Continue to drill, continue to stay true to our concept, no slip-ups. We have a game plan that is proven to work. “Stay in the saddle, stay the course,” Heat forward Kevin Love said. But starting with the Heat in 2006, that 2-1 lead hasn’t meant a whole lot. All 22 of those teams went on to win the title. A 2-1 series lead used to be automatic - from 1979 through 2005, there were 22 instances of a team going up 2-1. It’s happened that way six times in the last 10 instances, seven times in the last 14 instances going back to Miami’s rally past Dallas in 2006. Golden State was up 2-1 on Cleveland in 2016, the Cavaliers had that same lead on the Warriors in 2015, San Antonio had that lead over the Heat in 2013 and the Heat had that lead over Dallas in 2011.Īnd all of those 2-1 series leaders lost the finals. Phoenix led Milwaukee 2-1 the year before that. Boston had such a lead over Golden State last year. Malone loves to quote stats, and it’s safe to assume he knows that a 2-1 lead in the finals guarantees nothing. So, we don’t want to take this opportunity for granted, knowing that this is not an everyday thing.

We have vets in the league that haven’t made it this far in their 15, 16 years of playing. We’ve all been dreaming about getting to this stage. We’re all having fun,” Murray said Thursday. The Nuggets - behind a historic effort from Jokic and Murray - reclaimed the lead in the series with a 109-94 win Wednesday night, and could take a commanding 3-1 edge with a win in Game 4. Game 4 of the NBA Finals is Friday night in Miami, and it’ll be the only time in the series that there’s just one day off between contests. Jamal Murray talked about all the fun he’s having.Īt this point, there isn’t a lot of off-day, on-court work for the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat.

Nikola Jokic continued to say how he doesn’t care about statistics. Kyle Lowry was trying to distract him during an interview session. MIAMI (AP) - Jimmy Butler showed up in plush blue slippers for what was officially called practice.

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