Couper Moorhead

1. An exceptionally weird start to this one. Extremely physical play. Missed shots galore. Denver turning the ball over a ton. Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic both in foul trouble. DeAndre Jordan minutes.

Basically, a perfect situation for the HEAT, a team that thrives in the weird and strange. They certainly earned the off-kilter nature of those first two quarters, mucking up the game about as well as you possible can, and Bam Adebayo took advantage between the lines, attacking early and going after every mismatch in front of him on his way to 18 first-half points on 13 shots. Still, the lead at the break was just seven for Miami – they trailed by eight early on after missing eight shots in a row – despite all of Denver’s struggles, including 1-of-15 from three and 3-of-8 from the free-throw line. A good, earned lead, but a tenuous one with Miami not as much finding answers as finding a way to contort the game to their own terms.

Six minutes into the third, as Jamal Murray hit Denver’s second three of the night after a 1-of-17 start overall, it was tied. Still a mess of a game, though, and as Denver missed another couple of threes the HEAT ground-and-pounded their way back to a four-point advantage. Miami by one after three after Denver briefly took a lead, Kyle Lowry hitting his third triple after an offensive board, but anyone who would tell you how the fourth was about to go, a title and a season on the line, is lying. There was nothing available with which to make any real predictions, not with rocks covered in mud being desperately slung around with Denver missing their jumpers and Miami hovering below 40 percent from the field.

Quick 5-0 burst to open the quarter for Denver, their fourth three falling in 24 attempts, and after nobody scored for seemingly five minutes after that outside of another Lowry three, Denver led by five, a title on the line for one side, a season on the line for the other, with six to play. Good time for Jimmy Butler, having a rough shooting night to that point, to come alive, hitting two straight threes, getting fouled on another, and working his way into the paint for four more as Miami jumped out by one. But Denver, resilient as ever, led by three after a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope steal, 24 seconds left in Miami’s season. The next shot, another Butler attempt from three, bounces off, and that was that, 94-89. The Nuggets earned their title the hard way in this one, you have to give them that, and the HEAT clawed their way to the bitter end.

2. Fitting that the season ended with another clutch game, a record 45thgame to be decided by five-points or less. Fitting that it was maybe the ugliest game of the season, pure competition as some might call it, with bodies flying and every point a struggle. This is what playoff basketball used to look like, in some ways, and Miami’s guys probably wouldn’t have had it any other way. As strong a start as Adebayo (20 points on 20 shots) had, as much as Butler (21 points) almost saved the night with his late flurry, nobody looked more at home than Lowry – 12 points not nearly representative of his impact) big shots and big plays coming out of him like a slot machine. Without him pulling and pulling and pulling, Denver probably walks to their title.

No shame in losing this way, to a team as tough and talented as Denver, painful as it may be. It’s been an incredible ride for the HEAT, with memories formed that nobody will soon let go of, This is a tell your grandkids sort of run, and it didn’t end because Miami ran out of gas or magic or anything like that. They earned their right to play for the trophy by beating talented teams, and in the end they got beat, fair and square – and in many ways, on their own terms, in the mud.

3. Speaking of, Denver should have earned your respect, if not by now then on this rough and tumble night when nothing was going right for them – becoming the first team ever to win a Finals game while shooting sub-20 percent from three on at least 25 attempts. For all of what Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic – Finals MVP winner – did throughout this series, for all of what their role players did in stepping up to the moment, what will linger about them is their toughness. Miami has hit hard and hit fast all postseason, knocking other teams off their rhythm and pushing right through their stumbles, but Denver took every blow in stride, winning every which way the HEAT forced them to win. Teams that play the beautiful game sometimes have to win the other way, and the Nuggets did everything they needed to.&nbsp;

Hell of season for Miami, folks, with plenty to talk about in the coming days, weeks, months and years. They met their match in this series, but that doesn’t diminish what they did and who they were for these two wonderful, zany, unbelievable months.

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Coup’s Takeaways: Nuggets Earn Their Title The Hard As HEAT Grind Their Way To One Last Clutch Game

1. Every time the Nuggets thoughts they were about to be out, the HEAT just pulled them back in.

Clunky start for both sides, Miami getting nowhere in the halfcourt while the Nuggets missed some decent looks. But Denver started to pull away, 18-11, after a handful of threes – bound to come at some point after a rough shooting series. That’s when the HEAT hit five straight jumpers to take the lead, just as they’ve done all postseason when thing other team strung together some positive possessions. The rest of the half would play out in much the same way, one answer for another. A Miami ghost cut followed by a Denver ghost cut. A Miami post seal for a dunk followed by a Denver post seal for a dunk.

