2023 NBA Finals, Game 2: Heat @ Nuggets, 6/4 @ 8:00pm

[QUIZ]

I feel like we figured out some things defensively in that second half. Probably should play some more Highsmith going forward and if Love isn’t injured, he should be out back up 5.

Jokic drops so far down in the paint in the PnR vs everyone but Duncan. He came up to the level vs Strus once or twice but stopped once Strus started bricking.

Those pull up looks will be there all series. Hitting all those is how we beat the Bucks. If we’re gonna shoot poorly all series then we won’t have much of a shot.

Strus has quietly been bad for like 4 or 5 games now. Hoping he recovers…

[AirP.]

Watch on YouTube

[3ballbomber]

Better acclimated w/ more legs under us. Let's see if we miss the same 15 wide open shots. . .

[Flash4thewin]

Better acclimated w/ more legs under us. Let's see if we miss the same 15 wide open shots. . .

We all know this team. They are perfectly capable of missing 20 wide open shots. Lets not tempt faith ok...

[contract]

Strus has quietly been bad for like 4 or 5 games now. Hoping he recovers…

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Can we ban or censor the word “altitude”?

[QUIZ]

Gabe was 5/10 from three, Lowry was 3/6.

Those wide open pull ups will be there all series.

[Shewasfly]

Wiretap says Tyler may come back game 2? Has anybody even seen this boy practice or shoot around?

I'm all for him coming back sooner rather than later to quickly try to work the rust off, but the truth is it won't be on him. Strus needs to shake out of his slump and Duncan needs to get out of his head. He had a shot so horrible last night it almost broke the backboard. Our shooters will have to consistently make shots to force them to adjust their defense when Jokic is on the floor.

[Bishop45]

Wiretap says Tyler may come back game 2? Has anybody even seen this boy practice or shoot around?

I'm all for him coming back sooner rather than later to quickly try to work the rust off, but the truth is it won't be on him. Strus needs to shake out of his slump and Duncan needs to get out of his head. He had a shot so horrible last night it almost broke the backboard. Our shooters will have to consistently make shots to force them to adjust their defense when Jokic is on the floor.

Love needs some of Strus's mins in the meantime

[Bishop45]

Read on Twitter

[Rapaz]

▪ TNT’s/NBA TV’s Charles Barkley: “I might break out Kevin Love for two reasons. You’ve got six fouls. He can get hot from three-point range. Joker [Nikola Jokic] has got to guard Kevin out to that three-point line; that might open things up for everybody else.”

Love hasn’t played in the Heat’s past three games.

“Bam Adebayo is so small that he would get in foul trouble if they let him play Joker 1-on-1 all night,” Barkley said. “If they had two or three big guys who could beat the hell out of [Jokic],” that would help.

Barkley said he would play the 6-8 Love alongside 6-9 Adebayo, a starting power rotation tandem that the Heat used from Game 3 of the first round against Milwaukee through Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against Boston.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra replaced Love with the 6-5 Caleb Martin to open Games 6 and 7 of the Celtics series because Boston was using a smaller starting group.

And Spoelstra stuck with Martin as a starter in Game 1 against Denver, despite his three-inch height disadvantage against Nuggets power forward Aaron Gordon.

In the wake of the Heat shooting 33 percent on threes (13 for 39) in Game 1 on Thursday, Barkley said: “We’ve been bragging the last two weeks about how great they’ve been shooting threes. [But] when you miss them, you have to have a Plan B. Maybe go to the basket a little more.

“Max Strus is one of my favorite players; he was 0 for 9 [on threes]. He’s not going to have another game like that in his lifetime. I am going to give them a pass [for Game 1] for having a grueling seven-game series [against Boston].

“I don’t think they can beat the Nuggets, but I’m not going to overreact to one game. That series against the Celtics was emotional.”

But Barkley said “the only chance” the Heat has “got is if Tyler Herro comes back sooner than later. You are going to have to score. Herro is a really good 1-on-1 player. I would bring him off the bench with Kyle Lowry. They play a lot faster with Lowry in the game.”

▪ TNT/NBA TV’s Grant Hill: “Jimmy Butler is going to have to take more than 14 shots. You are going to have to have a superhuman performance. Adebayo is not drawing fouls; he’s a jump shooter.”

Hill said the Nuggets were smart in “putting Aaron Gordon on Butler because [Butler] can’t outmuscle [Gordon] in the paint where Butler likes to operate. Miami has got to make changes in how they attack offensively, have to have more diversity.”

