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DENVER — The Miami Heat are too stubborn to realize their talent shouldn’t have carried them this far, too stubborn to realize a knockout punch from the Denver Nuggets means they should stay on the mat, too stubborn to accept they shouldn’t have tied the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
But, in their own words, they don’t give a damn.
About what the public thinks, about the Nuggets’ home record, about what Las Vegas says should be the outcome of this series.
The steely resolve again showed in a resounding way, as they hushed a celebratory crowd licking its fingers in anticipation for a title, flying back to South Beach by doing what they do best — stealing home-court advantage and making this Finals a true series.
Jamal Murray’s potential tying 3 looked on line but didn’t hit the mark, capping off a 111-108 Game 2 win at Ball Arena. It was on the back of one of the more impressive fourth-quarter showings in recent memory, shooting 69% and hitting 5-of-9 triples to erase an 8-point deficit entering the final 12.
They’d already picked themselves up following Denver tossing out the big Joker on the table, when the Nuggets took a 15-point lead in the second quarter — most of which occurred when Nikola Jokić was taking his customary rest.
We’ve seen teams fold under this pressure, the seriousness of the Nuggets throughout these playoffs — most haven’t had the ability to concentrate for 2½ hours and stay stubbornly committed to a plan for whatever reason.
The Heat have had the most close losses through the season, which should’ve been a harbinger for how the playoffs were going to unfold. And while that would’ve broken most teams — a cumulative effect over the course of years and playoff runs, they’ve absorbed the pain but released it back to the world.
If they could rebound from that soul-crushing loss to Boston in Game 6 of the conference finals, a little slip-up in Game 1 wasn’t going to bruise their confidence or belief in themselves.
The Heat don’t give a damn either way.
“But Max has also proven that he can impact winning regardless of whether the ball is going in,” Spoelstra said. “He puts in more time than he probably should. He’s a masochist, like all of us. He’s always going to put in the time. He’s ignitable. And we needed every bit of what he did tonight.”
Strus doesn’t give a damn either. Neither does Adebayo, who can frustrate and amaze in the same play, let alone the same game. Adebayo had to eat those buckets from Jokić while staying out of foul trouble, then had to provide a punch on the other end to keep Denver’s defense honest.
“I just think nobody cares on our team,” said Butler, who worked himself into a 21-point game. “We’re not worried about what anybody thinks. We’re so focused in on what we do well and who we are as a group that at the end of the day, that’s what we fall back on. Make-or-miss shots, we’re going to be who we are because we’re not worried about anybody else. That’s how it’s been all year long, and that’s not going to change.”
Butler said he’d keep spraying the ball to the Heat shooters, and they again rewarded the trust as they have in the last several games of this playoff run. Even Butler had to come with a short memory in the fourth quarter, certainly emblematic of Miami’s approach and mental toughness.
Soon as he reentered the game in the fourth quarter with eight minutes remaining, he dribbled the ball off his foot, leading to a Jokić basket.
The next possession, he unleashed a corner triple in Gordon’s eye. He can cause chaos in one minute then provide the soothing balm seconds later.
“I don’t think there’s a secret sauce to it,” Butler said. “I think we just move the ball, pass the ball to the open guy and play some simple basketball.”
If it wasn’t a secret sauce, other teams would be successful in duplicating it, in not folding at the first sign of adversity. It almost felt like the Nuggets panicked because they saw that the Heat didn’t, and the fourth quarter played out accordingly.
“So that’s what I think it is,” Butler said. “I think it’s the ‘I don't give a damn’ factor.”
They don’t, but they don’t mind seeing you in pain, though.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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