‘Undrafted’ is a dirty word, but those guys just lifted Miami Heat to even in the NBA Finals | Opinion

It’s a bad word to Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

He hates when anyone dwells on the production he gets from his handful of undrafted players. Thinks it disrespects them to keep mentioning. Sorry, Spo, but it does not. What it does is emphasize the Heat’s ability to find and develop gems, a part of whatever Heat Culture claims to be and is. It also credits those players for having the innate talent all along that only needed be seen, and nurtured. To be given a chance.

The undrafted but undeterred.

Those are the players that may have saved the Heat’s season and championship dreams Sunday night.

The Denver Nuggets hadn’t lost at home this entire postseason. They were 9-0 and looked like they were going to keep the perfect record intact. Then the Heat happened. The no-quit.

Miami would defeat the Nuggets, 111-108, and tie the NBA Finals 1-1 heading back for two games in Miami beginning Wednesday night.

A trio of undrafteds led the charge: Max Strus early, Duncan Robinson late and Gabe Vincent throughout. They combined for 47 points, with Vincent leading the team with 23.

“Resilient,” Vincent called his team afterward. “We got three more [victories] to get.”

Vincent on the team’s resilience: “It’s our DNA. Everyone on the team has gone through adversity. When it comes down to the wire, we’re strangely comfortable.”

Strus came out with three fast 3’s — after going 0-for-10 shooting in Game 1. Robinson came on late as Miami shot 9-for-10 to open the fourth quarter.

The rise of the undrafteds is in keeping with the rise of a No. 8 seed to within three wins of an NBA championship. Miami would be the lowest seed ever to do it. The Heat already have set an eight-seed record for most victories (13, and counting) in a postseason.

Spoelstra was speaking of Vincent but could have been talking of any of this undrafted guys in saying, “People severely underestimate what you can get accomplished when no one is paying attention.”

Bam Adebayo played well, had 21 points and has been great in the Finals thus far — what Heat fans wish he would be more consistently, especially on the offensive end. Jimmy Butler shot poorly yet also had 21.

Caleb Martin missed Saturday’s practice with an illness and played but was limited.. Tyler Herro’s hand injury rendered him out again. Spoelstra started Kevin Love in place of Martin, and the added size worked to the Heat’s advantage.

But it was those three players that the NBA forgot, led Sunday by Vincent, who sparked this victory.

Adebayo recalls his first impression of Vincent, who is Nigerian-American, middle name Nnamdi. It was an Olympic exhibition game between the U.S. and Nigeria.

“He came out with that type of energy, ferocity and anger,” Adebayo recalls. “From there, I was like, ‘He’s one of us..’”

Butler had kept an even keel after Miami lost Game 1 by 11 points.

“Down 0-3, up 3-0, you’ve got to get to four. It’s never over [until then]. Once you get to four, it’s over with,” he had said. “So down 0-1, we know we are going to get to four. We are in there laughing, in there smiling, knowing that we could play better. We will play better. We have to be better if we want to win. Not too much is said. It’s all about what we’re going to do.”

The laughing and smiling comes a bit easier now.

Miami sank 17 of 35 three-point shots Sunday and 18 of 20 free throws, after taking only two in Game 1.

“Nobody cares on our team what anybody [outside of the team] thinks,” Butler said afterward. “It’s the I-don’t-give-a-damn factor.”

This was the first time Miami had lost a series opener in these playoffs and trailed in the postseason.

The Heat faced a 2-0 hole, which is huge.

In NBA history under the current playoff format since 1984, teams down 0-2 are only 22-228 in winning the series, or 8.8 percent.

In Heat history the team is 1-9 from an 0-2 hole, although the lone exception is notable. It came in the 2006 Finals and won Miami’s first championship. The Heat trailed the Dallas Mavericks 0-2 before winning four straight.

Sunday the Heat trailed at halftime and was behind 83-75 entering the fourth quarter — then burst for eight points in barely a minute to open the fourth.

A Robinson three, a Vincent three, a Robinson layup, those three shots sparked a 10-0 Heat run to seize control of a game Denver once led by 15.

“Our guys love to compete,” said Spoelstra. “Love to put themselves out there in the moment of truth.”

Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic had 41 points to live up to all billing, but here’s the thing: Denver is 0-3 this postseason when he tops 40. Hmm.

Boston in the last series was supposed to have the best players, too. So was Milwaukee in the playoff’s first series.

Somehow, Miami keeps proving it has the best team, one so often led by (sorry, Spoelstra) the undrafted guys who keep earning the hard way the respect the NBA at first denied them.