Denver Nuggets have a dynamic duo but Miami Heat have a great ...

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Published Jun 05, 2023  •  5 minute read

Caleb Martin of the Miami Heat celebrates with teammates after a 111-108 victory against the Denver Nuggets in Game 2. Getty Images

If there is a better two-man game in the NBA today than Canada’s own Jamal Murray and Serbian sensation Nikola Jokic with the Denver Nuggets, we have yet to see it.

Joel Embiid had James Harden this year in Philadelphia, but that pair operated despite each other. Steph Curry in Golden State had Klay Thompson and/or Draymond Green, but neither duo complements each other the way Jokic and Murray do.

The same can be said for Devin Booker and Kevin Durant in Phoenix, though that relationship is really just getting started.

That Denver duo though is not just stylistically made for each other. They have put in the hours and the miles on the court to fine tune things into a two-man game that seems to operate with one brain.

And they were at it again in Game 2 of the NBA Finals and against just about any other team it would have been enough.

But the Miami Heat don’t play the two-man game. They don’t even play the five-man game. This is a group that can go 10 deep or more, but most effectively with eight, and not lose a thing no matter which of the eight are on the court at one time.

Eight trumps two every time and it’s why the Heat are heading home having earned a split in the NBA Finals.

Some takeaways from Game 2, a tightly contested 111-108 Miami win:

The Miami Heat head coach will always get plenty of credit for getting the most out of his team. Backed by president Pat Riley, Spoelstra has the kind of power only a select few head coaches in the league enjoy. No player’s wishes supersede that of the coach and Riley backs that to the hilt.

But Spoelstra, the demanding voice of the Heat, is just one part of his persona. Spoelstra has such an intimate knowledge of each of his players that, at a moment’s notice, he can go down his roster and adjust his personnel to meet what the opposition is doing.

He was back in his lab between Games 1 and 2 knowing his team was going to need a little more experience on the floor if they were to overcome the magic of Jokic and Murray.

Enter Kevin Love.

Love hadn’t played a minute for the Heat since Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final. He was a coach’s DNP for Game 1, a spot normally reserved for end-of-the-bench types who fill out garbage time in blowouts.

Love’s game is out on the perimeter, where the soon-to-be 35-year-old knocks down threes. He doesn’t do it nearly as well as he did in his prime, but then who among us does anything physically demanding as well as we did when we were at our peak.

But Love, in addition to that veteran savvy that can only be earned over time, also quickly has become a unifying presence in that Miami locker room and Spoelstra correctly deduced getting that out on the floor would have a positive effect.

Love only hit two threes in the game and didn’t get his first until just after the five-minute mark in the second quarter, but just having him out there changed the complexion of the game.

It also didn’t hurt having Max Strus back to his normal self and hitting triples from the opposite side of the court.

Love’s stat line — 22 minutes, six points and 10 rebounds — isn’t overwhelming though those 10 boards aren’t nothing, but having to account for him out on the perimeter and just his positivity and veteran presence seemed to even out the Heat.

No one in Miami had it tougher this season than Duncan Robinson.

A one-time mainstay in the Miami lineup for his three-point shooting ability and the fourth-highest-paid member of the Heat, Robinson suddenly couldn’t find his game this season.

A starter a year ago in 68 games, Robinson’s struggles — he shot just 33% from three — limited him to just one this year while his minutes per game sank to a four-year low of 16.5 a game.

Spoelstra had other options and he went with them, seemingly leaving Robinson behind.

But come playoff time, it became clear even from afar that Robinson has been putting in the work. He has gone from a spot-up three-point shooter with deadly accuracy to a guy who now cuts to the basket and finishes there against the stingiest of defences.

His ability to put the ball on the floor and weave through traffic is also new and makes him a much tougher player to guard.

Robinson is still coming off the bench for Spoelstra, but his minutes and his impact are increasing with each game.

Over the past five games — two Finals games against Denver and the final three against Boston in the seven-game Eastern Conference final — Robinson is 10-for-20 from three and 21-for-38 (.552) from the field.

That’s impact.

He’s a two-time MVP so we shouldn’t be that surprised, but watching Nikola Jokic more than ever before you marvel at the way just about everything he throws up at the rim finds its way through the cylinder.

You hear about soft touches in the game, but Jokic has to have one of the softest touches of all. For a seven-footer who tips the scales at 285 pounds, that is quite the statement.

Jokic just seems to have that perfect feel for spin and touch so that rather than roll out or spin off the edges of the iron, his shots roll in and spin through the cylinder rather than out of it.

The series resumes in Miami where the Heat actually hasn’t played as well of late.

In the Eastern Conference final against Boston that Miami won in seven games, only one of their four wins and two of their three losses came on the homecourt.

That said, the Heat was a perfect 5-0 at home in the first two rounds.

In any event, the Heat is back in control of this series having secured a split in Denver. All the pressure is now on the Nuggets.