Miami Heat: 3 losing takeaways vs. Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets

The Miami Heat are now 19-20 after losing 103-99 to the best out of the Western Conference in the Denver Nuggets, who are now 27-12. This game was led by a surprising duo in Dwyane Wade and Dion Waiters, but it wasn’t enough against Nikola Jokic.

The Miami Heat had their hands full against the Denver Nuggets, with the Nuggs led by their superstar Nikola Jokic, who finished his triple double game with 29 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and also scoring 9 of those 29 points in the 4th quarter, including a late prayer winning floater to take a 2 point lead with 2.3 seconds left.

Miami was, to much of South Florida’s dismay, led by a surprising duo of Dwyane Wade and Dion Waiters in the end of the 1st and 2nd half. And aside from those two, and a first half stand out from Kelly Olynyk, the only other notable player that made a huge difference in this loss for Miami was the 2nd year center Bam Adebayo.

Speaking of Bam, he starts off our 3 losing takeaways against the Denver Nuggets.

1. Bam Adebayo may just be what the Miami Heat need right now

Adebayo finished this game shooting 5-6 for 13 points and 4 boards, but most of all, it was his tenacious defense that stood out against the superstar in Nikola Jokic.

Miami’s starting center, Hassan Whiteside, was essentially kicked out of the lineup by the 3rd quarter because of his inability to keep up with the flashy play of Jokic and how deceptively crafty he can be. And most of all, Whiteside’s lack of lateral defense paved the way for Bam to flourish in the 4th quarter against the Joker.

In fact, Bam scored 11 of his 13 points in the 4th, with most of his buckets coming from heads up passes from Dwyane Wade and Dion Waiters. And while Bam couldn’t stop Jokic from hitting the game winner, his intensity as an all around player is exactly the attitude Miami needs on the floor.

2 and 3. Dwyane Wade and Dion Waiter play facilitator and scorer to win the game in the 4th quarter

Dwyane Wade and Dion Waiters have apparently been practicing together all their lives, or they just naturally play well with one another, either way I’ll take it.

Wade and Waiters totaled for 25 points and 10 assists, both coming off the bench trying to be spark plugs for a porous Miami offense, as of late. They both tried to make up for the horrible late play of Josh Richardson, which has quietly been a consistency of the wing in the waning minutes of close games this season.

Albeit, the performance of Wade and Waiters’ wasn’t enough to garner enough production from the rest of the guys, as the Nuggets took this win. However, I can expect this match up to mean big things for the Heat in the coming weeks, as they play the next 3 games at home and look to try and get a solid win streak in before they leave South Florida again.

Side note: Those 2 last minute free throw misses by Waiters hurt my soul.

Next Game

Tune in to see the Miami Heat play at home against the Boston Celtics at 7 PM Eastern, this Thursday night.

You can expect that game to be down the wire like this Nuggets one, for better or worse.