It has been a constant in this NBA postseason: The Heat dig deep holes for themselves, look all but beaten, and find a way to prevail anyway, as if they are challenging themselves by upping the degree of difficulty. They have earned the nickname, the “Zombie Heat,” for their refusal to go away, no matter how often they seem to be dead.
Entering Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Nuggets on Wednesday night, Miami had won four times in nine contests after entering the fourth quarter trailing by eight points or more. The rest of the league was 1-41.
The Heat rallied from 14 points down to eliminate the Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. They twice came back from 15-point, second-half deficits as they upset the top-seeded Bucks in the opening round. They bedeviled the Celtics at the start of the Eastern Conference finals in the same exact fashion. They had won seven times this postseason when trailing by 12 or more points
But there wasn’t any of the South Beach magic on Wednesday night. The Nuggets built a big lead and never looked back. They didn’t wilt. They were dominant for the final three quarters, a reminder they entered this series heavy favorites to win their first NBA crown and remain that way after a one-sided 109-94 victory gave them a 2-1 series lead.
In many ways, the Heat’s secret recipe on their way to joining the 1999 Knicks as the second No. 8 seed to ever reach the finals was simple: the ability not only to rally, but also to come all the way back, get on a roll after poor starts and keep coming until the final horn. During these playoffs, the Heat have outscored opponents by a whopping 18.2 points in the fourth quarter per 100 possessions while allowing only 103.1 points by the same metric.
The Nuggets are a different animal. Sure, Miami turned an eight-point deficit into a Game 2 victory Sunday night to hand Denver its first home loss this postseason. It’s not going to happen three more times. Denver was dominant in Game 1, the better team for the first three quarters in Game 2 and overwhelmed Miami at Kaseya Center in Game 3 to retake the series lead. The Nuggets are 11-0 in the playoffs when ahead by double figures and 37-1 this year when leading by eight points entering the fourth quarter.
“We were more locked in, more focused,” superstar center Nikola Jokic said.
Coach Mike Malone said he felt this was his team’s best game of this series — led by their two biggest stars, Jokic and Jamal Murray. They became just the second pair of teammates to each have 25 points and 10 assists in the same NBA Finals game, joining Magic Johnson and James Worthy, who did it for the Lakers in 1987. They also became the first duo from the same team to produce 30-point triple-doubles in the same game, regular season or playoffs.
“By far, their greatest performance as a duo in their seven years together,” Malone said.
The Western Conference powerhouse is different from the Heat’s first three playoff victims, and it showed in how well the Nuggets played in such a pressure-filled environment. Unlike the Bucks, who played most of three games without two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Nuggets are healthy. They also are vastly superior to the Knicks, who weren’t even supposed to win a playoff series, and much more consistent than the frenetic and unpredictable Celtics.
The Nuggets looked like a team that has learned its lesson. Maybe they somewhat overlooked Miami in that Game 2 fourth quarter. That didn’t happen Wednesday night. They limited the Heat’s runs, and never really had to sweat the final quarter when their lead never fell below nine.
The series is far from over. It would be foolish to doubt Miami after all it has accomplished since surviving the play-in round. A win Friday night would make it anyone’s series again.
But the Heat aren’t going to win this series coming from behind as they have so often the last two months. They aren’t going to be able to pull off three more miracles. The Nuggets are too good for that — the NBA leader this postseason in offensive rating and net rating (points a team outscores the opposition by per 100 possessions) by a wide margin at 119.3 and plus-7.9, respectively.
“We’ve got to come out with more energy and effort and that’s correctable,” the Heat’s star wing, Jimmy Butler, said. “That’s on us as a group.”
It’s going to take complete games instead of wild comebacks. The “Zombie Heat” act isn’t going to get the better of the Nuggets. Miami needs a new formula to complete a magical run.