Here's an irresponsible impression in the heat of the moment after Denver lost a playoff game after seven straight wins: There was far less self-satisfaction in Miami's press conference after the Game 2 win than in the Nuggets' press conference after the Game 1 win. In retrospect, the cheerfulness that prevailed there did not help.
In Miami, on the other hand, people almost obsessively refuse to take credit for themselves. I tell Erik Spoelstra that our player Caleb Martin praised his ability to coach after losses - and he says he just refuses to treat himself and it's not about him. "This bruise is like a muscle. Each blow only makes it stronger. We've suffered a lot of tough losses this season and the team is only getting stronger," he agrees to elaborate a bit.
If you want a good answer from someone in Miami, ask them to praise someone else at the club. Spoelstra talks about Adebayo — "He has the toughest defensive task in the world (guarding Jokic) and still we're asking him to do so much offensively."
Butler and Adebayo celebrate in Denver early in the morning, Photo: AP
For his part, Adebayo says the work of disrupting the passes of Jokic — who scored 41 points but for the first time in an era amassed more turnovers than assists — is a team affair. But when you ask him when he realized Gabe Vincent — 23 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three — could make such a significant contribution. "Last summer when he tore our form on the Olympic team," he says. He is referring to a preparatory game in which Nigeria beat the United States. Vincent is a native of California, the son of an immigrant from Nigeria.
Aaron Gordon penetrates the Heat's basket, Photo: Reuters
"We went from No. 2 to No. 1. Converting from guard to point guard is probably the hardest in basketball. You go from being an automaton player to a decision maker. But he didn't ask like many players for a discount and made that conversion," Spoelstra said. Like many of his teammates, Vincent is the comeback story of an undrafted player. But he comes from a highly educated background: both his parents have doctorates in psychology.
The Heat's rotation speaks
Miami fixed its two main problems in Game One. After only two free throws in the first game, she scored 20. And the percentages to 3 jumped from 11 of 33 to 17 of 35. She also interrupted Jokic's passing game. Now Denver has a list of problems and a duty to respond to it.
One problem for Denver is that Miami's rotation is deeper. It uses a rotation that is getting shorter. Miami uses ten players compared to Denver's eight. And on average gets 78 bench minutes compared to 58. Spoelstra also surprised Kevin Love in the starting five after not using him at all in Game 1. And she may yet get Tyler Hero back.
Butler looking for the basket,
Problem two, Miami clearly comes out better than breaks and briefings. It is much less predictable. Of the eight quarters played in the series, five opened with Miami's significant run.
Robinson goes to the basket, early in the morning, Photo: Reuters
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And there's also a philosophical gap: Miami keeps going to different players. Early in the morning, Strus and Vincent suddenly glowed. Denver has the better players, but its rotation is more predictable. Denver's answer, meanwhile, to all the tactical surprises is that Jokic is fixing traffic problems. Even in the early morning he almost did. Because even in the second game of the series, he was the best player in the world.
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