The Miami Heat get game 2 in Denver.

Gabe Vincent stays steady, Max Strus punches early, Duncan Robinson punches late, Bam Adebayo controls throughout on both ends.

Takeaways from this one…

#1: Gabe Vincent and Max Strus come out swinging.

As the Heat start the game, their offense was simple. As Gabe Vincent waits for the screener to come up to the top of the key, he flows right into his spot in the pull-up against drop, cashing it. As for Max Strus who was coming off an atrocious shooting game, it was all about the defense reacting to Jimmy Butler. Butler has the ball, Strus slips the screen, wide open corner three. Repeat and repeat and repeat. This was pretty much the sum up of game 1: the looks were there yet they couldn’t capitalize. But when talking about the two guys up for contract in the off-season, they came out swinging and took advantage. The only issue occurred when they exited, since the gameplan fell apart, which I’ll get into next…

#2: The non-Jokic minutes drop-off for the Heat.

All of the talk in this series is about how to handle the Nikola Jokic minutes if you are Miami. Yet that wasn’t the Heat’s first half concern: the non-Jokic minutes ended up being that. There are a few different reasons for this, but I’ll start with the offensive side. As the Nuggets flow into their smaller lineup, that means they rely on full switching which ultimately flattened out much of Miami’s looks. Those pull-ups for Vincent to start were no longer there for others. Yet with that said, guys like Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson just seemed lost with their offensive role in the opening half. Turnovers, bad shots: that turned the game around in Denver’s favor. Well, that’s how the Nuggets fell into their offense during this stretch since they controlled pace. An odd development to say the least.

#3: The main adjustments…

To take a second away from the evaluation part of that opening half, I must also note the primary adjustments we saw. The obvious one included Kevin Love stepping into the starting lineup, but it wasn’t for the exact reason that everybody thought. Yes it provided the necessary size that Denver attacked to open game 1, but he wasn’t getting the Nikola Jokic matchup as an innings eater. As I said before the game, it felt like the defensive opening was clear. Love can help off Aaron Gordon, Bam Adebayo stays put on Jokic, and Jimmy Butler up-shifts to Jamal Murray. Throw Butler and Bam at the Jokic-Murray two man game to see how they react. Credit to Love who did a really good job in that range out the gates. Even with him playing, we still saw the Cody Zeller minutes as a surprise. Another ugly stretch again, so that needs to be the next adjustment: it may not be as simple as not playing him since they don’t want to go zone against him, but they need an alternative. It’s the Finals, so it’s time for Spo to throw out every last card…

#4: Cody Zeller. Let’s talk about it.

As I mentioned the next adjustment, one of them has to include cutting the small portion of minutes from Cody Zeller all the way down to zero. They were rough in the Boston Celtics series, and they didn’t even have a MVP level center that he had to face 1-on-1. Watching this innings eater for the Heat, it’s eating into the Heat’s production. Defensive liability, non-factor offensively, and somebody that is involved in every action for one reason or another on either end. Obviously he’s high usage defensively guarding Jokic, but they need his screening to bring Jokic into action on the other end. The point is this: this is now the NBA Finals, there’s no time for digging their way out of awful +/- numbers every single game. Bam Adebayo’s impact jumps off the page, but it’s time to cut this out completely. They don’t want to go zone against Jokic so they match with size, but now if they’re starting Love, it’s time to rotate him back as their backup 5 for a stint.

#5: The fourth quarter…

As the Heat open the fourth quarter down 8, they needed somebody to breakthrough. And well, Duncan Robinson answered the call. Shot fake on a three as he steps aside for the open look. Next time down, he takes a strong baseline drive off the dribble, and converts an and 1 at the rim. Foul on the ground on the free throw means Heat ball, Robinson holds the ball on the deep right wing, before pulling it and knocking down another. 8 points in about a minute of time. He draws 2 on a cut shortly after, as Vincent sits freely on the left wing for three. Heat get a stop, walk down on offense, Bam hits Duncan on a curl and he converts the tough lay at the rim. Mean mug, flex, and more. Heat go up 3. Minutes later, Butler enters the game after an outstanding stretch without him, and immediately turns the ball over recklessly. With worry of the game slipping, he follows that up with a tough spot-up three in the left corner, and a baseline push shot for the and-1. Big stretch. Lowry takes control of the next stretch as he gets fouled on a three, and simply controls the offense through and through. Pocket passes would be crucial, and he stepped up. Denver didn’t go away late, as they rallied back behind Jamal Murray to cut it to 3 under a minute to go. Yet the Heat escape.

