NBA Finals: Can Miami Heat launch an unlikely comeback? Will Denver Nuggets wrap up series in Game Five?
Jokic and the impenetrable Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are just one win away from securing their first championship ring; will they be able to wrap up the series in Game Five, or can the Miami Heat launch an unlikely comeback? Find out on June 12 with Sky Sports Arena and Sky Sports Main Event from 1:30am
Nikola Jokic is the first player in NBA history to have 500 points, 250 rebounds, and 150 assists in a postseason. Meanwhile, Jamal Murray is the first player in NBA history with 10 + assists in their first four NBA Finals games.
The big-game players have pulled out the big-game stats for arguably the season’s biggest games – are we surprised that they’re barrelling past the Heat toward their first championship ring?
Winning by double digits in all but one game out of four should help alleviate some of that disbelief.
Indeed, the Nuggets have done an excellent job all series stifling Jimmy Butler’s drives and erasing Miami’s three-point play.
With no Tyler Herro on hand to resurrect their shots from the deep, the Heat have converted 32 per cent or worse from a distance, while their opponents have easily netted.
Denver have also fortified their defence to eliminate the effects of Miami’s clutch game. Initially, the burden was on Jokic to do so, but his team-mates have rallied to his aid on several occasions, none more evident than in Game Four when the Serb twisted his ankle in the opening quarter.
Aaron Gordon delivered his most compelling game in a Nuggets jersey, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope produced several essential defensive stops, and Bruce Brown was pivotal in fourth-quarter battles.
Same old Miami
Game Two seems more and more like a freak result. The Nuggets’ uncharacteristic slip, timed well with a resurgence on Miami’s part, led to Michael Malone’s only defeat so far in the series.
Every other game has followed a concerning theme for the players surrounding Butler and Bam Adebayo: flashy in moments, but disappointing on the whole.
More of that unravelled in Game Four. The starting backcourt of Gabe Vincent and Max Strus went for a dismal 1-10 for shooting, while Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin, although substantially better, didn’t make any game-altering plays.
Couple that with Erik Spoelstra having no choice but to rotate his core team and you can almost predict where the cracks will appear in Miami’s defence.
If the Heat are to become the second team in NBA Finals history to fight back from a 3-1 deficit, they’ll need more support from their star players on a more consistent basis.
A (Tyler) Herro is needed…
The Heat have upgraded Herro’s status to ‘questionable’ ahead of tonight’s game, and sources close to the Miami star have suggested that as long as he can manage the discomfort, and doesn’t experience any further setbacks, he should be ready to go.
As the adage goes, if the 23-year-old can play, then he should, right? Well, the Heat need some dimension to their three-point game. He’s usually their go-to man, and Denver are humiliating them in that department.
Sure, it’s quite a lot of pressure, playing your first bit of basketball after a two-month hiatus and trying to be the difference between keeping the season alive or handing the Larry O’Brien trophy over to your opponent.
But Butler and his team-mates have disrupted the narrative from the first moment of this season. It would surprise no one if Spoelstra unveiled Herro from the start as his final roll of the dice.
How can the Heat claw their way back this time?
It may seem impossible, but there are ways to damage this Denver side, and the Heat showcased that in Game Two.
Several things went their way during that arid night in Colorado, much of it a by product of Spoelstra’s tactics.
For instance, Miami focused on their passing game to prevent their opposition from intercepting and countering them – and it worked. They notched 327 passes and didn’t offer Jokic and Murray any crumbs.
They also disturbed Denver’s pick-and-roll action to facilitate their shots from the deep. Although the Nuggets have done well to snuff out that miscommunication since it’s still a flaw that Miami could tease out under the right circumstances.
For the Heat to keep their season alive, they must create more open three pointers and convert them at a much higher rate than they have in the past two games (17 of 44). Whether those plans include Herro or not, they cannot allow Denver to keep out scoring them so freely.
And above all, they must be as desperate as they can be.
Spoelstra won’t want them to lay down just because they’re facing a 3-1 deficit from which only one team has ever recovered from in 36 tries – he’ll want them to fight until the end despite overwhelming odds, as they have all season.
Source: Sky Sports
