The remake of the last NBA final has not yet taken place this season. Before hosting the Nuggets in mid-March, the Heat travel to Denver on the night of Thursday to Friday. And this for the first time since June 12, the date of Game 5, synonymous with the title for the Nuggets at the expense of the Miami players (4-1).
Memories and emotions should therefore be included. “ It clearly reminds you how close we came to the goal. But we were a little short. It also reminds us of the journey taken to get to this point. “, expresses for example Caleb Martin.
The historic journey of a team that went through the “play-in” within its conference, which eliminated the Bucks, the Knicks and the Celtics to reach the biggest stage, before being dominated by players from Colorado . This regular season match, additional motivation? Bam Adebayo considers no, because this motivation was born “ from the moment we lost that game, throughout the summer, the preseason, the All-Star break and up until today “.
“ It's a feeling of having arrived there, but of not having reached the goal. It was a great journey, but we also knew we had talent. We were not at all satisfied with second place. But it's also a whole different season », Summarizes Haywood Highsmith.
A renewed workforce
The Heat will face a Nuggets team almost unchanged from last June. Where Miami lost people along the way (Kyle Lowry, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Udonis Haslem, Cody Zeller, Omer Yurtseven…) and welcomed new faces (Terry Rozier, Jaime Jaquez Jr, Josh Richardson, Delon Wright) .
“ This shows that NBA life is changing rapidly. Yes, what you do or what type of journey you take matters, but a lot of that stuff can still change. Whatever team we had or no longer have, these memories will always be remembered “, says Caleb Martin again.
The Heat, with almost the same record as last year at the same stage, does not want to stay stuck in this past. Currently 5th in the East, the Floridians want to confirm their current good form (five wins in a row) and thus move away from the prospect of a new “play-in” where they had come close to being in trouble last year.
“ We are aware of what happened to us last year in the final against them. But we have to let it go, because we're trying to get there again, just like them “, concludes Jimmy Butler.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Jimmy Butler | 38 | 33.7 | 50.2 | 44.7 | 86.1 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 5.6 | 4.6 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 21.4 |
| Tyler Herro | 36 | 33.6 | 43.7 | 39.9 | 83.5 | 0.5 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 4.4 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 20.8 |
| Bam Adebayo | 47 | 34.6 | 51.5 | 8.3 | 78.2 | 2.3 | 8.3 | 10.6 | 4.2 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.4 | 20.5 |
| Duncan Robinson | 52 | 27.7 | 45.1 | 40.6 | 88.2 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 13.2 |
| Jaime Jaquez, Jr. | 51 | 29.6 | 49.5 | 31.7 | 81.6 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 2.5 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 13.0 |
| Delon Wright | 1 | 35.3 | 60.0 | 50.0 | 83.3 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 13.0 |
| Terry Rozier | 10 | 29.9 | 35.9 | 23.4 | 95.8 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5.6 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 12.6 |
| Caleb Martin | 40 | 27.0 | 44.9 | 35.9 | 75.4 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 4.6 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 10.1 |
| Josh Richardson | 43 | 25.6 | 44.4 | 34.7 | 94.4 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 9.9 |
| Kevin Love | 46 | 17.6 | 44.1 | 34.8 | 77.9 | 1.1 | 5.2 | 6.3 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 9.1 |
| Kyle Lowry | 37 | 28.0 | 42.6 | 38.5 | 83.3 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 8.2 |
| Haywood Highsmith | 42 | 21.3 | 43.7 | 38.1 | 80.8 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 6.1 |
| Nikola Jovic | 23 | 16.7 | 42.7 | 46.4 | 58.3 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 5.8 |
| Jamal Cain | 16 | 14.1 | 42.0 | 30.8 | 78.3 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 5.3 |
| Dru Smith | 9 | 14.5 | 45.5 | 41.2 | 100.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 4.3 |
| Thomas Bryant | 25 | 10.4 | 57.1 | 0.0 | 81.8 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 4.2 |
| Orlando Robinson | 24 | 10.0 | 51.6 | 53.8 | 75.0 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 3.7 |
| Cole Swider | 11 | 5.0 | 36.0 | 26.3 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 2.3 |
| Rj Hampton | 8 | 9.5 | 28.6 | 12.5 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| Alondes Williams | 2 | 4.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
