DENVER (AP) — It was a common theme before the NBA Finals began — about how the Nuggets, a fast-paced team with fresh legs that can exploit Denver’s mile hike, will have a good chance of exhausting the Miami Heat.
Total points in the last quarter of the first two matches: Heat 66, Nuggets 45.
In game two on Sunday, the Heat outscored the Nuggets by 11 points to turn an eight-point deficit into a 111-108 win and tie the series at 1.
And any idea that the Heat couldn’t deal with all the supposed disadvantages they faced when coming to Denver after a seven-game Finals game against the Celtics is out the window, just as much as Denver’s home advantage in this series.
“This is two fourth quarters, game one and game two, where our defense was lacking,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said in an uncompromising critique of his team’s performance in the loss.
The third game is Wednesday in Miami. By then, Malone’s message may have sunk in.
He gave a nearly identical speech, honed in the fourth quarter, after Denver won Game 1.
Nobody seems to care. Denver won that game by 11 – it seemed like more – and the fact that Miami won the last quarter 30-20, or that Denver had narrowed its lead from 24 points to nine points per 23 seconds late in the game, seemed more like lice-time garbage than A major concern.
But releases from that fourth quarter continued through Sunday.
As in Game 1, the Nuggets lost on defensive switchbacks, allowing Miami dozens of open looks from 3-point range.
But in Game 1, the Heat shot 13-for-39 from behind the arc, and their woes were emphasized by Max Stross, who went 0-for-9. In Game 2, Stross hit four of the first six 3s, and the Heat finished 17-for-35.
This included a series of three-pointers by Duncan Robinson and Gabe Vincent as part of a 15-2 lead going into the fourth inning. It gave Miami a 90-85 lead it would not relinquish after trailing by eight at the start of the period.
This is the seventh time Miami has trailed by double digits in the postseason and has come back to win, tying a record held by the league since 1998.
“We have a lot of faith as a group,” said Robinson. “And to be honest, we liked the flow of the match and how it was going.”
The Heat shot 68.8% from the field during the fourth quarter after shooting 43.5% during the first three.
Over the final 12 minutes, Bam Adebayo made every shot he made (two field goals, three free throws), Robinson scored all 10 of his points, and Jimmy Butler was the money, making him a three-point game and three points on his back. Consecutive possessions to help the Heat increase its lead from three points to seven.
“During the fourth quarter, our guys love competition,” said Miami coach Eric Spoelstra. “They like to let themselves out in those moments of truth.”
The message the Heat threw at home in that fourth quarter — all Game 2, really — was that the Nuggets, who joined the series as heavy favorites, are anything but inevitable champions, and that their MVP, Nikola Jokic, can’t do it alone. .
Jokic scored 41 points in this loss, and Denver fell to 0-3 in the playoffs this year in games in which Joker scored 40 points. Nor is he responsible for guarding the perimeter. The Heat shot 5-for-8 from 3 in the fourth inning.
In a sign of just how dangerous Denver was, the Nuggets cut their 12-point deficit to three, and Jamal Murray got a good look at the tying shot just before the buzzer. I opened up. Heat players jumped off the bench and were practically jumping off the court into the victorious locker room.
The Nuggets – The search for answers. Neither they nor the thin air of Denver could dampen Miami.
“I think the height, quite a lot of that,” Mallon said. “They went out in the fourth quarter with a great sense of desperation, and we just didn’t get that far.”
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