The Finals: Heat Come Out On Top and Tie The Series

Credit: CBSSports

Back at Ball Arena for Game 2, the Miami Heat had an outstanding night beating the Nuggets by final score of 111- 108. Heat finally break the Nuggets streak of going undefeated at home during the postseason. They were 9-0 prior to the loss. We can say the Heat are the only team to beat the altitude!

Credit: Mark J. Terrill

Miami led by 11 early before Denver flipped the script to lead by 15. Miami stormed back to lead early in the fourth by double digits before Denver’s final comeback attempt came up short. Miami was dominant this game with their 3 point shooting at 48.6%. Chipotle is giving out free codes on Twitter for every 3 pointer made during the Finals and the codes couldn't stop coming. Jimmy Butler kept the Heat in control scoring 21 points with 4 rebounds and 9 assists. He had help from Bam Adebayo scoring 21 points with 9 rebounds and 4 assists.

The Heats bench put on a show last night. Duncan Robinson showed his clutch side by scoring 10 points in just the 4th quarter, helping secure the win. Duncan commented after the game saying "I play my best when I am having fun". Kyle Lowry also played well scoring 9 points and going 2-3 from behind the arc.

Speaking of threes, the game came down to a thrilling final shot from Jamal Murray from downtown that missed to the right. Butler stated after the game "I just contested it, pretty glad that he missed it". Murray struggled at the three point line last night only going 3-8.

The Nuggets performance was pretty degrading to fans. In the final moments of the game, Nuggets didn't take a timeout before Murray’s contested three. Malone was pretty upset after the game with their performance stating, "The guys started feeling sorry for themselves because they weren't making shots. The defensive energy only showed up for spurts. Can't do that against Miami. These are the NBA Finals." The Nuggets are ranked #1 with a 112 defensive rating in the playoffs, which is an estimate of how many points a team gives up for every 100 possessions. Their defense did not show up during Game 2

Credit: Jerilee Bennett

On the bright side for Nuggets Fans, Nikola Jokic made history last night becoming the first center in the NBA to record 500+ points and 100+ assists in a single postseason. Jokic scored 41 points last night and added 4 assists to his 11 rebounds.

In player news for the Heat. Kevin Love made his return to the starting lineup last night scoring 6 points and 10 rebounds. According to Sports Illustrated, Tyler Herro is expected to make his return for Game 3 in Miami. Herro has missed every Heat playoff game since breaking his hand during the Play-In Tournament in April.

Also for Miami, The Heat scored 36 points in only 19 possessions (the 20th possession was Caleb Martin rebounding Jamal Murray’s missed 3 at the end). That’s a rate of 189.5 per 100 possessions, during the fourth quarter last night. According to NBA.com, that’s the most efficient fourth quarter for any team in any game in the last two seasons.

Game Three is in Miami on Wednesday night, 8:30pm ET/6:30pm MT on ABC. This will be the 41st time in NBA Finals history that the series is tied 1-1. Historically, the team that wins Game 3 wins the series 80% of the time (32-8). Leave your predictions in the comments section below.