For months, Erik Spoelstra has preached the value of adversity, never refusing to say that’s what helped get the Miami Heat to this NBA Finals.
Now Denver is dealing with some of that.
Game 3 of the NBA Finals takes place this Wednesday night in Miami, tied to a win between the eighth-seeded Heat and first-seeded Denver.
The championship series was evened after Miami rallied to take Game 2 in Denver 111-108 on Sunday night, a result that led Nuggets coach Michael Malone to openly share frustrations, especially regarding the lack of discipline in various possessions.
“We had a good video session this morning,” Malone said Tuesday. “I gave everyone on the team a chance to talk about what they saw on the video. It was a very honest conversation. The boys took responsibility for what was theirs. We must learn from the second game to use it as an advantage”.
Simply put, Denver needs to do what Miami did coming out of Game 1.
The Heat faced significant deficits in both games in Denver – 24 points in the first and 15 in the second. In the initial match, there were only comeback attempts, which reduced the difference to nine points. But in the second meeting, the Heat managed to completely erase the deficit and much more.
“You’re in the Finals,” said Spoelstra – who is aiming for his third championship managing the Heat. “You will have to face great players, great teams. You have to find a way to get past it, make it complicated, and do a lot of things that are complex.”
Wednesday’s winner will obviously take a 2-1 series lead. Additionally, history would enter in favor of that team. When a final is tied at one win, the winner of the third game has gone on to win the title 80% of the time (32 in the last 40 times).
In addition, the teams that lead the series 2-1, regardless of whether or not they have won the third game, have reached the title 79% of the time (49 of them in the last 62 Finals).
Miami is in its second Finals in the last four seasons. However, they will be playing their first home finals game since 2014.
The 2020 Finals were in the bubble, with no fans for much of that experience, and only a few family members for the Finals.
“No matter what, they’ll be there for you,” Heat point guard Kyle Lowry said. “They will give you energy. As you know, if the other team is about to get away, they’re going to give you a little extra boost. And if we are the ones who are about to walk away, it will be an unbridled impulse.
Going for the rim late in games hasn’t been a problem for Miami in the series. The Heat are outscoring Denver 66-45 in the fourth quarters of these Finals, shooting 64% against the Nuggets’ 44% in the fourth quarter, and holding a 33-9 3-point difference.
However, the first three terms have had a very favorable trend toward Denver. The Nuggets have outscored Miami 167-138 in those stretches, winning 53% of 39% shooting.
“You don’t have to allow them to detect such open spaces,” said Nikola Jokic – star of the Nuggets – who averages 34 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 9 assists in the first games of these finals. “We know they will score, we know they have talented players, but we can’t let them see wide open space, and that’s the main key.”