If there’s a path to the championship for Miami after Denver’s convincing Game 1 win in the NBA Finals, it will involve smacking the immaculately synchronized Nuggets out of their rhythm.
Zone defense briefly did the trick in the series-opener.
The underdogs from South Beach narrowed a 24-point deficit to nine late in the fourth quarter Thursday night. That comeback amounted to nothing, but it did offer a glimpse of the version of the Heat that hasn’t folded during this playoff gauntlet.
The Nuggets missed 10 of their first 13 shots in the fourth quarter as Miami went back to a zone defense, which Eric Spoelstra had also deployed earlier in the game.