The Nuggets are immune to the Heat’s Dark Arts

The Miami Heat’s success has been hard to define all postseason. Words like resilience, toughness, and intelligence certainly apply, but that can be said about any team in any sport that makes a deep playoff run. No, Miami has been Jonathan Crane, injecting fear into Gothamites and Bostonians alike. They hang around late, or blitz you early, or muck up the game beyond recognition to the point that teams start believing in Murphy’s Law.

However, when Miami was primed to strike in the fourth quarter of Game 4 with Nikola Jokić on the bench in foul trouble, the Denver Nuggets didn’t blink. Jamal Murray hit a huge three to start things off, sure, yet it was Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope facing down the Boogey Man and taking turns twisting the knife in a hostile road environment.

After Jokić and Murray totaled 66, 31, and 20 between them in Game 3, Brown and Gordon combined to shoot 19 of 24 from the field for 38 points — which was the same sum the Nuggets’ star duo tallied on 13 of 36 shooting Friday night. This could not have set up better for Jimmy Butler and Co. to even the series and put the fear of god in Denver’s already abnormally paranoid (and high) supporters.

That never materialized though, and the Nuggets won comfortably, 108-95, and are one game away from hoisting the Larry O’Brien.

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers

I kept waiting for Gordon to hit the side of the backboard, and the moment to buckle the role guys’ collective confidence as was the fate of the Bucks, Knicks, and Celtics. Whether it’s Michael Malone pulling the correct levers, and pushing the right rotations, or the Nuggets shrugging off a zone that’s made mentally weaker teams see ghosts, Miami is scrambling and in search of answers for once.

This was the fourth straight game that they’ve played from behind. Swagger has been a magic elixir for Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson, and the rest of the overachievers, and while I’m not completely ruling out that bubbling to the surface, the clock is nearing midnight on this don’t-call-it-a-Cinderella run.

The only team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the finals was the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they needed a Draymond Green meltdown and subsequent suspension to pull off that feat. So unless Bam Adebayo goads Jokić into going full Eastern Promises, they’re going to have to play flawless basketball.

The Heat have been held under 100 points in every loss this series, and Butler’s Jedi Mind Tricks aren’t working on Denver’s taller, just-as-strong defenders. He’s not making any excuses because Pat Riley 86’d that word from the Heat’s practice facility. Erik Spoelstra said his team’s goal is to get things back to the 305, where they’ve now dropped four in a row dating back to the near collapse against Boston.

Be that as it may, it would still be irresponsible to declare this thing over. Maybe Adebayo morphs into a yeti, or Tyler Herro returns from injury/the dead and goes for 50, or Himmy puts on a Jason mask and hacks off limbs for the next three games — I need to feel the Heat’s pulse stop myself before I call in the coroner.

Denver might not be scared of Miami, and Jokić might not get the Jason reference, but my Fear Gas hasn’t faded yet.