The Miami Heat lost their fourth straight game, falling 100-88 to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night at the Kaseya Center.
Miami played Denver close, and with a strong third quarter from Bam Adebayo highlighted by a three-pointer, the Heat found themselves in a close game, trailing 72-71 early in the fourth quarter. .
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– Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) March 14, 2024
With Nikola Jokic on the bench to start the fourth and Jimmy Butler, the Heat had a great opportunity to take control of the game. Instead, Denver’s role players led the charge and the Nuggets left the Heat in the dust.
Since these teams met in the 2023 Finals, one constant has been the Heat’s offense failing to capitalize on its elite defensive effort against Denver. As they did in previous matchups, the Heat managed to slow down the Nuggets’ high-powered offense and Adebayo held Jokic to just 12 points.
But with two elite shooters, Jokic and Jamal Murray, as well as shooters Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Michael Porter Jr. (who once again burned the Heat with 25 points), there will be times when good defense n It won’t matter. Miami needs to find ways to string together possessions against elite teams like the Nuggets, and that starts with Jimmy Butler.
When facing Denver, Butler has his moments where he finds mismatch, but Denver’s size at each position can cause problems.
In this case, Butler had the chance to get a game back within his reach. With Butler in the game facing a one-point deficit to start the fourth quarter and Jokic on the bench, the Heat star missed both of his shot attempts and came up on another under the basket (resulting in a missed attempt by Patty Mills from the corner). ). The Heat were outscored 13-9 in non-Jokic minutes – a killer against the most dominant player in the league.
Butler finished with a disappointing 16 points on 5-for-15 shooting.
In an interview on Gilbert Arenas’ podcast, “Gil Arena“, Andre Iguodala, former Miami Heat forward, mentioned that Jimmy Butler had a similar mentality to Kobe Bryant.
“Jimmy will find a way for us to win. I’ve never seen such will,” Iguodala said. “This guy has a Kobe Bryant will.”
Time and time again, Butler has shown he can put on legendary performances when the stakes are highest, but Butler has yet to crack the code against Denver. In his last five matches against against the Nuggets (including the Finals), Butler has only one game in which he shot over 50%.
The path to a championship runs through one or both of the Nuggets and Boston Celtics (who also have length and several elite on-ball defenders). Unless they become the best three-point shooting team In the playoffs, the Heat need to find ways to score at a higher rate, and that starts with their leader, Butler.