It never quite felt like the HEAT were getting consistent stops with the Jamal Murray-Nikola Jokic pick-and-roll producing good look after good look and Denver’s Offensive Rating sitting around 120 all half. Miami stayed connected, though, thanks in part to the veteran mid-range savvy of Jimmy Butler (25-7-7 on 17 shots) and Kyle Lowry, but mostly because they finally found consistent downhill traction, making as many shots (8) in the restricted area – many of them off cuts and hard drives – as they did in all of Games 2 and 3. Again Denver started to creep ahead, 54-45, just before the half. Again, Miami clawed their way back in, down four at the break with the most important half of the season coming up.

More of the same in the third. Denver opened the period on a 10-4 run and had one opportunity after another to push the lead closer to 20, but nine-straight from Kevin Love – including the HEAT’s second banked-in three of the game – kept Miami within arm’s length, down eight. Then, after a lengthy stoppage in play to correct the level of the rim following an Adebayo missed dunk, Denver ran off another short burst to take it to 13, 86-73, going into the fourth – putting Miami in the same position for the fourth consecutive game. Was it time for the press and the zone, again?&nbsp;

But wait, a twist. With just over nine minutes to go, Jokic picked up his fourth and fifth fouls and made his way to the bench. A snap of the fingers later, the deficit was just five and the crowd was surging. Then, in a similar moment to one from the first half of Game 3, Murray hit a difficult three to stop the run. Miami just couldn’t get over the hump with Jokic on the bench, and by the time he came back in Denver led by nine. A couple drives from Bruce Brown and a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope transition three later, the lead stretched to 14 with under two minutes to play. And that was that. Miami, with all the desperate energy you would expect, had their shot at another final-period comeback, but the Nuggets were too good, too often, taking this one, 108-95, and a 3-1 series lead headed back to Denver.

2. The story for much of this game is that with both sides playing incredible defense, each team was still finding ways to extract easy scores out of elongated possessions. Only problem was Denver was able to get more of it.

The Murray-Jokic pick-and-roll was again a problem, especially with Jokic hitting early, open threes as Murray stretched two defenders out to clear space. Outside of some random instances of Murray chasing Adebayo isolations on switches, those two players were confident and calm running their bread-and-butter no matter how much Miami’s defenders got up into the dribble and tried to contain the ball.

In the end, it was Bruce Brown, attacking off Jokic screens as the HEAT devoted pressure to the center, getting to the rim that finished things off, a few extra shots at the cup as Denver’s best players drew the defense away. Those were the points, 21 from Brown, 26 from Aaron Gordon – going 3-of-4 from three but posting up smaller players and cutting his way into points all evening – late threes from Caldwell-Pope and Jeff Green, that proved the difference. Murray struggled with his shot and Jokic (23 points on 19 shots) missed a handful he usually makes, but they manipulated the floor as they always do and this time, after an inconsistent series for many of them, Denver’s role players answered the call. Another 120 Offensive Rating for the Nuggets, but this was the case of great defense being beaten by even greater offense.&nbsp;

3. There isn’t much more anyone could ask of Bam Adebayo. He has the toughest assignment on the floor, banging with Jokic in the post while trying to contain Murray off screens, and has done it as well as could possibly be expected even with Jokic and Murray playing very well. He’s been asked to play every coverage – switching, blitzing, trapping, containing, dropping – but nothing has really been about the scheme in this series. Murray and Jokic are good enough and smart enough to beat any scheme. Adebayo has just never stopped playing harder than anyone on the court, covering more ground than any human being should be able to cover while staying on his feet and not giving up fouls.

People are going to look at this box score and think he had a ho-hum game, 20 points on 18 shots on top of eight turnovers, but the numbers all series have underplayed just how important he’s been – literally everything on both ends of the court. Were there some instances where he had mismatches in the post that could have ended in scores? Sure. But he was aggressive chasing those mismatches, aggressive in transition and aggressive trying to attack Jokic. In other words, he was what everyone has been asking him to be for years. Missed shots are missed shots, but Adebayo left it all on the line, and the floor. Like the rest of the team, he delivered, just not quite enough in the end.

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Coup’s Takeaways: Nuggets Hold Off HEAT, Take Control Of Series With 3-1 Lead

1. For the first time in this series, the first half played out on Miami’s terms.

Figures given the change in location, but the pace and level of physicality fit exactly how the HEAT want to play. It may have cost them some whistles along the way, but that’s the price you pay for establishing an aggressive, contact-filled baseline of play. Both Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler – as aggressive early as he’s been since Milwaukee, only with Denver bringing more help than those Bucks – were getting downhill, attempting 19 first-half shots in the paint and routinely going right into the chest of Nikola Jokic. Throw in a personal 8-0 run from Caleb Martin, draining two threes and taking a steal the distance, and it looked like Miami was playing with the right tone and tempo as they attacked Denver’s weak points.

