We’ve got a series again. The Miami Heat pretty much saved their season and hopes for another NBA title as they beat the Denver Nuggets 111-108, coming up with a huge last-second stop to tie the series 1-1.
This Heat team just won’t give up!
The Miami Heat have tied the NBA Finals against all the odds with a heroic 111-108 Game 2 victory over the Denver Nuggets in Denver, tying the series 1-1 with the teams now heading back to Miami for two HUGE games. And, this was probably the most deserved win Miami has had in these playoffs thus far.
I feel like a broken record by repeating the same things about Miami this postseason, but this team continues to show a resolved, fight, determination, and commitment to winning that you’d never expect from an 8th seed.
Whenever a series looked like it was on the verge of turning against them, such as the Game 2 loss vs. the Bucks, the Knicks 2nd to last possession in Game 6 that could have sent the game to OT, and the Celtics’ Game 6 buzzer-beater winner to complete the 3-3 comeback and force a home Game 7, the Heat dug deep and somehow found a way to neutralize the opposition and pull off a remarkable series victory.
While the Heat may not have won the series just yet, they definitely had a remarkable turnaround performance in Game 2.
You’d be totally forgiven if you thought the Denver Nuggets were going to handedly sweep the Heat out of this series given how bad Miami played in Game 1. That first game just simply wasn’t a contest as the Nuggets, led by Jokic and Murray, destroyed Miami from the paint and the perimeter in scoring, while Denver’s defense forced Miami into having one of their worst shooting performances of the playoffs to date.
Given how small and frankly weak Miami looked against Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., and Murray in Game 1, I truly thought this series was probably going to be wrapped up in Game 4 or 5 as the Heat just looked awful.
Yet, as Erik Spoelstra has done his entire Hall of Fame-level career, he made the necessary adjustments to give his Heat side a chance.
And that’s exactly what they needed as they utterly torched the Nuggets in the opening quarter of last night’s game with them going up by as many as 11 points (21-10 was the highest lead of the 1st quarter) and hitting 4 3-pointers in just 12 minutes, while players like Max Strus (14 PTS, 2 REB, 6 AST, 1 BLK, 4/10 3-point shooting) and Bam Adebayo (21 PTS, 9 REB, 4 AST, 2 BLKs) being the driving forces behind Miami’s early lead.
With the Heat’s improvements in the pick-and-roll plus the screen shooting game and the Nuggets defenders just simply not closing down efficiently, Miami’s shooting was explosive as they converted 38/78 FG attempts (48.7%), 17/35 3-point FG attempts (48.6%), and 18/20 from the free throw line (90%).
Reversely, the Nuggets could only score 39/75 FG attempts (52.5%), 11/28 3-point attempts (39.3%), and only got to the free throw line 22 times to convert 19 of the attempts (19/22; 86.4%).
Sure, these are similar stats, yet the Heat were ruthlessly more efficient in their 3-point scoring and their trips to the free throw line, which did not happen in Game 1 and is one of the primary factors as to why Game 1 was such a blowout loss for them.
Jimmy Butler (21 PTS, 4 REB, 9 AST), Gabe Vincent (23 PTS, 0 REB, 3 AST, 2 STLs), Duncan Robinson (10 PTS, 0 REB, 1 AST, 4/5 3-point shooting), Kevin Love (6 PTS, 10 REB, 1 AST, 2 STLs), Kyle Lowry (9 PTS, 0 REB, 3 AST), and the other guys mentioned were just more aggressive, more clinical, more desperate, and frankly were more willing to put their bodies on the line to win the game.
Still, don’t get confused into thinking this game was a blowout from the first minute as the Denver Nuggets nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
With the Heat masterfully minimizing the Nuggets key role players, such as Michael Porter Jr. (5 PTS, 6 REB, 0 AST), Aaron Gordon (12 PTS, 7 REB, 2 AST, 1 BLK), and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (6 PTS, 3 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK), Nikola Jokic took the team on his back and turned into the unstoppable scorer he has the potential to be by scoring a game-high 41 PTS, 11 REB, 4 AST, converting 16/28 FG attempts (57%), and 2/5 attempts from beyond the arc (40%).
Along with Jamal Murray’s (18 PTS, 4 REB, 10 AST, 1 STL, 7/15 FG shooting) 2nd and 3rd quarter explosion, the Joker was the primary reason why the Nuggets completely dismantled the 11-point Miami lead, won the 2nd quarter 34-25 and the 3rd quarter 26-24, had multiple double-digit leads, and lead by as many as 15 at one point with the Nuggets taking a 8-point lead into the 4th quarter.
So, with Jokic and Murray finding their game, the Denver crowd starting to really amp up the pressure, and the Heat on the receiving end of a ruthless Nuggets points run, you’d think the 4th quarter was going to wind up a blowout and give the Nuggets a 2-0 series lead. Right?
Well, that’s where you’d be wrong as the Heat, led by Jimmy Buckets, Bam Adebayo, Duncan Robinson, and Gabe Vincent, took the lead back, opened it up to 7 points, and forced the Nuggets into a costly shootout that culminated with one final Nuggets possession at the end of the game.
And, with the Heat up 111-108 and only 10 seconds left on the clock, the hopes and dreams of the Nuggets going up 2-0 rested in the hands of Jamal Murray as he took complete control of the offense and squared off with Jimmy Butler.
After avoiding a steal attempt and making a little separation, Murray hurled up a hopeful 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left on the clock…that clanked off the front rim and the backboard to fall into the welcoming arms of Caleb Martin (3 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK) to seal the Heat’s victory. An absolutely thrilling ending to a magnificent game.
I really don’t have any predictions for Game 3 as the Heat and Nuggets both showed how they can win this series in the opening two games…along with how they can lose it. This is going to sound obvious, but whichever team can replicate their winning performance in Games 3 and (key word here) 4 will win this series.
I have no doubt about that.
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