The Finals Nobody Expected!

The Heat and the Nuggets will face off in the NBA finals. This is Miami's 6th appearance in the finals. Their most recent was before this year was the 2020 bubble. The Nuggets will be playing their first finals game in franchise history. These 2 teams had a very different paths to the finals:

Miami Heat:

They finished the season with a 44-38 record and ended the season as the 7th seed. Contrary to last season, they were the worst 3-point shooting team in the league which of course played a huge part in why they dropped from being the 1st seed last year to a play-in team this year. Miami lost their first game in the play-in tournament to Trae Young and the Hawks. Asa result they had to play Chicago in a do-or-die game where they almost lost as well as they were down 90-87 in the 4th with 3:45 remaining. They pulled off the win but no one gave them any chance vs the 1st seeded Bucks. That's where everyone went wrong. They beat the Bucks in 5. 5!!! The Giannis injury is not an excuse for the Bucks because though he missed the first 3 games, the series was 2-1 Miami and he did come back for games 4 and 5 and played extremely well. Miami was just the better team and Jimmy Butler was on another level. Jimmy Butler finished the final 2 games in this series with a combined total of 98 points. This was against elite defenders in Giannis, Jrue Holiday, and Kris Middleton. Nobody was stopping Jimmy in that series. The Heat would then go on the play the Knicks who also pleasantly surprised everyone as well as they took down the Cavs in 5 in their first-round matchup. This series went 6 games but Miami was the better team. If Jimmy had not turned his ankle in the first game, Miami could have also won this in 5 but instead won in 6. There is not a whole lot to talk about in this series as the Knicks were just not good enough to pose a real threat to the Heat as they were still very young and did not have enough shooting. Miami then advances to face the Boston Celtics in the ECF and here is where things get very interesting. Before the series, ESPN gave Miami a 3% chance to win this series. They thought Boston was the much better team. However, that was proven wrong very quickly as Miami stole 2 games in Boston to begin the series and blew the Celtics off the floor in Miami in game 3. Everyone thought this for sure was going to be a sweep especially since game 4 was in Miami. However, to Boston's credit, they won game 4 116-98. Then they won game 5 110-97. Then they won game 6 104-103 spectacularly with a buzzer-beating bucket by Derrick White. At this point, everyone believed that Boston was going to make history and become the first team to come back from an 0-3 deficit. Instead, Miami went into Boston in game 7 and dominated from start to finish and won 103-84. This is where I must give this Miami team a lot of credit. Coming off of a demoralizing game 6 loss at home in front of the home crowd would demoralize so many teams heading into game 7. However, the leadership of this team especially from Erik Spoelstra to Jimmy Butler is a big reason why Miami came to play in that game 7. Along with the play of Caleb Martin whose performance should not go unnoticed as he was arguably the Heat's best player this series averaging 19.3 points, 6.4 rebounds on 60.2 percent shooting from the field, and 48.8% from 3. He was incredible. Stan Van Gundy and Reggie Miller were alluding to the fact that the team looked at this series as an opportunity and not as a "we blew it" type of deal. The ECF pictured the Miami Heat's season perfectly. Nothing easy but got the job done when it mattered.

Denver Nuggets:

The Nuggets had a smoother path to the finals than their opponent. They were the 1st seed from December onwards as no one challenged them for the top spot of the west since the calendar year of 2023. Despite their dominance, no one gave Denver their respect. Everyone was talking about the Suns after the KD trade, the Lakers after the trade deadline, the Mavs after the Kyrie trade, and even the Clippers. Analysts on shows such as First Take, Undisputed, and First Things First would state that the West is "wide open" this year and there is no true top dog in the West. That of course is a slight to the Nuggets as they imply that no one should fear the Nuggets as a 1-seed. Jokic had once again another great season averaging 24 12 and 9 on 61% shooting. 61% is crazy! The Nuggets finally have a healthy squad after getting back Jamal Murray after he had missed 2 seasons before with an ACL injury. They added KCP, former Laker and NBA champion, who provides shooting and wing defense. The pick-up of Bruce Brown was key as that helped provide a spark for this bench unit. Now onto the 2023 Playoffs. They got the Timberwolves in the first round and beat them in 5. Nothing much to speak on here as they were the 8th seed and I'm sure everyone expected the Nuggets to easily dispatch them. Then came round 2 against the Suns. Kevin Durant and Devin Booker up until that point had only lost 1 game together. They were 12-1. Despite those statistics, Denver hit them in the mouth early and won games 1 and 2 in dominant fashion. Then the series went back to Pheonix where Devin Booker turned their sliders to 99 and did not miss for 2 whole games and was able to tie the series at 2-2. Denver won game 5 as expected as they had not lost a game at home yet. Game 6 is what I thought was very interesting. The Suns came out flat and laid a goose egg on their home court as they got pounded 125-100. This series illustrated that depth and role players matter. Booker and KD looked like they wore down heavily in the final 2 games of the series. Meanwhile, Jokic and Murray were cooking left and right because they had help and did not have to carry the entire scoring load for the Nuggets. Despite the dominant win, there were still many skeptics of the Nuggets. They were up against a Laker team with a lot of momentum. The Lakers had just come off 2 fantastic series beating the Grizzlies and the defending champ Warriors. They were by far the best defense in the playoffs and they have Lebron James and Anthony Davis. So it was understandable that some gave the Lakers a real shot despite them being a 7th seed. The Nuggets uncomfortably won game 1 of the series. They jumped out to a big lead and lead as much as 21 in the 3rd quarter but later found themselves up 3 with less than 2 minutes to go. After the game, the media gave more credit to the Lakers for almost winning and said they figured the Nuggets and all that nonsense but no one gave much attention to the historic game Jokic had. The dude had 34 21 14 for crying out loud. The Nuggets would end up sweeping the Lakers and analysts such as Brian Windhorst talked about how no team has looked better while being swept. If the Nuggets want national respect, they are going to have to win this championship.

Miami vs Denver. Jokic vs Butler. 2 players looking for their first ring. Who's gonna get it done? This is going to be a treat to watch!

Game 1 Prediction: Nuggets 114- Heat 99

I will be posting after every game to give my thoughts and analysis for each game and predictions for the upcoming game as well.