But the Nuggets were game for that style, too. With Jamal Murray going nuts (29 first-half points on 13 shots) and Jokic steady as ever, they calmly responded to each Miami run to quiet the crowd just a little. Denver still wasn’t making very many threes, with three of their four coming from Murray, but they were getting plenty (30 points) in the paint while the HEAT struggled to convert in the upper paint (4-of-12 shooting). Denver by five at the break, but given that the HEAT were below 40 percent from the field it was a margin both teams had reason to be happy with. It was anyone’s game.

Denver took that to heart, opening the third on a 6-0 run that could’ve been much worse had a couple wide-open threes fallen. We’ve seen Miami play too well down double digits all postseason to say they were in anything close to the danger zone, but being down 16 is being down 16 – and Jokic continued to look as comfortable as ever even as the Nuggets hovered sub-30 percent from deep. Only Butler’s drives, shoulders-first as he is at his best, and short jumpers kept the game within 14 going into the fourth. Just as in Games 1 and 2, Miami found themselves with ground to make up in the final period – and the expectation was to see the press and the zone once again.

The same results of the previous two fourth quarters didn’t materialize, with Denver absorbing a quick 4-0 HEAT burst to eventually go up 21 with eight minutes to play behind an energetic shift from Christian Braun, feeding off Miami committing so many extra resources to trying to slow Murray and Jokic. There was still some life left as Adebayo attacked the offensive glass, but Denver held out the ol’ stiff arm and closed things out, 109-94, to take the 2-1 series lead and even up the number of remaining possible home games. This time, the late-game magic wasn’t quite there.&nbsp;

2. There just weren’t any good answers for the Murray-Jokic actions – both players finishing with a triple double – and it damaged the rest of the defense as the game wore on. In the first quarter it was Murray (34 points on 22 shots), darting off Jokic screens for eight early points in the short paint and eventually 20 in the first half – with three of Denver’s four total threes. When the HEAT tried to switch that action, it left Jokic (32 points on 21 shots) with a smaller player on him that he could back down – forcing Miami to help. And when they put two on the ball with Murray, that left Jokic as the primary target in the middle of the floor with an advantage on the catch. The latter option produced a couple turnovers and staggered possessions later on, but it never felt like the answer.

Granted, few teams have had true answer for that combo, which is why Denver is in the Finals in the first place. But there’s no doubt that Murray’s early success and Jokic’ consistent greatness eventually got Miami out of all the good things they had done early to set the tone and, eventually, onto their heels.

A bit of a missed opportunity here with Denver finishing sub-30 percent from three for the second time this series. Outside of Braun’s off-ball tirade and a few duck-ins from Aaron Gordon, the rest of the Nuggets haven’t been able to get anything consistently going in this series. That may prove important going forward, but it tells you something about Murray and Jokic that Denver has held sizeable leads going in to each fourth quarter without consistent play, or shooting, from their role players. Spoelstra has made a point of saying that they aren’t going to beat that pair with coverages, that it’s about energy and execution in whatever they are doing, and tonight was as good an example of that as we’ve seen all series.

3. You couldn’t ask for much more from Butler and Adebayo (45 combined shots, 18 makes, 50 points) when it comes to aggression. Adebayo has taken everything Denver has given him – which has consistently been a decent-sized pocket in the middle of the floor – since the first minutes of this series, and Butler has followed suit since adjusting to Denver’s blend of sitting back on his actions while loading up extra bodies in his driving lanes.

The problem for Miami was that Denver’s defense cleaned up a bunch of the mistakes from the previous game, something that Michael Malone had repeatedly brought up in media sessions. Gone were most of those wide-open threes the HEAT had generated with slip screens, as Denver communicated. Gone were most of Adebayo’s easy north-south catches off actions with shooters, as the Nuggets’ low-man help was on time and on target, keeping him at 10-feet out. There were still plenty of short-to-mid two-pointers available, in large part by Denver design, with Adebayo and Butler combining to take 25 (making 12) in the upper paint and mid-range, but they finished 5-of-16 in the restricted area, with every foray met with a Nugget body. The desire and intent has been there for each player, they’re just being pushed into the zones that Denver is comfortable with – and 31 percent from three, as Denver was much more disciplined getting out to shooters, wasn’t enough to compensate.

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Coup’s Takeaways: Nuggets Take 2-1 Leads Behind Triple Doubles From Jokic and Murray

1. Miami couldn’t have asked for a better start.

They were playing with pace. They were turning Denver over. They were inducing defensive miscommunications and Max Strus was hot from three. For the first time in the series, it felt like the HEAT were in control. And yet, as good as everything looked, they led by only three after the opening period. They hadn’t taken a single shot in the restricted area.

