How the Miami Heat’s fourth quarter changed the NBA Finals

DENVER — Down two at the start of the fourth quarter, Bam Adebayo settled in at the top of the nail as Duncan Robinson looped around a Gabe Vincent screen on the left side of the court. Robinson dragged two Nuggets defenders — Christian Braun and Jeff Green — with him, leaving Vincent alone in the corner. Adebayo calmly hit Vincent with a no-look pass, and Vincent drained the wide-open look to give the Miami Heat their first lead since the beginning of the second quarter.

On Miami’s next possession, Adebayo ran the same action. Vincent set the screen, Robinson came around, but this time Bruce Brown stuck with Vincent in the corner. Meanwhile, Braun was trailing Robinson as Robinson came off the screen. This time, Adebayo bounced a pass to Robinson darting into the paint. Jeff Green was a smidge late on his help-side rotation and Robinson finished with a left-handed layup through contact. As the Heat got back on defense, Robinson flexed and mean-mugged the sideline.

The Heat erased a 15-point deficit and led by three. They’d go on to outscore the Nuggets 36-25 in the fourth quarter to win Game 2, 111-108, and tie the NBA Finals at 1-1 as the series turns to Miami.

That fourth quarter, among the most efficient of the season, changed the shape of these NBA Finals. Had the Heat not come back and won, they would be in an 0-2 hole against a Nuggets team that has controlled most of the series so far. Instead, the Heat have stolen homecourt advantage and, perhaps more importantly, figured out how they want to play in this series.

It all starts with Adebayo, who facilitated Miami’s offense for most of the fourth quarter using that same basic trigger with him at the top of the nail, surveying over the Heat’s armada of shooters and cutters. Three of Adebayo’s four assists came in the final period, and he was responsible for heaps more of hockey assists.

He also scored seven of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, including a cutting dunk off a dribble-handoff with Kyle Lowry to put the Heat up 10 with just under five minutes to go.

It was an efficient and effective night for Adebayo on offense. Coupled with the fact that his defensive assignment was two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, and his performance is doubly impressive.

“We just can’t say enough of how difficult (Adebayo’s) responsibilities are in this series,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “To take arguably the toughest cover in the league, and then he has to shoulder a big offensive role for us, as well. It’s not like he can just stand and rest on the offensive side.”

Rather, Adebayo is Miami’s fulcrum. He is the connective tissue between the Heat’s dueling offenses — Jimmy Butler’s methodical isolation game, and the Heat’s whirring five-man motion.

With Adebayo in the middle, he can dish to Robinson or Vincent coming off split cuts or give Butler a head start on his drives to the basket. Adebayo’s third and final assist in the fourth quarter came off another pick-and-roll with Lowry. Lowry found Adebayo with the pocket pass, prompting Jokic and Aaron Gordon to react and collapse the paint. Adebayo on the short roll quickly kicked it out to Butler in the corner. Butler has had a hard time driving by Gordon is traditional isolation, but because Gordon had to scurry back to his assignment, Butler had the advantage. He caught Gordon leaning, drove by him and finished with an easy push shot.

“I feel like I’m one of the great passers in this league,” Adebayo said. “So just making plays down the stretch.”

The Heat shot 11 of 16 in the fourth quarter, assisting on nine of those makes. According to NBA.com’s John Schumann, the Heat scored 36 points on 19 possessions, which would be the equivalent of an offensive rating of 189.5 points per 100 possessions. So staggering that it’s the most efficient fourth quarter for any team this season.

“In the fourth quarter, you give up 36 points on 69% from the field,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “That’s not going to cut it.”

Despite the efficiency, the Nuggets nearly came back. The Heat did not make a field goal over the final 2:12 as Denver went on a 7-2 run to set up a potential game-tying scenario. After Butler’s 3-pointer missed, Brown snatched the rebound and found Murray sprinting up the court. Murray went into a pick-and-roll with Jokic and ended up with Butler defending him. The two danced until there was a second on the clock and Murray heaved a falling-away 3-pointer that flushed out. The Heat escaped with the win.

“He got off a decently good look,” Butler said. “I just contested it. Pretty glad that he missed it to give us a 1-1 series tie going back to Miami.”

Even with a historic scoring display in the fourth quarter, the Heat were an inch away from overtime and maybe a Game 2 loss. But what the Heat have shown in both fourth quarters of the first two games is that they will not roll over at the behest of the championship-favorite Nuggets. This series, regardless of outcome or how many games are ultimately played, will be fought over and contested. If the Nuggets want to win, they’ll have to execute for all 48 minutes.

The Heat are relentless, not just in effort but also in problem solving. Spoelstra began Game 2 with Kevin Love starting in place of Caleb Martin at power forward, a move that gave Miami needed size in the paint. They finished by deploying Adebayo in a Jokic-lite role and shredding Denver’s defense in the process. Now it’s on the Nuggets to adjust.

As the NBA Finals heads to Miami, the Heat have given themselves a real chance to win the championship. Depending on how these next games play out, we could be looking at the fourth quarter of Game 2 as the inflection point of the Finals.