The Miami Heat put up a total team effort on Sunday night as they took down Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. After losing Game 1, the Heat needed a bounce-back performance in Game 2 to tie the series at 1-1, and Miami delivered just that with a massive 111-108 victory.
No less than five players scored in double-digits for the Heat in this one, with three of them eclipsing the 20-point mark. However, after the game, Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra singled out Bam Adebayo for his huge effort on both ends of the floor:
“Bam, we just can't say enough of how difficult his responsibilities are in this series,” Spoelstra said. “To take arguably the toughest cover in the league for all the myriad of reasons that I don't need to get into, and then he has to shoulder a big offensive role for us, as well. So it's not like he can just stand and rest on the offensive side, and yes, he has to play 40-plus minutes, as well.”
To be fair, Adebayo didn't exactly prevent an offensive explosion from Nikola Jokic, who dropped a game-high 41 points in this one. However, the Nuggets superstar had to work hard for each of those points, and Bam has to take a lot of credit for the same. The Heat also put in a collective effort to prevent Jokic from letting his playmaking prowess influence this game. Miami held the back-to-back MVP to a post-season-low four assists in 42 minutes of action.
As Coach Spoelstra said, Adebayo also stepped it up big time on the offensive end, going off for 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting. It was another massive performance for Bam after his heroics in Game 1, and clearly, the Heat need for him to be at his very best if they want to stand a chance against Nikola Jokic and the mighty Nuggets.
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