MIAMI (AP) — Those open looks Miami kept coming back before three nights in Denver won’t come home.
Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo were a combined 10-of-30 in the paint, and plenty of other shooters were cool in the 109-94 loss Wednesday night That gave the Nuggets a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
“I kind of missed a bit of what I usually make,” said Butler, who finished with 28 points on 11-of-24 shooting. Along with Pam too, but we’ll still take it, to get a couple feet in the paint. If you can get a shot, get it, and if you can’t, get it out to the shooters. I think we did a pretty good job with that. Maybe we should do a We’ve done better, but these are the same shots we’ll play in the next game, and we’ll be expected to take them.”
Downing 17 three-pointers in Game 2, Miami hit 11 of 34 shots from deep in Game 3. Duncan Robinson made three runs. Caleb Martin added a pair of consecutive three-pointers in the second quarter.
Despite getting the inside look they wanted, the Heat simply didn’t knock them out, resulting in a loss as their fans, screaming as loud as they could waving white flags above their heads, found the way out before the final game. minutes.
Gabe Vincent shot 2 for 10 and Max Stross was 1 for 7, and the starting guards combined to lose eight out of 10 tries behind the arc.
Butler couldn’t find the words to describe what went wrong, or why it was so far from his success in a difficult road environment a few nights earlier.
“I don’t know. It won’t happen again,” said Butler, “and he starts with me. I’ve got to keep the defensive end… I think if I start playing and he does, everyone should follow suit.”
Miami made just 9 of 26 attempts in the first half in the paint and finished the game shooting 37% from the field, compared to Denver’s 51.2.
“I thought offensively we really had a lot of opportunities in the paint,” Miami coach Eric Spoelstra said. “Yeah, you have to credit the size and everything like that, but we’ve proven that we can finish painting when we’re at our best.”
Adebayo finished with 22 points and 17 rebounds but only shot 7 of 21 from the field.
The Nuggets pulled away in the third quarter — leading as many as 19 — by achieving what the Heat couldn’t: They had 60 points in the paint to Miami’s 34. Denver took only 18 of their 3-point attempts after taking 28 in Game 2 and 27 in Game 1.
“They hit us with paint,” Spoelstra said. “They really didn’t have to shoot three times. … There was no need for floor space. We didn’t put up much resistance.”
The Heat took the lead at 9 with 1:22 left thanks to a three-pointer by Robinson, but he missed all of his shot attempts the rest of the way.
“A good win for us,” said Denver coach Michael Malone, “but we didn’t come here for one win.”
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