For Miami’s resilient underdogs, Jokić and the Nuggets are a bridge too far

An insatiable Heat side that has overcome so much to reach the NBA finals as a No 8 seed finds it back against the wall once again following Denver’s Game 4 win on Friday night

For a just minute or two early in the fourth quarter, it seemed possible, perhaps even probable. Nikola Jokić picked up a fifth personal foul and trudged to the bench. A double-digit deficit – the Miami Heat’s cue to spark into life throughout this unlikely playoff run – was quickly halved with a Jimmy Butler and-one.

The Heat’s Kaseya Center rose with expectation. They had seen this before; the sheer will of a Heat team that has defied conventional logic for two months. In the end though, their eighth-seeded team have met an obstacle they perhaps cannot overcome, even when tossing aside logic.