Monday night the HEAT played the Denver Nuggets in Miami. The last 3 weeks had been rough for Miami; losing 9 of 11 games, since then they have won 2 & they were looking to make it a 3 game win streak. Bam Adebayo is back after missing the last 2 games. Tyler Herro sat out for his 8th consecutive game.
Cap back in the starting lineup 💥In the 1Q, Denver came out attacking to start, offensively. The Nuggets were running offense through Nikola Jokic who had four assists in the first 5 minutes.
Both teams played competitively back & forth. Miami was getting on the fastbreak & turning defense into offense & had control of the game.
The Miami HEAT were actually playing aggressively in the half court offense & it was fun.
The Nikola Jovic resurrection was real against the Nuggets. Niko came out firing; with eight early points on 3-for-3 FGs, including a 3-pointer over the Joker, Nikola Jokic.
Miami won the Nikola Jovic vs. Nikola Jokic minutes in the early part of the game +10, though to be fair only one of them was effectively getting triple teamed.
Denver missed a ton of defensive personnel, but the HEAT got downhill plenty and the movement they need has been snappy on offense.
It was a good start to the game as the Heat led 41 to 29 after one. Norm Powell was pacing the HEAT offense with 10 points. The HEAT played with great offensive balance, moving the ball well & shooting lights out.
In the 2Q; Miami controlled the start, playing tough on defense & attacking on offense. It was still early in the game; but it looked easy for Miami and hard for Denver, which is not something you've been able to say about this matchup often in recent history.
Andrew Wiggins played actively on offense & defense with four steals early in the 2Q. The HEAT pushed their second quarter lead to 15 & then Denver went on 19-4 run to get back in game.
Jokić went down with a leg injury right before the half.Up 15 earlier; the HEAT went into halftime tied 63-63 with Nuggets. Norm Powell had 12 for the HEAT & Jokic had 21 points, 8 assists & 5 rebounds for Denver.
In the 3Q; the HEAT came out attacking out the gate, they were smoking hot & setting the tone on offense as they pushed the lead up to 17. Miami Staggered Denver with their offensive barrage.
With 47 points in the third quarter, Miami tied for the third-highest scoring quarter in franchise history. The Heat went up 17 in third vs. Jokic-less Nuggets & took a 110-99 lead into the fourth. Nuggets wing Spencer Jones went on a little mini run to bring it to 9 points but it wasn’t enough for Denver.
In the 4Q, Miami had lots of opportunities to run. They made a lot of defensive stops & kept pouring on the scoring.
Highest scoring game this season AND a HEAT win 🔥
#HEATWin Final: HEAT 147, Nuggets 123
🔥 Powell: 25pts, 4asts
🔥 Jović: 22pts, 5asts
🔥 Jaquez Jr.: 20pts, 11asts
🔥 Wiggins: 19pts, 5rebs, 6asts, 3stls, 3blks
🔥 Ware: 19pts, 9rebs
🔥 Adebayo: 13pts, 10rebs, 4asts
🔥 Smith: 11pts, 2stls
🔥 Mitchell: 10pts, 9asts
The second half was a show worth the price of admission, but before this one turned for a long-awaited win over Denver, it was again Miami's defense leading the way.
That, and a renewed Nikola Jovic, now a center.
Coup’s Takeaways:
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