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Nuggets 111 - HEAT 107 Game Recap

The Miami HEAT fell to the Denver Nuggets 111-107 Friday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Ray Allen led the way for the HEAT with 22 points, four rebounds and two assists.

 

Impact Performance of the Night: Kenneth Faried continued his very hot March and was an absolute beast on the boards Friday night. Faried finished 9-of-15 shooting for 24 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Whenever he got position on the block, it was pretty much a done deal. Faried fought hard for position down-low and often finished at the rim with ease.

 

For the HEAT, Ray Allen had his best performance in quite a while. Allen found his shooting stroke in the game and was huge in a few runs down the stretch in the fourth quarter. He finished the game 7-of-9 shooting, including 5-of-7 from downtown, for 22 points. He was the catalyst in a 10-3 run in the fourth quarter that cut the Nuggets’ lead to 94-90 with 5:56 left.

 

The Deciding Run: The Nuggets went on a 19-2 run in the second quarter to go up 43-40 with 4:50 left in the half. Evan Fournier was the driving force, as he shot 4-of-8 for 10 points in that quarter. The HEAT were never quite able to overcome that run despite making a rampant comeback in the fourth. Part of that had to do with the Nuggets going on a 10-1 run to start the third as well.

 

After the HEAT fought back with the aforementioned 10-3 run in the fourth thanks to Ray Allen, the Nuggets came right back with a 10-3 run of their own. That was pretty much the theme of the game. The Nuggets had an answer for nearly every HEAT basket.

 

Play of the Game: Ty Lawson stole an errant pass from Shane Battier and threw it ahead to Kenneth Faried who threw it down with one hand to start the second half. The play carried over Denver’s momentum into the third quarter.

 

For the HEAT, Dwyane Wade drove down the baseline and set up Chris Andersen with a perfect wrap-around pass just as he streaked down the lane to finish the slam with 0:39 left in the half. Chris Andersen would end up having a few nice alley-oop dunks as well later in the game that got the crowd going.

 

Another great play came with about 30 seconds to go in the third quarter. Dwyane Wade picked up his dribble and was stuck on the elbow. He then threw the ball off the backboard to himself for the layup.

 

Efficiency Rating: Offensive Efficiency: 103.6; Defensive Efficiency: 108

 

Trend to Watch: Turnovers hindered Miami yet again on Friday night. The HEAT committed 20 turnovers which led to 22 points for the Nuggets. The Nuggets were already converting on a good number of their possessions, but the turnovers made it even harder for the HEAT to come back. Look for Miami to put an emphasis on taking care of the ball with this becoming a problem in the past few games.

 

The Takeaway: The HEAT showed a lot of heart and kept fighting in the fourth quarter when things were looking bleak. Seeing Ray Allen regain his touch was very encouraging and should have HEAT fans looking forward to seeing the old Ray again. Mario Chalmers also picked up his play in the fourth quarter like he did against Brooklyn on Wednesday. If Chalmers can play with that type of urgency to start the game as well, it would pay huge dividends for Miami.

 

The start wasn’t really a problem for the HEAT on Friday though, as LeBron James attacked early and started the game 5-of-5 shooting. In fact, the HEAT had a quick start similar to the Wizards game on Monday before the Nuggets had their huge run in the second quarter. The Nuggets just used their quickness to bring the ball up before the HEAT could get set and it often caught them off guard. All in all, the HEAT just couldn’t get stops when they needed them the most.

 

Notes: Dwyane Wade was very aggressive off the ball in the first quarter and had 10 of his 19 points in the first quarter.

 

Chris Andersen and Michael Beasley played well. Andersen continued his tear on the defensive end and swatted four shots to go along with his 14 points. Beasley had some nice, smart drives to the rack and finished with four points on 2-of-4 shooting.

 

Game Highlights: