Miami Heat show fight with late comeback to beat the Denver Nuggets in game two of the NBA finals
- Jason Soutar
- 5 June 2023
The Miami Heat showed great resilience to pull off a comeback win in game two of the NBA finals against the Denver Nuggets, evening the series at 1-1.
The Miami Heat produced a fourth-quarter fightback to win the second game of the NBA finals 111-108 and level up the seven-match series against the Denver Nuggets.
The Heat were down by eight heading into the final period, having trailed by 15 earlier in the game in the wake of another massive performance from two-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
Jokic scored 41 points, scoring 16 of 28 shots from the floor including one with 36 seconds remaining which cut the Heat's lead to three points.
Duncan Robinson had a monstrous start to the fourth quarter to help propel the Heat past the championship favourites. He scored his first four field goals, including two three-pointers.
Duncan Robinson on fire to start the 4Q š„ pic.twitter.com/fSfrP6PJbu
ā ESPN (@espn) June 5, 2023
But after Jimmy Butler missed on Miami's next possession, Jamal Murray was unable to tie the scores with an effort on the buzzer.
The Nuggets did have a timeout remaining as Murray ran up the court with the shot clock turned off, but Michael Malone opted not to use it, leaving his trust in his five players on the floor.
The defeat was Denver's first since May 7 and they had won all 11 playoff games in which they had opened a double-digit lead.
They had trailed 21-10 in the opening quarter before a barrage of three-point scores helped them to a 44-32 advantage which had been trimmed to six points at the break.
Defeat on Sunday night was also the Nuggets' first at home in this year's playoffs.
And Miami held on through the third quarter before the late surge that takes the series to Miami all square.
Gabe Vincent led the way for Miami with 23 points as Butler and Bam Adebayo each grabbed 21.
Heat shooting guard Tyler Herro is expected to return from injury for game three.
Herro has been out since the first round and underwent surgery on his right hand. There were hopes he could feature in game two but a return for Wednesday's match on South Beach seems realistic.
"He is progressing," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. "We're really encouraged by the progress. He started doing contact work as soon as we got to Denver.
"We have to maintain perspective. We want to be responsible about this. We're all excited and encouraged by his progress. When we get back to Miami all we're doing is just sticking to the process, trying to stack positive days; also understanding this is not like trying to return to a game in December. This is the Finals. So, there is a little bit of context to this."
