Heat roar back late, beat Nuggets 111-108 to even NBA Finals at 1-1

DENVER (AP)— Gabe Vincent scored 23 points, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo eachhad 21 and the Miami Heat evened up the NBA Finals by overcoming amonster effort from Nikola Jokic to beat the Denver Nuggets 111-108in Game 2 on Sunday night.

Max Strusscored 14 and Duncan Robinson had 10 for the Heat, who had a bigearly lead, then got down by as many as 15 before reclaiming thelead in the fourth. Miami outscored Denver 36-25 in the finalperiod, erasing an eight-point deficit going into the finalframe.

And eventhen, they had to dig deep to finish it off.

Jokicscored 41 points and was 16 of 28 from the floor, the last of thoseshots a 4-footer with 36 seconds left to get the Nuggets withinthree.

Denverelected not to foul on the ensuing Miami possession. Butler misseda 3, and with a chance to tie, Jamal Murray missed a 3-pointer atthe buzzer.

Murray had18 points and 10 assists for Denver, while Aaron Gordon had 12points and Bruce Brown scored 11.

Game 3 isWednesday in Miami. Denver had been 11-0 with a double-digit leadin the playoffs.

TIP-INS

Heat: Miamichanged its starting lineup, with Kevin Love back in the openingfive and Caleb Martin – who missed practice Saturday with anillness – coming off the bench. … The Heat got their 13th win ofthese playoffs, breaking a tie with the 1999 New York Knicks forthe most ever by a No. 8 seed.

Nuggets:Denver hadn’t lost a game since May 7 – four weeks ago. … Nuggetslegends Alex English, LaPhonso Ellis (who actually ended his NBAcareer with Miami) and David Thompson were among those inattendance.

HERROUPDATE

InjuredHeat guard Tyler Herro played 2-on-2 on Saturday as he continueshis efforts to try to return from a broken hand at some point inthese finals — but remained out. Herro got hurt in the first halfof Game 1 of Round 1 at Milwaukee. His status for Game 3 isunclear.

EXPANSIONTALK

Commissioner Adam Silver told NBA TV before the game thatnegotiations for the next media rights deal are now a prioritysince the new Collective Bargaining Agreement has been ratified —and how expansion talk will come after that.

Silver saidhe thinks the media deal negotiations will begin “in earnestprobably this next spring.” And after that, plans to add franchiseswill be the next item on the to-do list.

“We don’thave anything specific in mind right now,” Silver said. “But Ithink it makes sense over time if you’re a successful organizationto continue to grow. There’s no doubt there’s a lot of great citieswe’re interested in having in the NBA.”