The Miami Heat trailed the Denver Nuggets by 16 points after the first half, but they kept fighting and reduced the deficit to two points in the final seconds of the NBA Finals.
Unfortunately, even after an ankle injury sidelined Jamal Murray in the second half, too many mistakes on both sides kept the Heat at bay and they lost 103-97 in Denver on Thursday night.
The Miami Heat had chances to seize the moment, but left several opportunities on the table.
The Heat were down by five points at halftime and immediately came close to tying the game, as Jimmy Butler hit a three-pointer in the first possession. But the Nuggets answered with seven consecutive points, five by Michael Porter Jr, who bullied Miami and finished with 30 points.
After falling behind by nine points, the Nuggets immediately struck back and trailed by just two points after Terry Rozier grabbed Porter and hit his only three of the game in the corner.
Soon after, the Fever were down by four points and Duncan Robinson hit a three from the left corner in the same spot as Rozier, but missed, leading to Butler fouling Aaron Gordon at the basket. His free throws extended the lead to six points. Porter then broke loose again and scored seven consecutive points for the Nuggets, and Miami cut it to 78-65 in the blink of an eye on a Christian Braun pass.
The deficit widened further in the fourth quarter when Justin Holiday hit a three from the corner to extend Denver’s lead to 16 points, but Miami made one last push with 2:53 left in the game. After a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope three-pointer that would be the final for the Nuggets, who led 97-87, Bam Adebayo and Terry Rozier combined to score the next eight points for the Heat with a combination of tough mid-range shots and back-and-forth play, with Adebayo scoring the basket on a pass from Rozier after a tough Adebayo layup.
After Adebayo’s floater cut it to 99:95, the Nuggets got an offensive foul on their next possession as Nikola Jokic was fouled for foul defense. Miami got the ball back with 39.2 minutes left, but an unfortunate foul ensued, ending with Rozier’s air ball from behind the hoop.
Rozier began to find a rhythm, but was most effective in the mid-range and around the basket, shooting 5-for-7 from the 2 but just 1-for-8 from 3. He made four of those shots from midcourt. Butler brought the Heat within two points after a layup, but Jokic made two free throws with 6.1 seconds left to seal the game.
In this final game, the Heat defense kept the game close and did a good job with Jokic, who scored only 18 points on 15 shot attempts. But when it came to tying the game or going on offense that could have turned the game around, Vročica couldn’t get over the line.