The Nuggets have blood on their lips and a home loss on their NBA Finals resume. To hear Kevin Love tell it after Game 2, that first part was Miami’s masterplan from the stinking jump.
“I think just getting into their paint a little bit more was good for us,” offered Love, the veteran power forward whose insertion into the Heat’s starting lineup, and his 10 rebounds, helped Miami hand Denver its first postseason defeat at Ball Arena this spring.
“So we had those opportunities last game that we didn’t take advantage of. I think that’s why the free throws (in Game 1) were low. So again, I think we were a lot more aggressive in attacking.”
No wonder Pat Riley was smirking as he left the visiting locker room Sunday night. The Heat wanted to punch the Nuggets in the mouth and see how they responded. So far? 0-1.
Of reserve center Cody Zeller’s 6-foot-11 frame, 6-7 of it is made up of bony elbows. So of course it was Zeller, the former Indiana Hoosiers big man, who set the tone with about 45 seconds left in the third quarter, throwing a body check on Nuggets star Nikola Jokic that sent the two-time MVP reeling and had the locals howling.
“We knew they played well at home — we just wanted to make it tough on them, physical (on them),” Zeller offered after the game. “We had a lot of guys that stepped up and played well. So I don’t know if it’s any magic that we found. But hopefully we can (resume it) when go back to Miami.”
Something else they’d like to resume: The South Florida Flop. The Sunshine State Swoon.
Here’s one for the conspiracy theorists scoring at home. Shooting fouls called on the Nuggets in Game 1: one. Shooting fouls called on Denver in Game 2: nine.
Somebody got the memo, didn’t they?
“I think it was in our hands to to put more pressure on them this game as opposed to the last game,” Love said.
“We knew that we had to be aggressive, physical,” Zeller added.
The Heat were in the penalty with what, 9:16 left in the game? And yet Miami was still handsy enough to force the Nuggets into some uncharacteristic giveaways, especially at midcourt.
“There (were) a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers for (Jokic) and tough calls on both sides of the ball,” Love said of the Nuggets’ main man, “but he keeps it consistent. He’s such a smart player, man. I can’t say that enough. There’s nobody like him. He is so special.
“We respect him to the fullest. Obviously, he’s a two-time MVP for a reason. So we just want to make it as hard on him as best we can, but we know in Game 3, we got definitely (something) coming for us and it’s going to be a very tough one.”
Say this for the Heat: Staring into the abyss at the start of the fourth quarter, they found a way to scratch and claw their way out. Before Sunday, 36 NBA Finals saw a team open with a 2-0 advantage, and 31 of those teams — 86.1% — finished the job. Of the five teams that rallied, two were fairly recent: the ’21 Bucks and the ’16 Cavs. The Heat behind Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal did it in ’06 after Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki and owner Mark Cuban melted down.
“(They) say the series starts when the away team wins,” Love said. “So now it becomes a best-of-5, but we get to go back home with the series split, so we can tip our hats to that and feel good about that.”
Only 191 teams in league history — 22.2% — lost a postseason series after winning Game 1. It’s happened only 24 times in Finals history, with the 1-0 team eventually prevailing in 82 (77.4%) of 106 championship tussles.
What, did you think it would be that easy? We got more than a series, now, folks. We got lips that need stitches. Egos, too.
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