, especially with Cam Thomas — capable of dropping 30 or 40 points — still sidelined. 

But then there are nights like Friday, when the Nets defeated the Heat 102-86 at Barclays Center and held Miami to just nine points in the fourth quarter.

Then there are stretches like the past five games — in which the Nets have now collected four wins — when they have the third-best defensive rating in the league.

And with all that meshing together, amid the rumors and distractions and the latest twist from Friday that point guard Ben Simmons is nearing a buyout, the Nets (18-34) will wake up Saturday morning just four games out of the final spot for the play-in tournament with 30 left. 

During that decisive fourth quarter, when the Nets outscored the Heat by 22 to pull away, they blocked seven shots — the most in the NBA this season, according to the YES Network broadcast — en route to 13 for the game.

It marked the second time in franchise history, and the first since January 2019, that the Nets scored 30 or more points in the final frame and allowed fewer than 10, according to the team.

Nic Claxton collected four blocks in addition to 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Cam Johnson finished with 18 points and D’Angelo Russell added 17. 

“It’s gonna be hard to hold teams to nine points in a quarter,” Trendon Watford, who inherited Simmons’ minutes as the backup point guard, said, “but I just think we were just locked in. We were just locked in the whole game, and we just upped it in the fourth quarter.” 

It didn’t take long — less than five minutes into the game — for the Nets to fall behind by double digits, but they managed to erase that deficit and even take a lead by the end of the frame behind five 3-pointers. But then that wrinkle to the Nets offense disappeared.

They only hit two more across the next 24 minutes — and just five more for the game. So their offense needed to materialize from other avenues, and, perhaps more importantly, they needed their defense to mitigate the Heat’s scoring threats, too. 

That allowed them to keep pace with Miami and prevent another sizable deficit from emerging, and once the fourth quarter arrived, they started to pull away. 

“I think the effort defensively was on and off, but then that fourth quarter, I think that it was consistent,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “Nic and Day’Ron [Sharpe] both did tremendous being the anchor of our defense. Once again, the communication, being aggressive in the coverages and that’s just contagious.” 

And in a lasting image of the night, Keon Johnson soared toward the basket for a dunk — hanging on the rim for an extra second as the Barclays Center crowd roared around him and Russell mimicked a dunking motion next to him with just over one minute remaining. 

That, of course, stemmed from Russell blocking a 3-pointer at the other end. 

Johnson will be one of eight participants in the 3-point contest on Feb. 15.

He’ll become the sixth Nets player to participate in the contest — and it’ll mark his first appearance, too. 

“I watched the 3-point contest growing up and always imagined being out there and stuff,” Johnson said. “So it’ll be pretty cool.”