DENVER —Observations and other notes of interest from
– So this is what running on fumes looks like?
– Because for as much as he accomplished at the close of this one, imagine if there was just a bit more from Jimmy Butler.
– Because it was needed.
– Because this is how this team is built.
– With Butler to lead.
– And the others to follow.
– For too long, it wasn’t there Monday night.
– And, then, during his 13-point fourth quarter one final reminder of who he is and what he can be,
– Still at times late in this playoff run, the lift appeared lost.
– The burst seemingly had gone bust.
– Oh, the IQ still was there.
– Plays still were being made.
– Attention still was being drawn.
– But there is no No. 2 on this team.
– With all due respect to Bam Adebayo and the effort put together Monday night.
– For four years, basically Butler or bust.
– And, so, the end.
– To a degree, it’s as if the real Jimmy Butler never fully arrived this round.
– Until it was too late.
– In the 2020 Finals, every-last-breath Butler wasn’t enough against the Lakers.
– This time, a few more last gasps could have gotten the Heat to a different finish line.
– Only not.
– The Heat again opened with Adebayo, Kevin Love, Butler, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent.
– The Nuggets again opened with Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jamal Murray.
– The Nuggets were forced into an early substitution with Jeff Green, after Gordon was called for two early fouls.
– Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin then entered as the first two Heat reserves.
– With Duncan Robinson then following after Strus had scored eight of the Heat’s first 19 points.
– Love then returned in what had previously been the Cody Zeller minutes when Adebayo was out.
– It wound up being a tighter eight-man rotation than Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had previously utilized in the series, even with Tyler Herro again available.
– That changed when Martin was called for his third foul, leading to Haywood Highsmith entering in the second quarter.
– Zeller later made his first appearance at the start of the fourth quarter, with Adebayo out.
– It did not go well.
– Butler’s first steal was the 200th of his playoff career.
– Spoelstra cautioned pregame about Herro’s potential role.
– “I’m just going to read the game,” he said. “He is going to be available. I’m not going to disrupt everything initially. It’s not realistic for him to step into the role that he was doing before.”
– The Heat even flew Victor Oladipo out, amid his recovery from knee surgery.
– Herro has been traveling throughout the playoffs, Oladipo had not.
– “He is here just to pour everything into this team,” Spoelstra said pregame of Oladipo, who has several months remaining in his recovery.
– Nuggets coach Michael Malone said pregame that his team entered focused.
– “I think it’s 19 playoff games we’ve played,” Malone said, “and from the lead-in week to the first round against Minnesota and throughout, and today, in our shootaround, our guys have been really locked in, focused, and I think they all fully understand what we have and the opportunity that we have in front of us.”
– Malone downplayed many of the team’s legends being in place for the possible clincher.
– “I haven’t really seen or been able to mingle. I’m not a big mingler. I do my job; I go home,” he said. “But I know for me what is special is when we’re on this journey, I am thankful for Doug Moe and the guys that — players and coaches that were here in the past that have never gotten this far but I know are so proud of what we’ve achieved to this point.”
– He added, “So guys like Doug Moe, Dan Issel, Alex English, David Thompson, you can go on and on about naming all the guys that have worn this jersey or coached this team and done a hell of a job in doing so. But not much mingling to this point. We’ll see what happens.”
