NBA Finals: Heat still confident, Nuggets remain focused entering Game 4

MIAMI (AP) —Jimmy Butler showed up in plush blue slippers for what wasofficially called practice. Kyle Lowry was trying to distract himduring an interview session. Nikola Jokic continued to say how hedoesn’t care about statistics. Jamal Murray talked about all thefun he’s having.

At thispoint, there isn’t a lot of off-day, on-court work for the DenverNuggets and Miami Heat.

Game 4 of theNBA Finals is Friday night in Miami, and it’ll be the only time inthe series that there’s just one day off between contests. TheNuggets—behind a historic effort from Jokic and Murray —reclaimedthe lead in the series with a 109-94 win Wednesday night, and couldtake a commanding 3-1 edge with a win in Game 4.

“It’s a lotof fun. A lot of fun. We’re all having fun,” Murray said Thursday.“Trying to solve this puzzle together. We’ve all been dreamingabout getting to this stage. We have vets in the league thathaven’t made it this far in their 15, 16 years of playing. So, wedon’t want to take this opportunity for granted, knowing that thisis not an everyday thing. It takes a lot of work to be here.”

Murray andJokic each had 30-point triple-doubles in the Game 3 win, the firsttime that’s ever happened in NBA history. Jokic had the first knowngame of at least 30 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in finalshistory. As always, he greeted news of his latest statisticalaccomplishment with a resounding yawn, preferring instead to solelyfocus on what he called the chess game between the Heat andNuggets.

“They are onemove, we are another move,” Jokic said. “I think this is the timewhere the players show what they’ve got.”

There were 15other instances of teammates having triple-doubles in the samegame, but never of the 30-point variety — and for that to happennot just in the playoffs but the NBA Finals only adds to thehistoric level of the performance.

Of course,that doesn’t mean Nuggets coach Michael Malone was wasting any timethinking about that.

“As I watchedthe film, as we watched it as a staff and then with the team, therewas nothing about the historical night that it was,” Malone said.“We’re addressing all the areas where we have to be better.”

Malone lovesto quote stats, and it’s safe to assume he knows that a 2-1 lead inthe finals guarantees nothing. Boston had such a lead over GoldenState last year. Phoenix led Milwaukee 2-1 the year before that.Golden State was up 2-1 on Cleveland in 2016, the Cavaliers hadthat same lead on the Warriors in 2015, San Antonio had that leadover the Heat in 2013 and the Heat had that lead over Dallas in2011.

And all ofthose 2-1 series leaders lost the finals. It’s happened that waysix times in the last 10 instances, seven times in the last 14instances going back to Miami’s rally past Dallas in 2006. A 2-1series lead used to be automatic — from 1979 through 2005, therewere 22 instances of a team going up 2-1. All 22 of those teamswent on to win the title. But starting with the Heat in 2006, that2-1 lead hasn’t meant a whole lot.

“Stay in thesaddle, stay the course,” Heat forward Kevin Love said. “That’s thebiggest thing we can do. We have a game plan that is proven towork. … If anybody is capable of it, we are. Continue to drill,continue to stay true to our concept, no slip-ups. If we do that,we feel we can give ourselves a chance.”

Murray andJokic were tremendous, and Denver’s 58-33 rebounding edge in Game 3was not solely a byproduct of effort or lack thereof. But therewere also things Heat coach Erik Spoelstra believes are correctablefor Friday.

“The moreexperience you have, the more perspective you have about howdifficult this really is,” Spoelstra said. “These are extremelydifficult challenges. You end up being even more grateful for theopportunities to compete at the highest level. That’s what we allwant. This is the stage that you want to be able to compete andhave everything decided between those four lines and find out howyour team stacks up. But it is tough. … It’s the highest level ofcompetition.”

The Heatseason has gone this way almost from opening night, a never-endingback-and-forth between ups and downs, win a few, lose a few, allcapped by a postseason run that took a No. 8 seed to the NBAFinals. Win on Friday, and the series is tied. That’s all Miami canask for right now.

“We’re goingto come out with a lot more energy,” Butler said. “We’re going tocompete at a high level. We’re going to get one at home.”