Spoelstra’s Big Brain Boosts Heat in Game 2 Win

Heat Culture steals home court advantage from lax Nuggets.

The Miami Heat did not make the NBA Finals due to some fluke or mistake. They earned the right to play for a championship just as much as the Denver Nuggets did. The Heat play with a mentality that demands focus and intensity. If a team can play with those traits, they will be in the mix to win it all. This is a message to all who doubted the Heat: continue doing so at your own peril. Because they just stole home court advantage from the best team in the playoffs, and they did it beautifully.

Let’s just get this out of the way at the top: the Nuggets looked sloppy from the opening tip. The defense in particular was just horrendous. We need look no further than the performance Max Strus put on in the opening quarter. The Heat’s first bucket at 11:30 was a wide open look from deep by Strus off an inbound. The play involved the two worst defenders on the Denver starting squad and the Heat capitalized. Strus lobbed the ball up to Bam Adebayo at the free throw line. He then received double pin downs to get a look from the wing. Normally, the Nuggets would want to switch those screens, but Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. just stand around and watch Kentavious Caldwell-Pope fight for his life on screens from Gabe Vincent and Kevin Love. A horrible way to start a Finals game.

But that was only the first drop of a downpour from Strus. When Miami was able to get into their halfcourt offense, the Strus got loose. On a couple shots, he was simply able to leak out of a screen and get to his spot. The first time, it appeared he just took advantage of MPJ’s less than stellar defensive awareness. Defensively, the whole Nuggets squad looked lost. KCP and Murray both point to Strus wide open in the corner as if it was going to be enough to get a brick out of him. Ideally, instead of pointing, Murray could have closed out on the corner. That would have left Aaron Gordon with two bodies, and MPJ could have ‘X’d,” or run across the court to pick up the guy Gordon had to leave (in this case, it would have been Jimmy Butler). Even if that is not what is coached in Denver, it would have been better than leaving Max Strus of all people wide open for a corner three. Or, here’s a thought: MPJ and KCP could have just switched the action at the point of attack. Poor communication was a theme the whole night for the home team. Strus got a similar bucket at the 5:30 mark in the first because Murray and Gordon just failed to communicate on the simple P&R.

The real talking point for the game is the popular “Make Jokic a scorer” narrative. Rather, the real talking point is the coaching of Erik Spoelstra. The Heat executed flawlessly down the stretch, and it was not due to them “making Jokic a scorer.” Take their zone defense in the fourth quarter for example. It was a shifting blob whose sole purpose was to deny Jokic high post touches near the free throw line. It was suffocating and morphing, and it isn’t the result of players who are defensive geniuses, it is the result of excellent coaching. But that was only the fourth quarter. What about the rest of the game?

The addition of Kevin Love back into the starting lineup seems like a no-brainer, but there are coaches in the league who are scared to pull the trigger in big situations. Not so with Spo. Putting Love on the floor gave the Heat size, IQ, and a shooting threat. Notice, Denver was unable to get the easy matchups for Aaron Gordon they got in the first game. It was a lot tougher to find a smaller guy to bully. More great coaching shined through in offensive execution throughout the contest.

Bam Adebayo is the key to the series for Miami. For them to win, Bam has to be the best version of himself. He does NOT need to score 20 points a night for them to hoist the trophy. Rather, he has to be Bam Prime™. In Game 2, he was just that. Take a look at his shot chart.

Those makes around the free throw line were the results of great looks out of P&R when receiving a pocket pass. He absolutely killed the Nuggets with just roll actions. Miami really capitalized on Jokic’s slow moving feet to get Bam in scoring positions out of these looks. Great stuff.

The Heat also did well in running split actions with Bam in the high post. Notice these two look off the exact same play. Also notice how close together they occurred. Look for these plays to be a bigger part of Miami’s offensive diet going into the next game.

A quick aside: the thing I love about the two above plays is not just the execution, but the attitude. The Gabe Vincent smirk at Christian Braun and Duncan Robinson flex are a horrible sight if you are a Nugget. The worst thing Miami can have is swag. Because once they turn it on, they are not going to turn it off under any circumstances. Just ask the Celtics, Bucks, and 76ers.

For the Nuggets faithful, there is no need to panic yet. As I said at the top, the Nuggets played sloppily the whole game and still had a chance to win. Fouling three point shooters and not communicating on defense only put Denver down by three. By no means is that meant to be a slight to the Heat. They earned the win fair and square by playing better. But the Denver film session for Game 2 no doubt lit a fire underneath Mike Malone’s squad. However, Spoelstra’s big basketball IQ got the Heat the win, and more importantly, it got them home court advantage. Denver is going to have to come up with some strategies themselves if they hope to win Game 3 on June 7th.