In Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Miami Heat’s fourth-quarter comeback defeats the Denver Nuggets.

The Miami Heat evened up the NBA finals on Sunday night by defeating the Denver Nuggets 111-108 in Game 2. Gabe Vincent had 23 points, Jimmy Butler had 21, and Bam Adebayo had 21.

NBA Finals, Miami Heat’s fourth-quarter comeback Denver Nuggets

The Heat, who had a sizable early lead before falling behind by as many as 15, before taking back the lead in the fourth, had Max Strus score 14 points and Duncan Robinson add 10. Miami overcame a deficit of eight points by outscoring Denver 36-25 in the fourth period.

Even then, they had to work hard to eliminate Denver.

Jokic finished with 41 points on 16 of 28 attempts from the field, including a four-footer with 36 seconds left to pull the Nuggets to within three. Denver decided against fouling Miami on the subsequent Miami possession. Jamal Murray missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer with a chance to tie the game after Butler missed a three.

“Our guys love to compete,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said following the game. In those crucial moments, “they love to put themselves out there.”

Vincent was singled out for appreciation by Spoelstra. He’s a unique individual. He praised Vincent, who was undrafted out of college but has excelled in this year’s playoffs, saying, “He truly is.

Aaron Gordon scored 12 points, Bruce Brown scored 11, and Murray had 18 points and 10 assists for Denver. Jokic only had four assists, which is a major decrease from the 14 he had in Game 1.

After the game, Michael Malone, the coach of the Nuggets, expressed his dissatisfaction with several of his players’ performances.

“This is the NBA Finals, and we’re talking about effort,” he remarked. “I am quite concerned about that. When I mentioned we didn’t play well in Game 1, you probably thought I was inventing some sort of plot. However, we did not play well. This is the NBA Finals, not the preseason or regular season. Miami entered this and outperformed us.

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Miami will host Game 3 on Wednesday. Denver had a sizable lead in the playoffs and was 11-0.

Strus scored four three-pointers in the first quarter of Game 2 after going 0 for 10 in Game 1. Butler’s jump shot gave Miami a 21-10 lead with 4:56 remaining in the first quarter, tying the second-largest advantage any opponent had amassed in Denver thus far in these playoffs.

It vanished in an instant and then some.

Over the course of the following nine minutes, the Nuggets outscored Miami 32-11, turning a double-digit deficit into a double-digit advantage thanks to an unrelenting three-point onslaught.

Denver scored four three-pointers in a 70-second span early in the second quarter, scoring more points in that nine-minute span than Miami did, and they came from four different players: Bruce Brown, Jeff Green, Murray, and Gordon. Denver led 44-32 after the frenzy, which Murray ended with five consecutive points. By halftime, the Heat had managed to cut the deficit to 57-51, but any momentum Miami had after the first few minutes had long since vanished.

After that, the conflict continued. Denver was not allowed to escape by Miami, and in the fourth, they managed to secure the victory.