Minutes after Game 2, in which the Heat knotted up their NBA Finals series with Denver at one apiece, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra took one final question at his postgame press conference.
It was a worthwhile one from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, who essentially asked whether the Heat’s game plan defensively sought to force Nikola Jokić, the world’s best player and passer, into being more of a scorer.
“That’s a ridiculous … that’s the untrained eye that says something like that,” Spoelstra said, while rubbing his eyes, possibly out of frustration with the perfectly fair question. “This guy is an incredible player. Twice in two seasons he’s been the best player on this planet. You can’t just say, ‘Oh, let’s make him a scorer.’ That’s not how they play. They have so many different actions that just get you compromised. We have to focus on what we do. We try to do things the hard way, and he forces you to do many things the hard way. He has our full respect.”
