DENVER (AP) — Erik Spoelstra bristled at the Miami Heat’s proposal to somehow disband Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets by letting the superstar score at will while banishing passing lanes and his tendency to level up his teammates.
“Yeah, that’s ridiculous,” Spoelstra interjects then Miami wins, 111-108 Sunday night brought the series back to Florida with a 1-1 tie with home court advantage suddenly in possession of the eighth-seeded Heat.
“That’s the untrained eye that would say something like that,” the Miami coach added.
Maybe so, but the higher rated nuggets are 0-3 this postseason When Jokic scores 40 or more points. Their last loss in the playoffs was in Phoenix in the second round when he scored 53.
Jokic averages three times in the playoffs. He had 41 points and 11 rebounds Sunday night but only four assists — a season low — as the Nuggets lost at home for the first time in 66 nights.
“This guy is a great player,” Spoelstra said. You know, twice in two seasons he was the best player on the planet. You can’t just say, ‘Oh, make him scorer.’ That’s not how they play. They have a lot of different actions that put you at risk.
“We have to focus on what we’re doing. We try to do things the hard way, and he asks you to do a lot of things the hard way. He has our full respect.”
While Jokic was dominant in blocking his usual assists, his teammates disappeared after Denver led by 15 points in the first half and capitalized by eight in the fourth quarter.
Michael Porter Jr. scored five points and extended his slugging shots in the Finals, hitting only 3 of 17 shots from long range. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had as many points — 6 — as errors and Jamal Murray’s 18 points snapped his streak of six consecutive games of 25 or more.
He was defensive as Denver seriously struggled losing for the first time in 10 playoff games at Ball Arena. The Nuggets allowed 17 three-pointers, including four off Max Strus, who scored 14 points after going 0-for-10 goose eggs in the opener.
“As I mentioned after Game 1, the fact that they had a 16 Game 3 wide open was concerning,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “They didn’t make it. So, we got lucky in Game 1. Tonight, they made it.”
Jimmy Butler scored 21 after holding the 13th in the first game. Reserve Duncan Robinson sparked Miami’s 29-10 drive to start the fourth quarter with 10 quick points and the Heat went 18-of-20 from the free throw line after only reaching the line once. in the opening.
“We had a lot of misunderstandings and misunderstandings,” Jokic said.
Along with many missed opportunities.
“I told our guys if we were going to win this game tonight, we would have stolen one,” said Malone.
They almost stole the heist, too.
However, Murray’s open 3-pointer hit the lead of the Irons, and Caleb Martin, who had been replaced in the starting lineup by Kevin Love, rebounded before the buzzer, leading the Nuggets to their first 10-game playoff loss at home.
“It was a good look,” said Murray. “It just didn’t go down.”
Every beginner whose name is not Jokic struggled.
“I don’t think that’s the biggest question,” said Mallon. “Let’s talk about effort.”
Mallon argued that he was non-existent. “This to me is really confusing, and disappointing.”
“For me, the wheels really fell off to start that fourth quarter. They were getting everything they wanted, 3 seconds, layup, and that again allowed them to sit in their zone offense, slow the game down, we had a hard time stopping, and then we had a hard time getting baskets.” Mallon said.
“Our defense should be much better.”
Malone asked his players in the distressed locker room why they thought they had lost.
“They knew the answer,” Mallon said. “Miami came in here and worked on us. … If we’re going to try to get down there and take that series back and take back home court advantage, we’re going to have to outplay Miami, which we didn’t do tonight, and our discipline is going to have to be off the charts.”
Denver came out with the best home record in the NBA at 43-7, coming out of the playoffs.
Jokic scored 28 of Denver’s 51 points in the second half, and was forced to shoulder the burden of scoring alone for extended periods. And now the 40-point output seems to be a bit of a hit.
“No, I don’t think it had anything to do with it. It’s defense and discipline,” Murray said.
They were both lacking. So, instead of heading to South Florida halfway to the franchise’s first NBA championship, the Nuggets are a shaky team that probably finds too much time — 10 days — between the conference championship and the NBA Finals was too much.
And they must realize that Jokic, for all its greatness, is not a single work.
“One thing I’m sure of,” Malone said. “He will do the correct reading over and over again.”
He just needs everyone else to do their part.
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