2023 NBA Finals: Duncan Robinson Stars As Heat Steal Game 2 From Nuggets

The Miami Heat have evened up the 2023 NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets in improbable fashion, and all of their praise goes to sweet-shooting forward Duncan Robinson.

While the Heat did have the efforts of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Gabe Vincent combining for 65 points to anchor them throughout Game 2, it was Robinson's seemingly measly 10-point outing that pushed them over the hump to the victory.

Robinson was an unexpected contributor in the home stretch as he had virtually no impact on the game in the first three quarters in about seven minutes of game time, only logging a personal foul as the Heat stared at an 83-75 deficit entering the fourth.

However, Robinson made the Nuggets regret not taking him into account as he led Miami with a personal 8-0 run to drop their deficit to just two points.

Vincent would later drop a three to take the lead with just about 10 minutes remaining.

An additional layup from a cutting Robinson gave him his final points of the game for the Heat to get a three-point lead which they would not relinquish until the final whistle blew.

Denver did have an opportunity to send the game to overtime with a three-point attempt from Jamal Murray with 1.9 remaining on the clock, but it clanged off the rim as the Heat would return to the Kaseya Center for Game 3 with the series tied at one game apiece.

"We got the utmost confidence in Duncan. That's one thing about him, he comes in with that spark and he provides that [for us]," Adebayo said in the postgame interview.

Robinson has been relegated to a relative non-factor for most of the 2022-23 NBA season as his struggles on defense, despite his high offensive output, made him virtually unplayable for head coach Erik Spoelstra.

But with the Heat lacking personnel in the postseason, Robinson was once again thrust into the rotation and has provided them with some big outings thus far which includes 20-point explosions against the Milwaukee Bucks in round one and the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.

For as great as the Heat's effort was at swinging the ball to their open shooters, their defense carried them through Game 2 as they limited Nuggets star Nikola Jokic to just four assists despite knocking down 41 points of his own.

Jamal Murray had a double-double of 18 points and 10 assists.

When asked about what they did to mount a comeback despite being down 15 points, Adebayo had the following to say.

"We know we gotta do it on the defensive end. That's the biggest thing for us. We gotta do it on that end 'cause we know we can score, all five guys; we believe in ourselves. The biggest thing for us was we gotta get stops," he again told ESPN's Lisa Salters.

The Heat stealing Game 2 off of Robinson's improbable explosion is something that will undoubtedly irk the Nuggets as the finals is now assured of at least five games with the series now shifting to Miami for Games 3 and 4.