They had already done it in Game 1, with an 11-0, but without winning afterwards. There, the Heat players went 15-2 to start the last quarter and thus fully return to the game, which was finally won.
This successful sequence is carried by a man: Duncan Robinson, author of 10 points in less than four minutes. However, he had not scored or attempted the slightest shot of the match before this moment…
“He was a huge spark for us. It’s flammable.” explains Gabe Vincent at a press conference. “We have several players like that, but he does it his way. When he starts cutting towards the circle and scoring near the basket, it helps. »
How to find the rhythm to chain the baskets when we did not exist for 36 minutes before? “I didn’t do much in the first game either,” recalls Robinson. “My minutes have to be productive so I just tried to be aggressive, to make my presence felt. Obviously, when the shots come in, it helps. »
The Heat came back seven times from a delay of twelve points in the playoffs!
At the start of the last act, the Heat were still eight points behind, and in the second quarter, Nikola Jokic and his band had taken up to fifteen points ahead. But witnessing a comeback by Erik Spoelstra’s troops is now trivial. Like our colleague Tim Reynolds underlines it, in this 2022/2023 exercise, Miami recovered from a twelve-point deficit before winning nine times in the regular season and then seven times in the playoffs! An NBA record in a playoff campaign (since 1997), tied with the 2011 Heat, the 2012 Heat and the 2022 Warriors.
What was the spring used by the Miami coach or by the players to dominate the first minutes of the last quarter? “Nothing special in my opinion”replies Robinson. “There is a lot of belief in us in this group. We knew we had to come back as a last act with a sense of urgency. It was now or never and it starts in defense obviously. »
Erik Spoelstra specifies the subject on which the Florida group exchanged after this third quarter. “I think we were talking about systems. In general, we talk about efforts, not making mistakes, etc. There, we were talking about systems, diagrams. To respond to this very good offensive team, you have to do it at a high level, with intelligence and discipline. And our players love it. »
Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, fifteen points between them in the last quarter, will finish the job with important baskets in the “money time”. But it was Robinson who lit the fuse for the Heat. And his layup against Jeff Green made an impression.
” I adore. He is one of the players who can change a game,” remarks Kevin Love. “We have already seen it during the playoffs. His consistency and confidence are still there. We see him as a shooter, but when he can cut and score after a pass from Bam, using his height, it’s wonderful to watch. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Jimmy Butler | 64 | 33.4 | 53.9 | 35.0 | 85.0 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 5.9 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 22.9 |
| Bam Adebayo | 75 | 34.6 | 54.0 | 8.3 | 80.6 | 2.5 | 6.7 | 9.2 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 20.4 |
| Tyler Herro | 67 | 34.9 | 43.9 | 37.8 | 93.4 | 0.4 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 20.1 |
| Max Strus | 80 | 28.4 | 41.0 | 35.0 | 87.6 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 11.5 |
| Kyle Lowry | 55 | 31.2 | 40.4 | 34.5 | 85.9 | 0.8 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 5.1 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 11.2 |
| Victor Oladipo | 42 | 26.3 | 39.7 | 33.0 | 74.7 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 2.1 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 10.7 |
| Caleb Martin | 71 | 29.3 | 46.4 | 35.6 | 80.5 | 1.2 | 3.6 | 4.8 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 9.6 |
| Gabe Vincent | 68 | 25.9 | 40.2 | 33.4 | 87.2 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 2.3 | 9.4 |
| Kevin Love | 21 | 19.9 | 38.8 | 29.7 | 85.7 | 0.8 | 4.9 | 5.7 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 7.7 |
| Cody Zeller | 15 | 14.4 | 62.7 | 0.0 | 68.6 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 4.3 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 6.5 |
| Duncan Robinson | 42 | 16.5 | 37.1 | 32.8 | 90.6 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 6.4 |
| Dewayne Dedmon | 30 | 11.7 | 49.6 | 29.7 | 72.7 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 5.7 |
| Nikola Jovic | 15 | 13.6 | 40.6 | 22.9 | 94.7 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 5.5 |
| Jamal Cain | 18 | 13.3 | 56.1 | 35.0 | 77.3 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 5.4 |
| Omer Yurtseven | 9 | 9.2 | 59.3 | 42.9 | 83.3 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 4.4 |
| Haywood Highsmith | 54 | 18.0 | 43.1 | 33.9 | 46.4 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 4.4 |
| Udonis Haslem | 7 | 10.1 | 34.5 | 33.3 | 80.0 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 3.9 |
| Jamaree Bouyea | 4 | 16.3 | 46.2 | 40.0 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 3.8 |
| Orlando Robinson | 31 | 13.7 | 52.8 | 0.0 | 71.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 4.1 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 3.7 |
| Dru Smith | 5 | 13.4 | 35.7 | 16.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 2.2 |