Denver almost always gives Nikola Jokic a rest at the beginning of the second quarter and their bench tends to leak points. That wasn’t the case tonight. With Miami zoning Denver’s second unit, Denver hit three after three after three, using a ton of ball pressure to jam up the HEAT’s perimeter actions and get out into transition – all of it adding up to a 21-6 run to open the second quarter, eventually leading by as much as 15. The only thing keeping the HEAT close was that they continued to hit nearly half their threes. But just as they did in Game 1, Miami mitigated the damage. It took a lot of mid-range work – Gabe Vincent was 5-of-7 in the half – with precious little going towards the rim but being down just six at the break was a best-case scenario given Denver’s extended run.

Good thing Miami was doing that thing again, that thing they’ve done more than all but one team in the entire history of the league in a single postseason run – hit half of their three-point attempts. Opening the third period with three hits from deep, two from Vincent, Miami was already back within two. Soon enough, tied. Denver’s offense just kept plugging along, as they do, though the HEAT got some mileage out of helping on Jokic during this stretch, forcing under-duress passes – and a turnover or two – even as Jokic found the open man. That didn’t last long. Back to Denver by eight headed into the fourth as Miami could not afford to give Bam Adebayo (21 points on 14 shots, +17) even a minute of rest. Still within striking distance, but the threes would need to be there given the lack of action at the rim.&nbsp;

Sure enough, Duncan Robinson opened the fourth with a three, and next time he touched the ball Denver so overplayed in he jogged to the rim for a layup – followed by another three off his own missed free-throw. Deficit back to two. Another Vincent corner three, a 13-2 run to open the quarter, and Miami jumped out in front. Where it looked like they would stay, shots continuing to fall in bunches and Denver’s defense unraveling as a result – leading to the downhill lanes finally opening up. But the Nuggets had one last push in them, going from down 11 to just three in the final minutes. In the end, it was a Jamal Murray stepback three bouncing off the rim, 111-108 as the HEAT tie the series up headed home.

2. It’s the shooting. It’s always the shooting with this team. At multiple times in this one it looked like their opponent was going to pull away, only for the HEAT to drain a couple of threes to stay right in it. Sound familiar? Milwaukee and Boston sure could relate.

Early it was Max Strus, hitting four. There was Gabe Vincent (+22), pulling up off the bounce and hitting 4-of-6 from deep. In that fateful fourth quarter, though, it was Duncan Robinson (10 points on five shots) bringing Miami back from the brink, his deep hits not only putting Miami back out in front but eventually causing multiple Denver overreactions in handoff coverage to create opportunities in the paint.

Miami came one miss away, at 17-of-35, from becoming the first team in league history to post five games in a single postseason over 50 percent from three on at least 25 attempts. That is remarkable, incredible stuff, and it doesn’t stop being that way even if they keep doing it. Denver still posted an Offensive Rating of 125.6 themselves, so it wasn’t as though the Nuggets were stopped (though slowed they were for much of the fourth). Miami just proved they could out-score the best offensive team in the league.

On this subject, it’s especially noteworthy that even with their late flurry, Denver only attempted 28 threes, making 11. A partial byproduct of Jokic taking 28 shots (on his way to 41 points).

3. This is turning into something similar to the Milwaukee series for Miami, just with a totally different look at feel. As with the Bucks, Denver is dropping their size back and conceding some space in the mid-range. As with the Bucks, you’re simply going to have to hit some jumpers to beat that coverage.

But the Nuggets haven’t been nearly as passive. Where Milwaukee relied on the percentages, and generally just tried to stay in front of the ball, Denver is applying pressure on the ball while keeping size in the paint and help at the ready. When the HEAT tried to go to the Duncan Robinson-Bam Adebayo two-man game in the second quarter, Denver turned up the pressure even more and disrupted the rhythm of what is typically a bread-and-butter action. Not only was Miami not getting much going to the rim – their first restricted area attempt came well into the second quarter, and headed into the fourth they were only 3-of-7 in that range – the Nuggets were speeding them up, which is tough to do for a team that likes to execute in third gear or above.&nbsp;

The threes were obviously there, but the way Denver is playing they’re going to have to be there. The paint only opened up – Miami still took only 10 shots in the restricted area – late down the stretch because the outside shots were falling.

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Coup’s Takeaways: Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson And Miami’s Red-Hot Shooting Ties Up NBA Finals

1. In the first games of both the New York and Boston series, Miami gave up 40-plus points in the paint. Almost immediately after those halftimes, they made their adjustments and cleaned things up in that area.

