LAUVERGNE SAYS HIS FACE IS FINE

miami » Half of Joffrey Lauvergne’s faced looked like he’d been in a UFC bout.

The right side of his face, which has a sinus wall fracture, was bruised. Lauvergne said at a certain angle he can’t see out of that eye.

But he was on the court Monday night against the Heat and said he felt fine, all things considered.

“It is not that bad,” Lauvergne said.

He wore a mask and said that was not an issue. He did not get hit in the face. All there was, was basketball. And Lauvergne was his usually efficient self, finishing with 10 points and three rebounds in 12 minutes.

His biggest worry was what the Heat did to the Nuggets defensively.

“It’s a good team,” Lauvergne said. “We have to try to play better on defense, but it’s not easy. Every time we helped they lobbed to ( Hassan) Whiteside. It’s tough. I’m sure we can do better, but it’s not easy. They are a good team.”

Miller time. Mike Miller was back in Miami. It’s not the first time he’s been back since being a part of the championship teams with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. But each return is special. “Oh, yeah,” Miller said. “What we went through with that team — obviously you win it. But that team was special. Everyone that was around it saw it. It was kind of us against the world a little bit. Between the players and the ownership and the organization and the city, we all kind of came together. We had to. When you do that, you grow a bond. And every time I come back here, it’s special.”

Asked to rank Miami with all of the places he’s played, Miller grinned.

“Miami? Well, we won two championships, so it was unbelievable,” he said. “The organization does everything right. We had a special team. It’s hard to ever to rank things against each other when you’re in the Finals every year and you win two championships and you go through parades with the city. It’s like going somewhere and getting a steak, and then going to the next place and they give you a little skewer. That’s the way it is.”