Two best words in sports: game 7?

Wrong, it’s “Caleb Martin.”

History was indeed made tonight, and it’s that an 8 seed is walking into the NBA Finals.

Takeaways…

#1: Heat come out with a defensive plan.

As the Heat walk into TD Garden in game 7, they needed something from their three best players: Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Erik Spoelstra. And Spo set those other two up early. Jayson Tatum got hurt to start this game, leaving him off ball many possessions. The Heat’s defense was full-out soft switching every screen, as they were daring them to work through the mismatches. Boston would force passes, Miami would swarm passing lanes, and turnovers were forced. A 15 point first quarter for this Celtics team that started the year with a historic offense? Yeah, it was needed. They shifted into the 2-3 zone to start the second quarter, and it was just as successful by forcing the shots they wanted. Miami’s defense came to play early.

#2: The role guys “rolling” with the punches.

As I mention the shift into zone in that second quarter, that was formed around the role guys beginning with new rotation piece Haywood Highsmith. He forced an immediate turnover and got a bucket on the other end. The offense took control from there with a Kyle Lowry pull-up, Duncan Robinson back-cuts, and well, Caleb Martin everything. This series started with Martin reacting to what the Celtics threw at him, and now they’re reacting to the combos he’s throwing at them. Capitalizing on spot-ups, controlling the pace, and simply hitting tough iso shots that he self creates. Just big time stuff in that first half. He also was rebounding at an extremely high level, which was needed due to the soft switching. It may flatten things out, but you are vulnerable on offensive boards following mismatches. Martin continues to step up.

#3: The first half Jimmy Butler ride.

Walking into this game, the expectation was clear across the board: Jimmy Butler has to set the tone for this game to matter. And well, he didn’t set the tone…and it didn’t matter. He was still utilizing that pump fake and wasn’t getting to his spots, but as I said before, the defense stepping up put them in a position to stay in it. As for Butler, he drove baseline mid-way through that first quarter, stopped before the right box, and pulled right into the jumper. That was the adjustment, yet he wasn’t consistently in that mind frame. Shortly after, he mixed in a hesi into an attack instead of the shot fake, which was another good sign. But with all of that said, his offensive first half was not loud or controlled by any means. It was a roller coaster depending on the possession, but the offense was still extremely smooth in the half-court. And to start the third, we entered “setting the tone” Butler time. An immediate pull-up three into a catch and attack for a floater, forcing a Celtics timeout. Yeah, an experience.

#4: Bam Adebayo seeing flashbacks…

As the Celtics made their third quarter run with the Heat’s offense running out of gas seemingly, the blame rested on an action revolving around their two stars. Butler-Adebayo pick and roll, Boston switches it with length on Butler and mismatch on Bam, and down went production. Butler continued to have trouble getting to those spots at all, and well, they began relying on the weakness to attack: Bam Adebayo. This was a flashback of exactly a year ago in game 7, as Boston forced Bam to put his back to the basket. So Miami went to it in the third, and he couldn’t convert: again and again. The fall back plan ended up being the role guys yet again, but that’s a problem that can’t be overlooked. Teams now have the book on him with the correct personnel with this exact coverage, and man can it hurt the offense if Martin isn’t casually converted into Michael Jordan 2.0 at the same time.

#5: Fourth quarter business…onto the NBA Finals.

My Butler take heading all the way into game 7: “setting a tone.” And well, he didn’t do it to start the game, but he did it to start the fourth. After the Martin heroics push the lead, Butler wasn’t letting his group let up. Knocks down a middy, pokes the ball free for the steal, and flows right into a transition dunk. Good punch. To sustain the distance, Duncan Robinson hits a leaning left corner triple, Kyle Lowry buries a late shot clock pull-up heave, and Bam Adebayo found a flow. All of a sudden, the tides were turning. With 6 minutes left, Robinson dives for another back-cut with the dish from Bam, and the Heat now lead 94-73 in that building. The 8 seeded Miami Heat have found themselves in the NBA Finals. All the talk about witnessing history tonight, and we did just that. Defeating the odds of a momentum filled Celtics team and landing themselves at their final destination. History indeed.

Back to Miami we go.