Similar story tonight against Denver, with the Nuggets scoring 32 in the paint on to of a 129.5 Offensive Rating to lead 59-42 at the break – only an 8-of-13 start from Bam Adebayo keeping things from getting out of hand – but the similarities ended at the numbers. Where the Knicks and Celtics were paint assaulting teams, driving relentlessly to get to the rim, very few of Denver’s early paint buckets came off a north-south dribble. Instead, it was all paint seals and post-ups, including six early makes at the cup from Aaron Gordon. Miami had missed some good looks from three at that point – though they were 5-of-10 from mid-range – but with Denver attempting double the number of shots in the restricted area, none of which came in transition, they were showcasing a stronger offensive foundation to that point. No huge surprise that maybe ethe best home team in the postseason, one that had plenty of time to rest and recuperate before the series began, was dictating the rhythm of the game, but the ball was certainly in Miami’s court at halftime to figure a few things out.

So of course Miami started the second half on an 8-0 run, because that’s what they’ve done all postseason. Get hit in the mouth, take a breath, and respond. But the Nuggets are not a team that gets rattled. They might miss shots for stretches, they just don’t lose their nerve. And so the lead hovered around 15, Miami still getting a ton of mileage out of their bread-and-butter Adebayo actions, Denver keeping pace with their two-man game between Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic. A few Adebayo-rest minutes later, it was Denver, looking more comfortable than the HEAT would want, by 21 headed into the fourth.

Another 11-0 burst to open the final period, with Denver missing in the paint and Miami throwing out a small dose of zone, to bring it back to 10. Miami still refusing to go away, as always, suddenly getting hot from three thanks to Kyle Lowry. Then, more Jokic, back to 16 with seven to play. That could have been the game, but of course Miami wasn’t done, again finding their way to easy scores – a constant in all their postseason comeback bids – to bring it back to nine. But, again, Jokic (27 points on 12 shots to go with 14 assists) was there to close it out, 104-93 for Denver – the HEAT finishing with the better three-point night overall despite their earlier misses – as the home team throws the first hit. But now these teams know each other better, and it’s Miami’s turn to adjust.

2. The Knicks and Celtics want to go right through you, and there’s no better team at presenting immovable objects in front of unstoppable forces than Miami. The HEAT put up a force field around the paint and force you into distinct risk-reward assessment.

Denver gets to the rim almost as much, they just do it in a different way, beating you with passing and movement far more than they do off the dribble. That was the story of the first half, the ball not even finding Jokic a ton as Gordon posted up smaller players while the rest of the Nuggets took turns flashing or cutting into the paint for scores. Where the zone came in handy against the Knicks and Boston to help curtail the paint scores, it was only used in this one in the short stretches where Jokic hit the bench.

Miami still found a way to clean this up in the second half outside of Jokic, different as it was, but instead of tightening up on drives they had to put more bodies in the paint which meant more space on the perimeter for Denver’s shooters. That proved a dangerous proposition as shooting pushed Denver to their 20-point lead.

So, as Erik Spoelstra has almost always done in these playoffs, he went to the press – Haywood Highsmith, 18 points on 10 shots to his credit, had a nice backcourt pick-six – and the zone. Even if Denver might be the most difficult team to zone, that coverage does tend to give the proceedings a maximum make-or-miss look. A few misses helped Miami shrink the lead early in the fourth, but Jokic eventually found his way back into the paint. There’s no easy way to defend this team, but at least the paint scores slowed a bit as the Nuggets finished with just 46.

3. The good news on Miami’s side is that they were able to consistently get Bam Adebayo (26 points on 25 shots) to his spots with clean, relatively unencumbered passes. Running the same pick-and-roll actions they’ve been running all season, Adebayo got his catches and had plenty of space, not dealing with third and fourth defenders nearly as much as might have been expected given how the Nuggets had just defended the Los Angeles Lakers and Anthony Davis. By the end of the third quarter, Adebayo had 24 points on 23 shots – already matching his career-high in attempts. Without Adebayo, there would be no game.

This was a bit of a double-edged sword. Yes, Adebayo was getting plenty of space in the upper paint and mid-range – almost as much as he did against Milwaukee – but with Denver staying home of most shooters there weren’t many secondary playmaking opportunities. Either Adebayo made the two-pointer or there wasn’t much else there, with the overall efficiency of the actions bolstered by Adebayo’s creativity to get into the paint.

There was a lot of talk before the series about one of the choices teams having available to them is to single-cover Jokic and make him be a scorer while limiting his playmaking options. Denver, it seems, made a similar choice with Adebayo. He was up to the task, but this is something to keep an eye on – the fact that Adebayo still had five assists a huge credit to Miami’s movement and cutting even when Denver was trying to take away passing lanes.

