The Miami Heat started their four-game road trip with consecutive losses but can finish with two wins when they face the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night.
Miami lost to the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers to kick off the trip but rallied to beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night. The Heat will try to duplicate the success against the franchise that beat them in the 2023 NBA Finals.
Miami’s roster has evolved since that series, with Bam Adebayo being the only rotation player remaining from that team. Adebayo has played well this season, averaging 22.4 points and 9.1 rebounds in six games, and is one of five Heat players averaging double figures in scoring.
One of those is Norman Powell, who returned Monday night after missing the previous three games with a groin injury. He leads the team with a 24-point average in the three games he has played. He scored 21 points to help beat his former team Monday night, 120-119.
Powell played three-plus seasons in Los Angeles and was the second-leading scorer on last year’s squad before being traded to Miami in the offseason.
The Heat will attempt to do something they haven’t done in nine years — win a regular season game in the Mile High City. Miami has lost eight straight there outside of its Game 2 victory in 2023. Prior to that its last win in Colorado was Nov. 30, 2016, when Nikola Jokic was a rookie.
“It’s been a long time,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra after Monday night’s win. “We’ll play it on Mount Everest if we have to.”
Miami will have to stop Jokic to have a chance to break the streak, but the Nuggets can win in different ways. They needed Jokic’s offense to beat Sacramento on Monday night — he had a season-high 34 points — but they haven’t had to rely as heavily on the three-time MVP this season as they did last year.
Jokic is averaging a triple-double in the first seven games — 22.7 points, 13.2 rebounds and 11.3 assists — but Jamal Murray (24.2 points a game) is off to a strong start and Aaron Gordon has played well after an injury-plagued 2024-25.
Gordon scored a career-high 50 in the season opener and leads the starters in 3-point shooting at 48.4 percent. Bruce Brown leads the team at 50 percent from deep but his value to the team is his all-around game off the bench.
He showed it Monday night with 13 points and six rebounds against the Kings.
“He was really good for us. He had amazing energy, of course, like he always does,” Jokic said of Brown. “It’s good to see him playing that way. He’s going to help us a lot playing that way the whole year.”
Denver’s bench has been vital to a good start. Four reserves are averaging double digits in minutes and give the starting unit a chance to stay fresh. Jonas Valanciunas has allowed Jokic to sit longer stretches without a huge drop-off.
“Having Valanciunas is such a big deal,” said Nuggets coach David Adelman.
–Field Level Media