An embarrassing performance in game 5 by the Heat puts some pressure on them in game 6 at the Kaseya Center.

But first, we need to address tonight:

Some takeaways….

#1: Butler, Bam, Lowry: let’s talk…

Jimmy Butler: 2 for 7 from the field. Bam Adebayo: 3 for 9 from the field with 4 turnovers. Kyle Lowry: 3 turnovers. Those were some of the key first half numbers in a pivotal game 5 in TD Garden. Their best players were not their best players, and it’s really that simple. Butler has been a tone setter for a while for this team, and he completely looked out of it and disjointed. Plus he’s what makes this entire Heat offense run at the moment, so if he doesn’t have it, they won’t have it. Bam Adebayo was just as careless with the basketball as humanly possible, continually bringing the ball down to the floor for easy strips. He just was totally out of sorts and matchups were stumping him. And lastly, in a game without any ball-handler, they needed a big one from Kyle Lowry. Those 3 turnovers didn’t even tell the story, since his lack of aggression on pull-ups was major. A tough first half but harder to look past these 3 over the first 24 minutes.

#2: Turnovers and offensive rebounds…

To continue on that first half, the efficiency was surprisingly not the problem for the Heat’s offense, as it settled in around 50% for a majority of that time-frame. Instead, it was the turnover problem behind Adebayo and Lowry. They couldn’t seem to gain control to get into their usual actions, and that quickly bled into the defense much like in game 4. Bad shots equal an inability to settle into half-court defense. That is how the Celtics made their initial three point punch to start the game, as they played at a much faster pace. Now down to the defensive end, the offensive boards kept getting the Celtics extra and better looks from deep. When a team has that many extra opportunities, especially at home when playing into the crowd, it just hurts. Those two elements tied in very closely.

#3: Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson trying to hold it together.

To get away from what went wrong for a second, let’s talk about the guys who kept them in the mix for large stretches. Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin had close to half of Miami’s first half points, which says a lot. Martin continues to be the stable piece of this team, as he just keeps reacting to his individual defender. Taking triples, manipulating close-outs into attacks, and playing as strong on-ball as he possibly could. Duncan Robinson also found a rhythm inside in a certain lineup around 4 defenders, Butler-Martin-Highsmith-Bam, since the back-cut seemed to still be alive. Robinson was going to be crucial for this offense without the abundance of guards, since his action with Bam is a walking, living hub in the half-court. They played their role to perfection, yet still trailed by 17 heading into the third quarter.

#4: Two primary adjustments on the Celtics side.

So, as I sit here talking about the players for Miami not playing at the level that you would hope, the next question we should pose is ‘why is it happening?’ And well, I have some thoughts. Two main adjustments have been made by Boston, and the first one pertains to Jimmy Butler. It’s nothing matchup wise since he’s still getting the same switches, but instead the ways they’re reacting to him on-ball. They are not biting on pump fakes at all from him. He relies on positional shots after getting to his spots, and he usually manipulates his defender in the mid-range by getting them out of position. Tonight, they weren’t budging. Staying down on shot fakes was a clear focus. Now the second adjustment was even clearer, and it surrounded Bam Adebayo. Something they’ve done going back to last year is give up “mismatches” for him down low, due to the fact they want him to post-up. They feel that doesn’t equal good offense for Miami, and they’re probably right with his discomfort with his back to the basket. They’ll just send some help, knowing he will probably bring the ball low as I mentioned at the top of this piece. They would swipe and bother him, leading to all the turnovers. Boston adjusted and got to Miami. Now Spo and company needs to throw a haymaker back.

#5: So, what’s next?

All eyes on Saturday night. From up 3-0 to up 3-2, feels like a major chunk of this season comes down to taking care of business in their home building in game 6. The Heat desperately need to re-group after what we saw in game 5, which was a team with no identity and zero control or comfort on either end. They looked lost, and that needs to change. Playing into the momentum of a home crowd could help that, but they simply need their best guys to be just that. Not just Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, but Erik Spoelstra as well. If the Heat want to win, it’s probably going to need to be an Erik Spoelstra masterclass. Adjustments will need to be flying, and that started tonight by playing Haywood Highsmith. Yet offensively, they need a new wrinkle in the half-court, and Spoelstra has continually showed in the past he holds something back. We will see what that is, but those three headlining pieces are going to need to mutually come to play in 48 hours.