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Coup’s Takeaways: Behind Jokic Triple Double, Nuggets Lead By As Much As 24 As They Take Game 1

1. You might not be able to script a more Game 7 start to this Game 7. A raucous crowd. Tons of energy. High stakes. And nobody could make a shot.

Boston opened 9-4 – with Jayson Tatum, taking just 13 shots all night, notably turning an ankle on the first possession of the game – in a stretch that took a full five minutes, but Miami found a couple threes and pick-six turnovers to push them to a 12-2 run as the Celtics opened the game 0-of-12 from three. Not a whole lot of rhythm for either side, the HEAT just making their precious few good looks at jumpers – the crowd audibly groaned or sighed, depending on your set of ears, when Caleb Martin got an open look at a three in transition – while Bam Adebayo’s constant switches flattened out every Boston pick-and-roll available.

Just over a minute into the second, it was 27-15 HEAT. A few minutes later, 38-21, Miami again doing that thing they sometimes do when they make half of their threes while Boston did the thing they do when they turn the ball over in a way that feeds Miami’s offense, all while Martin (14 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the first half) continued to be one of, if not the, best players on the floor. Mixing in zone, the HEAT, a team that typically shrinks the floor as well as anyone, had the court absolutely shrunk on Boston, always ready with an extra body to get in the way of a drive. When Adebayo picked up his third foul with a few minutes left in the first half, Boston started to make their move only to be answered by a pair of Jimmy Butler scores, including a fading three in the right corner. Miami by 11 at the break, with Boston 4-of-21 from deep, and it very well could have been more given how they had controlled the pace of play.

Butler opened the second half with, of course, another three. Another score later, another stunned reaction by the crowd, and it was Miami by 16 – as in control of the game as they have been at any point in this series. Naturally, that’s exactly when the Celtics started to make their push, with Derrick White leading the way from the outside-in. If it weren’t for more tough shotmaking, including pull-up and fadeaway mid-rangers from Martin, things would have essentially been tied. Instead, the lead was eight, staying that way as Boston was getting stops but not the requisite scores. Back to ten before the fourth, thanks, again, to more threes and more, and more, and more Martin.&nbsp;

Another Martin (26 points on 16 shots) three and Butler jumper (28 points on 28 shots and The Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP Trophy) to open the fourth, back to 17 with 10:50 to play. Boston (9-of-42 from three) never got back within single digits, the crowd almost entirely silent through the final minutes, as the HEAT avoided being on the wrong side of history. One of the most improbable – from a certain point of view – and unbelievable runs in league history continues as Miami marches on to Denver and the NBA Finals.

2. Caleb freaking Martin – which may be how he’s known in Boston from now on. How much more can you possibly say about him? Every other player on this team has had their ups and downs in this series, while Martin hasn’t just been steady, he’s been steadily spectacular. His defense at the top of the zone has been a massive added value, to be sure, as it has been all year, but it’s the offense that continues to put his team over the top. It didn’t matter what the shot was – a drive, a pullup jumper, a three, off however many dribbles – he had one ready for every Celtics push.

Reminder that while Martin was efficient in the regular season, he only scored 9.6 points per game largely due to a relatively miniscule usage rate. His usage hasn’t even jumped that much against the Celtics, he’s just made the most of every single touch, driving the Celtics, taking guys one-on-one in the mid-range or draining hesitation threes.

There is a long, long history of HEAT role players stepping up in the playoffs. If there wasn’t, they wouldn’t have had the success that they have had. This run, and this series in particular, that Martin is on stands toe-to-toe with anyone that has come before him. This is the stuff legends are made of.

3. If you were to put together a Greatest Hits reel of everything Miami has done well in this postseason, it would look something like this Game 7. There was Erik Spoelstra mixing in zone at all the right times. There was Adebayo switching out onto every player on the floor, leading the floor-shrinking regime that turned Boston over at the most opportune times. There was Boston continuing to be flummoxed by the HEAT’s constant movement on offense, a shooter always springing free in ways that either created shots or a titled defensive unit.

But nothing, beyond Martin, will stick in the mind as much as Miami sustained shotmaking prowess. It doesn’t matter if they were the best or the worst shooting team in the regular season. It doesn’t matter if their shots were contested or open, off the dribble or off the catch. Throw the Shot Quality out the window. They just kept making shots, all kinds of shots in every shape and size, in such a way that would be rare for any team in the history of the league.

It’s the threes, of course, that hurt Boston the most. In a series that Miami had games shooting 51.6, 54.3, 39.1 and 46.7 percent from deep, the capped things off with 50 percent on 14-of-28. The paint may have been a struggle at teams when Boston locked in, but the threes were always there, especially on the road. Incredible, historic stuff.

