Spoelstra: We didn’t offer much resistance

MIAMI—Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra admitted his team had been “pummeled” in the paint in their 109-94 defeat to the Denver Nuggets and had failed to respond to the challenge.

The Nuggets out-scored the Heat 6034 in the paint and also won the rebound battle 58-33 meaning that Denver’s miserly five of 18 three-point shooting didn’t matter.

“They just pummeled us in the paint,” Spoelstra said. “They didn’t really have to shoot threes. They had, whatever, 60 in the paint. There wasn’t a need to space the floor.

“We didn’t offer much resistance....I thought offensively, we actually did get a lot of opportunities in the paint.

“You do have to credit their size and everything like that, but we have proven that we can finish in the paint when we’re at our best,” he added.

However Spoelstra knows he has some work to do on the offensive side.

“Definitely some things where we got flattened out, and they jammed us up in possessions, got us late into possessions. Then sometimes we’re forced with those plays, and that can kind of