Gabe Vincent was the top scorer for the Heat with 23 points
The third quarter was saved by a huge Jokic who went against everything and everyone
The Heat stormed Denver this Sunday and took a crazy game to tie the NBA Finals 1-1 against some Nuggets who thus lost the home court factor (108-111).
In a furious match in which both teams constantly traded partials, the Heat embroidered the last quarter (25-36 shooting 69% from the field) and survived a Jamal Murray three-pointer that would have forced overtime.
The third game of the Finals will be played this Wednesday in Miami.
Gabe Vincent (23 points on a great 8 of 12 shooting) was the top scorer for the Heat very serious and intense, who shone in the triple (17 of 35) and in which Bam Adebayo contributed 21 points (8 of 14) and 9 rebounds and Jimmy Butler added 21 points (7 of 19) and 9 assists.
Instead, the Nuggets blew this second game in Denver despite a new recital of Nikola Jokic with 41 points (16 of 28 shooting) and 11 rebounds, despite starting the fourth quarter with an 8-point lead.
Murray had 18 points and 10 assists in some Nuggets who lost their first game in their stadium in these playoffs and that they suffered the poor night of Michael Porter Jr and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (11 points between the two).
partial for each other
With Kevin Love as a new addition to the quintet, the Heat entered the game with a lot of momentum.
As an appetizer, Max Strus, who crashed on Thursday with a 0 of 9 from the line of three, hit his first attempt from the perimeter and added his second triple -this one completely alone- in less than three minutes, which forced Mike Malone to call an early timeout (2-10 with 9.13 on the clock).
Unlike the concentrated and incisive Heat, the Nuggets started off in a bad waywith a defense full of holes and with numerous precipitation errors and turnovers.
Up to +11 reached the Heat in a first quarter in which Strus excelled with a stupendous 4 of 7 in triples.
However, Denver re-enlisted the scoreboard by the hand of a very willful Jokic (11 points) and closed the period with better feelings after going 8-2 in the last three minutes (23-26).
The entry of rookie Christian Braun brought new energy, both in attack and defense, to some Nuggets in which Murray went scoreless in the first quarter.
Along with Braun, other local reserves such as Bruce Brown and Jeff Green stormed the court with rage and gave the Nuggets their first lead (33-29 with 10:12 for the break).
By then, the duel had completely changed its dynamics compared to the beginning, so much so that the Nuggets had already taken their steamroller out for a walk –especially with a fantastic streak of 3-pointers and biting on every defense with a terrific contribution from his second unit — while the Heat were a sea of doubt.
With Jokic and Butler resting on the bench, The one who emerged in that section was Murray with 8 points in four minutes, including a huge dunk on the counterattack with additional and after steal (44-32 with 7.49 for the break).
The locals reached +15 (50-35) in an overwhelming stretch in which, in ten minutes between the first and second quarters, they swept Miami with a 40-14 run.
Nevertheless, the Heat plugged some of their cracks just before intermission and they went to the locker room in a still manageable margin despite the feeling of local dominance (57-51).
The Nuggets’ bench shone with 20 points at halftime (to just 5 from Heat secondaries) and Denver scored 16 fast-break points (to just 3 from Miami).
The endless and crazy barter of partials continued in the restart.
This time the Heat hit, which, with two triples from Vincent, they tied the match when only three minutes had been played (64-64).
From there, the third quarter got stuck in a thicker rhythm, with the two sets upset with the referees and with the attacks of both teams out of tune.
Only one name was saved from burning: a huge Jokic who went against everything and everyone in the paintwho came away with 18 points in that period and who despaired of a Cody Zeller totally overwhelmed by the brilliant antics of the Serbian.
Without a solution for Jokic, the Heat faced the last quarter with -8 (83-75) and with a virtually gone Butler facing the hoop
But then robinson appearedwho had not given signs of life either, to give the umpteenth turn to the game.
With 10 points (4 of 4 shooting) from a spectacular Robinson and a three-pointer from a rock-solid Vincent, the Heat regained control of the game with a 2-13 run in just over two minutes (85-88).
The Nuggets lived a very complicated moment and they couldn’t figure out a Heat zone defense that completely choked them.
Thus, Miami completed a great run of 10-26 to get +8 and only five minutes left to play (93-101)
Murray reappeared with two triples in the last minutes and put Denver within three with a minute to go.
Adebayo made two key free throws, Jokic responded with a basket and Butler missed with 14.6 seconds left.which opened the way for Murray to become the hero of the Nuggets but his triple did not go in and the Heat kept the victory.