Lastly, it turns out Game 6 was the aberration in a series where the team that made more threes and had fewer turnovers, as with Miami going +5 on threes and -3 on giveaways made it so the team that won both categories finished the series 6-1.

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Coup’s Takeaways: Caleb Martin and Jimmy Butler Punch Miami’s Ticket To NBA Finals With Game 7 Road Victory

1. The first two quarters of this one qualified as an incredible feat of damage control.

It’s never surprising to see somewhat muddy offense in the opening minutes of such a high-leverage game such as this one. That’s normal. But slowly, Boston pulled themselves out of that muck, transitioning their offense from requiring mid-range makes to getting into the paint at a rate higher than Miami has allowed since Game 1. Things took a little longer on Miami’s side, never quite looking like the best version of themselves but getting enough shots to fall to stay within striking range.

With Jayson Tatum (31 points on 21 shots) hitting from everywhere but behind the arc, the Celtics were up by as much as 11 but only four at the break for one reason and one reason only – Miami shot 9-of-15 from three. Many of those were good looks as the Celtics miscommunicated some coverages and left shooters open, but makes are makes and with Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent and Max Strus combining for seven of those nine threes – and Boston 3-of-15 from deep on their own side – the score looked much better than the actual game felt. Credit Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, both struggling to score, with seven combined offensive boards as they found a way to make an impact despite clean opportunities being tough to come by. Miami was proverbially hanging around, but more was going to be required.

Getting into the bonus and drawing a fourth foul on Jaylen Brown early in the third quarter helped, the HEAT still right there, down two or four or two again. The lead ballooned out to 13 at one point and Miami again mitigated the damage, in large part thanks to being in the bonus, getting it down to seven after three. Still right there, with Boston’s offense started to slow down as it often does down the stretch, still staring at the hump from the down slope.

Right over that hump in the fourth, Duncan Robinson making huge plays to get Miami up by one. That was the moment, and almost instantly it was ripped away as the Celtics jumped back up seven within a single minute. Then 10, even as Robinson kept making shots, jumpers and cuts – a 16-5 run in all. Miami wasn’t done, and neither was Butler, pushing his way towards the rim over and over and getting to the line to get right back in it. And then there was another moment, this time Butler getting fouled by Al Horford behind the arc with 2.1 seconds left, down two – and he iced them all. Up one, three seconds left. The NBA Finals were right there, three seconds away.

Boston timeout. Marcus Smart three. A miss. And then there was Derrick White, putting the ball back in as time expired. Boston wins, 104-103. The series goes back to Boston for Game 7.

2. Jimmy Butler (24 points on 21 shots in 47 minutes) was having one of the worst games of his career, at least as far as shooting the ball. Whatever the reasons behind – we do have to credit the Celtics for holding up remarkably well on switches, staying in front of the ball and trying not to foul, and defending as straight up as possible at the rim – he was 3-of-19 at one point in a way we have rarely, if ever, seen from him. That’s the postseason, working out the extremes from everyone in both directions.

But he was still the man they needed him to be in the fourth, even if it wasn’t as aesthetically pleasing as his clutch performances against the Milwaukee Bucks. This was a desperate Butler, doing everything he could in the face of everything going against him. He crashed the glass. He willed himself into the paint. He willed himself to the free-throw line. And he very, very nearly, microscopically nearly, willed Miami to a win on a night, very much like Game 7 last year, when it looked like they weren’t going to.

As the Celtics struggled to close the game once again – Erik Spoelstra made the gutsy call to close those final minutes in zone – Butler found a version of himself that could be what Miami needed. If not for White and the final, fateful ticks of the clock, it would have been enough.

3. Caleb Martin (21 points on 13 shots) continues to be a monster for the HEAT, playing nearly perfect basketball when it comes to what is asked of a mid-usage role player. With the offense looking a little disjointed in the opening minutes, Martin kept the train on the tracks with a number of hard drives, right into contact, and open threes, scoring nine of the HEAT’s first 24 points and 12 in the first quarter on 5-of-6 shooting.

Miami hardly ever runs anything specifically for Martin. In many of the possessions where he makes a play are those where nothing is else working, actions are flattened out and the shot clock is shrinking. That’s been Martin time, and it continued into the third quarter as he kept hitting one big shot after another, saving a Miami offense that looked like it couldn’t get much of anything going at times, and saving the game to that point – with 21 through three – as the main reason the deficit wasn’t far greater.

On the opposite end of that spectrum, having Vincent’s (15 points, 3-of-6 from three) willing hands back in the lineup proved beneficial early in the clock as he’s been hitting early jumpers and making early drives when the coverage allows it since the Milwaukee series. Miami isn’t anywhere close at the end if Vincent and Martin aren’t helping them along to a 47 percent night from three.