▪ TNT/NBA TV’s Shaquille O’Neal: “You need more ball pressure on Jokic. He’s standing out there and picking them apart.”

▪ ESPN’s Tim Legler: “Denver can break you down so simply by giving the ball to one player [Jokic] and let him figure it out. If you want to play him straight up, he’ll shoot over Bam all night long. If you want to send some traffic his way, he will make the right decision and empower his team.”

▪ ESPN’s JJ Redick: “Butler had the least amount of drives he had all season. He’s got to be aggressive the same way he was aggressive in Game 7. If I’m the Heat, I’m taking a page out of what they did against the Knicks in the second round when they relentlessly targeted Jalen Brunson. There is cumulative effect to attacking smaller players. [Miami has] got to [find a way to] get Jamal Murray on Jimmy Butler.”

ESPN’s Jay Williams[, a notorious dumbass]: “Nobody can tell me [that Game 1] didn’t give me that vibe of a JV team versus a varsity team physicality wise.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article275725266.html

[eddieheatfan]

Watch on YouTube

[Flash4thewin]

Wiretap says Tyler may come back game 2? Has anybody even seen this boy practice or shoot around?

I'm all for him coming back sooner rather than later to quickly try to work the rust off, but the truth is it won't be on him. Strus needs to shake out of his slump and Duncan needs to get out of his head. He had a shot so horrible last night it almost broke the backboard. Our shooters will have to consistently make shots to force them to adjust their defense when Jokic is on the floor.

Honestly wouldn't it be wiser to bring him back in game 3 at home? Our shooters will play better at home. This is more of a big picture thinking.

[Vertical Limit]

I ran into Michael Doleac’s twitter.. that guy for sure is a poster on realgm… he non stop talks about the Heat lol. Heat lifer

[Grumpy Heat Fan]

We might as well play Herro, give the nuggets something new to look at. Maybe he comes in fired up with good shoooting to be a part of this run. Spo will make the right call, he knows the details with that, but something to think about

[Shewasfly]

Wiretap says Tyler may come back game 2? Has anybody even seen this boy practice or shoot around?

I'm all for him coming back sooner rather than later to quickly try to work the rust off, but the truth is it won't be on him. Strus needs to shake out of his slump and Duncan needs to get out of his head. He had a shot so horrible last night it almost broke the backboard. Our shooters will have to consistently make shots to force them to adjust their defense when Jokic is on the floor.

Honestly wouldn't it be wiser to bring him back in game 3 at home? Our shooters will play better at home. This is more of a big picture thinking.

My thought process is that the sooner he can get back in the mode of competing, the sooner he can possibly contribute positively.

I'd rather him get some reps and start to get comfortable in a game that we can kind of afford to drop, than a must win (which game 3 will be).

I honestly don't see him coming back next game anyway though, so may be a moot point.

[Bishop45]

Watch on YouTube

[Flash4thewin]

Wiretap says Tyler may come back game 2? Has anybody even seen this boy practice or shoot around?

I'm all for him coming back sooner rather than later to quickly try to work the rust off, but the truth is it won't be on him. Strus needs to shake out of his slump and Duncan needs to get out of his head. He had a shot so horrible last night it almost broke the backboard. Our shooters will have to consistently make shots to force them to adjust their defense when Jokic is on the floor.

Honestly wouldn't it be wiser to bring him back in game 3 at home? Our shooters will play better at home. This is more of a big picture thinking.

My thought process is that the sooner he can get back in the mode of competing, the sooner he can possibly contribute positively.

I'd rather him get some reps and start to get comfortable in a game that we can kind of afford to drop, than a must win (which game 3 will be).

I honestly don't see him coming back next game anyway though, so may be a moot point.

It all depends on how ready he is but I also think it's too early. Game 3 should be a win based on our shooters playing better and the addition of the home crowd and Herro returning. No idea about game 2 but im pretty confident we win game 3 at home.

[QUIZ]

Wiretap says Tyler may come back game 2? Has anybody even seen this boy practice or shoot around?

I'm all for him coming back sooner rather than later to quickly try to work the rust off, but the truth is it won't be on him. Strus needs to shake out of his slump and Duncan needs to get out of his head. He had a shot so horrible last night it almost broke the backboard. Our shooters will have to consistently make shots to force them to adjust their defense when Jokic is on the floor.

Windhorst said he saw Herro getting up shots before game 7 in Boston and that he looked good for what it’s worth.

[skywalker33]

Go ahead and put up game 3 insfo. This ones in the books already. Series tied going back to Miami.

Quote-worthy to say the least