Miami Heat y Denver Nuggets They will face each other this morning in a fourth round (02:30 a.m., Movistar+ and League Pass) that promises to be another exciting episode between two teams that are very different in mentality but equal in ambition and enthusiasm. The defeat in the third game left the Heat without the home court factor -stolen in the second game in Colorado- and with the almost obligation to win the fourth, since returning to Denver with a 3-1 down would be almost a sentence of death.
With the historic display of Jokic and Murray still very present, the Heat will have to find solutions to the Nuggets’ star duo but without neglecting their own mistakes, all without the once again discarded Tyler Herro.
1
Let Jokic score?
numbers don’t lie
It may sound crazy, but if you want to beat the Nuggets, you have to let Jokic score a lot of points. What at first does not make any sense makes everyone in the world see that Denver’s have lost all four playoff games in which the Serb has scored 40 or more points.
Asked about it at a press conference, Jokic did not find any explanation, but the statistics cease to be a curiosity when the sample begins to be important and numerous. Perhaps Spoelstra opts to let him shoot and score more instead of involving his teammates, a strategy that could work since The Nuggets’ only loss to the Heat, in Game 2 of the Finals, came after the Serb dished out just four assists, his worst record in these playoffs.
2
The war in the area
The rebound is essential
The Nuggets crushed the Heat in the zone in Game 3. The dominance was overwhelming, both in rebounds (58 to 33) and in points scored (60 to 34). Everyone on the Heat (from Jimmy Butler to Bam Adebayo to Spoelstra) agreed that it can’t happen again if they want to have some kind of option in Game 4 (and beyond).
The numbers are embarrassing and they hurt even more when taking into account that the Nuggets had a terrible night in the outside shot in the third game, scoring only 5 triples with a 27% success rate. Or what is the same: you take away all the points from the Nuggets from 3-pointers and they still would have tied the game.
Adebayo can’t do it all (he already did his part with 17 rebounds), so it will be vital that the other Heat players step up and put what needs to be put in to prevent the Nuggets from having 25 more possessions than them.
3
The Jimmy Butler Moment
It’s about time
As much as the Heat’s secondaries haven’t quite lived up to it yet, it’s not what Miami fans miss the most. After shining against the Celtics, Caleb Martin averages a paltry 5.3 points and 4 rebounds, Max Strus he is shaking the hoops with his shots (0/10 in the first game, 1/7 in the third), Gabe Vincent y Kyle Lowry more of the same… Nothing, the one who is missing is Jimmy Butler and his performances.
Despite the fact that his Finals are getting better and better (13 points in Game 1, 21 in the second and 28 in the third), he has not yet had a ‘Jordanian’ performance like the ones he had against the Bucks and Celtics, without going further away. The Heat need him more than ever and his great performance may come tonight: when your team needs it most and with everything you need to make it happen.
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2023-06-09 08:53:38
#keys #fourth #game #Finals #Denver #Nuggets #Miami #Heat