The win conditions all series have been threes and turnovers. Miami won both those categories with room to spare, hitting seven more threes and committing seven fewer turnovers. They just weren’t the win conditions tonight.

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Coup’s Takeaways: White’s Last-Second Putback Sends Series Back To Boston For Game 7

1. You couldn’t have scripted a much worse start for Miami in their second attempt at closing this series out.

On the very first possession of the game, Boston sent help on a Bam Adebayo isolation – something they’ve often been reticent to do – forced a turnover and scored in transition. A couple minutes later, with Marcus Smart hitting back-to-back threes, it was already 15-5 Celtics. It didn’t get much better from there – Boston making the plays in the margins, forcing turnovers and grabbing offensive boards, and in the body of the text, shooting 11-of-26 from three in the first half. For a brief moment the HEAT got the lead down to 12, Erik Spoelstra changing the rhythm of the game by toggling to zone, with a few minutes left in the half to continue chipping away, but a minute later it ballooned out to 20. By the break the deficit was 17, still manageable but not quite as manageable as he could have been.

About the same in the third quarter. Even as the HEAT shot the ball pretty well from everywhere, the turnovers were anchoring their offense far below Boston’s efficiency on a night when the home team was capitalizing on all their opportunities from the arc. Every time Miami strung together a couple makes together, the Celtics would answer with their own run and keep the lead in the upper teens if not low 20’s.

Boston – with four starters over 20 points as they finished 41 percent from three – takes this one decisively, 110-97, and the best you can say about the end is that Miami’s bench players, playing five-out with Kevin Love at center, at least forced Boston’s top guys to play out most of the fourth quarter until the deeper roster players came in with three minutes to play. Game 6 is Saturday as Miami gets another chance to close this out.

2. It’s impossible to talk about this game without talking about the turnovers, as the HEAT finished with 16 giveaways, most of which came in the first three quarters while all of the main cast was still on the floor. Miami finished with a below-average Offensive Rating, 111.6, despite shooting well – albeit with depressed three-point volume as Boston closed out aggressively and with discipline – and it all comes down to them not getting a shot up on over a fifth of their possessions during the night’s competitive minutes.

Some context here is needed. The Celtics don’t force a lot of turnovers in part because they haven’t designed their defense to do so. They have so many good one-one-one defenders, and one elite help defender in Rob Williams, that they can switch, flatten out your actions and rely on being able to force tough shots and play off misses. As such, they generally don’t help unless they need to, and historically against Miami they’ve been happy to play guys like Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo mostly straight up. Now, in Game 1 the Celtics overcorrected and brought deliberate, obvious and often unnecessary – when the attacker had already picked up their dribble – help which led to a number of good threes for Miami. In Games 2 and 3, they got back to their foundation a bit but Miami’s role players were able to punish them – especially Caleb Martin when Williams helped off of him.

Miami’s turnover issues in the second half of Game 4 and first three quarters of Game 5 haven’t been random, however. Boston has turned up their aggression, not sending obvious doubles but playing the gaps and swarming in the paint as they swiped at the ball to shake it loose. It many ways, they defended like Miami likes to defend, and as such 16 of the HEAT’s turnovers – ten combined from Adebayo and Lowry – were Boston steals, live-ball mistakes that turned into 27 points going the other way. At its best, that style of defense is incredibly difficult to read and decipher, which is why Miami has so favored it no matter what style of coverage they’re in. Now the HEAT know what’s coming, even if it’s always coming from a different angle, and it’s their move to adjust.

3. There are a few positives from this one. First, the zone continued to get Boston a little out of rhythm. It wasn’t a panacea by any means, but all series it’s been the stronger coverage when compared to Miami’s man-to-man in the half-court. The Celtics were still able to generate pretty good threes against that coverage, and the more they see of it the more comfortable they seem to get screening the wings and getting into the paint, but at the very least it slows the game down and forces Boston to work deeper into the shot clock.

Second, Haywood Highsmith was ready for the moment. With Gabe Vincent out due to an ankle sprain, Miami was going to need another body who could hold up on both ends of the court and Highsmith, as he often has been this year, stepped up – playing so well that Spoelstra started him in the place of Kevin Love in the second half. Highsmith again showed himself capable of handling one of the top two spots in the zone, flanking Caleb Martin as Vincent always does, as well as getting stops against elite scorers, even coming up with a steal on Tatum. Throw in a quick-trigger corner three and a couple decisive moves in the paint and the HEAT have to feel good about Highsmith moving forward.

Lastly, Duncan Robinson – not to mention Martin, who has been great all series – continued to cook. Boston goes after him on the other end, but Robinson is in the game to shoot the ball and space the floor and he’s checking every box, stayed composed when he gets downhill after being run off the line and even flashing his off-the-dribble game against switches.