The Heat erase an 8-point deficit in Game 2 of the NBA Finals by shooting 68.8% from the field in the 4th quarter.
The Miami Heat continue to defy the odds.
The NBA Finals are tied at one game apiece after the Heat escaped with a 111-108 victory over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 on Sunday.
Here are five numbers to know from the Nuggets’ first home loss in these playoffs …
189.5 — The Heat scored 36 points on just *19 possessions (a rate of 189.5 per 100) in the fourth quarter.
That’s the most efficient fourth quarter for any team in any game in the last two seasons (2,640 total games X two teams each). In danger of falling into an 0-2 hole, the Heat trailed by eight with 12 minutes left … and then came up with their best offensive quarter of the season.
It started with a pretty good defensive possession from the Nuggets. But with five seconds left on the shot clock, Duncan Robinson side-stepped a Jamal Murray close-out and drained a pull-up 3. Then Robinson got a five-point possession because Kyle Lowry was able to bully Jeff Green under the basket on a free-throw rebound. The Heat scored 17 points on their first six trips down the floor in the fourth and then, after a two-possession drought, had four straight three-point possessions: A Jimmy Butler 3, a Butler three-point play, three free throws from Kyle Lowry after Kentavious Caldwell-Pope fouled him on a long 3, and a Bam Adebayo three-point play when Michael Porter Jr. was late with weak-side help.
The Heat played incredibly well, but the Nuggets helped them with defensive mistakes. They made a run themselves, scoring 15 points over six possessions down the stretch, but Murray’s last-second shot for the tie was off the mark.
* Official numbers have the Heat with 36 points on 20 possessions (180.0 per 100) in the fourth. That’s because the last half a second (after Caleb Martin rebounded Murray’s shot for the tie) got counted as a possession.
48.6% — The Heat shot 17-for-35 (48.6%) from 3-point range.
This was the sixth time in these playoffs that the Heat have shot 48.5% or better from beyond the arc in the playoffs. They did that three times in the regular season.
It was a group effort, with seven of the 10 Heat players who played on Thursday making at least one 3-pointer. Six of those seven made two or more. Max Strus was 0-for-9 from beyond the arc in Game 1 and proceeded to drain two 3s in the first three minutes of Game 2. (Both came via switch confusion on the Nuggets’ part.)
The Heat continue to lead the playoffs in overall 3-point percentage at 39.2%, up from 34.4% (27th) in the regular season. That’s the biggest jump ever for a team with at least 250 3-point attempts in the playoffs (149 teams total).
Ice cold in Game 1, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent knock down 8 of Miami’s 17 3-pointers in Game 2.
36 — The Heat have played 36 possessions of zone through the first two games, according to Synergy tracking.
After the zone defense was a big factor in the Eastern Conference Finals, it was fair to wonder if the Heat could use it against the Nuggets, who have a zone-busting center and ranked second in zone offense in the regular season. But the Heat have utilized it a decent amount in the series thus far.
The Nuggets have been slightly more efficient against the zone (1.08 points per possession) than they have against half-court man-to-man defense (1.06) in the series. But the zone has allowed the Heat to both protect Robinson defensively and slow things down. Game 2 (86.5 possessions per team) was the Nuggets’ slowest-paced game of the postseason and the second slowest-paced game of these playoffs overall.
4 — Nikola Jokic had just four assists in Game 2.
That was his lowest total in the playoffs and tied for his third lowest total all season (86 total games). Even when Cody Zeller was getting cooked in the post, the Heat didn’t send much help. So the two-time MVP was a little less of passer than he usually is.
But that really wasn’t the story here. Though he doesn’t shoot a lot of 3s, Jokic is, basically, the most efficient high-volume scorer in the league. On Sunday, he scored 41 points in a little less than 42 minutes, shooting 16-for-28 from the field and 7-for-8 from the line. And while his assist total was low, the Nuggets scored more efficiently in Game 2 (1.24 points per possession) than they did in Game 1 (1.12).
Nikola Jokic became the 14th different player in NBA history to score at least 41 in a Finals loss.
+20 — The Heat’s starting lineup outscored the Nuggets by 20 points in its 21.9 minutes.
Kevin Love had been DNP’d the last three games, but was back in the starting lineup on Sunday, sending Caleb Martin back to the bench. The move worked for the Heat, who got off to a 10-2 start in the first quarter and also scored 13 points on their first five possessions of the third. Love shot just 2-for-9 but grabbed 10 rebounds (three offensive) and registered a plus-18 in his 22:13.
Martin has been dealing with an illness, but was on the floor (instead of Love) for all of that ridiculously efficient fourth quarter and hit one of the biggest shots of the night, a corner 3 that gave Miami a 12-point lead with less than four minutes left.
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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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