Not much has worked yet, but Heat’s plan vs. Jokic in Finals is becoming clearer. A closer look

The Miami Heat did what it needed to do in Denver, but that doesn’t mean it found an answer for the Nikola Jokic problem.

The Heat stole home-court advantage with Sunday’s win against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena, bringing the NBA Finals to Miami tied 1-1.

But like the rest of the NBA, the Heat is still trying to find different ways to simply challenge Jokic. Not much has worked yet, considering the Nuggets’ two-time MVP center averaged 34 points, 10.5 rebounds and nine assists per game while shooting an efficient 60 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three-point range in the first two games of the best-of-7 championship series.

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“It’s so hard to game plan for him,” Heat forward Kevin Love said ahead of Wednesday’s Game 3 at Kaseya Center (8:30 p.m., ABC). “He’s such a basketball savant. He’s brilliant out there. You’re never going to stop him, you just try to slow him down.

“If you take some of the passes away, he’s going to go score. You try to take that away and send a double team, he’s going to pass the ball. He’s going to bury you under the hoop if you switch. He’s just so smart that, you just try to make it tough on him and take the other X factors out of the game.”

The Heat has an advantage over most teams, though, because it can use center Bam Adebayo on Jokic. The 6-9 Adebayo, who has been named to an NBA All-Defensive Team for four seasons in a row, can’t match the 6-11 Jokic’s size but is able to stay in front of him and at least contest most of his shots.

Jokic has still totaled 37 points on 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) shooting from the field and 10 assists to just two turnovers while drawing four fouls on the 77 possessions that Adebayo has spent as his primary defender through the first two games of the series, according to NBA tracking data.

Heat backup center Cody Zeller has spent the second-most possessions defending Jokic through the first two games of the Finals, with Jokic scoring 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field on the 23 possessions that Zeller has spent as his primary defender. And on the 18 possessions that Heat wing Jimmy Butler has switched on to him, Jokic has totaled eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.

Basically, no Heat player has bothered Jokic so far.

So, the Heat has turned its attention to the others around him in an effort to limit Jokic’s impact.

That means allowing Adebayo to defend Jokic on an island at times, adjusting in Game 2 to make Butler the primary defender on Jokic’s pick-and-roll partner Jamal Murray and using a more physical defensive approach to disrupt the Nuggets’ off-ball movement that’s the lifeblood of Denver’s offense.

“Just trying to take away the cuts,” Adebayo said of the Heat’s plan for those around Jokic. “I feel like that’s a big part of the offense, the cuts, because he’s a great passer. He sees open guys and just making them all try to take difficult shots.”

That strategy appeared to work in Sunday’s win. While Jokic scored 41 points, he was limited to a playoff-low four assists and committed five turnovers.

Jokic, who has already set an NBA record with nine triple-doubles this postseason, finished Game 1 of the Finals with 17 potential assists (any pass to a teammate who shoots within one dribble of receiving the ball) and has averaged 15.9 potential assists during this year’s playoffs. Jokic finished Game 2 of the Finals with just 11 potential assists.

In addition, only 13 of Jokic’s passes in Game 2 led to a shot attempt, which is his lowest amount of the playoffs, according to Second Spectrum.

“You know the term when you say your head has to be on a swivel? That’s what it has to be,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of defending against Jokic’s playmaking. “Your head almost has to be able to turn 360 degrees at all times on the weak side, and you can’t physically do that, obviously.

“That level of discipline and focus is the highest level. That’s what he requires your defense to be. Then he can score. He’s proven he can score 41 against us, and he scored 50 plus in another playoff game.”

The Heat is also constantly throwing different defensive looks at Jokic, challenging his brilliant basketball mind to recalibrate on the fly. Sometimes it’s 1-on-1 man coverage from Adebayo, sometimes a double is sent his way and other times he’s met with the Heat’s zone defense.

“I just think that we try to defend the other guys as much as possible, try to make him second guess looks and get in passing lanes,” Heat forward Caleb Martin said of defending Jokic. “Just try to make things tough mentally for him. It’s so hard to find ways to affect him because he’s so poised and does a great job getting the ball exactly where he wants to, whether it’s in scoring position or passing position. You just try to throw different things at him and try to throw him off. It’s tough.”

Despite already losing home-court advantage, the Nuggets have posted an elite offensive rating of 117.8 points scored per 100 possessions (equivalent to the second-best offense in the NBA during the regular season) through the first two games of the Finals behind Jokic’s gaudy numbers.

With an all-world defender in Adebayo who the Heat can deploy on Jokic and all the different defensive schemes the Heat has played this season, Miami is better prepared than most teams to deal with his unique skill set. Still, Jokic has solved almost everything the Heat has thrown his way so far.

But the Heat is relentless and so is Jokic. That’s what makes this matchup so fascinating.

“You’re in the Finals,” Spoelstra said. “You’re going to be dealing with great players, great teams. You have to find a way to overcome it and make it difficult and do a lot of things that are tough.”