NBA Finals 2023 – First Look and Key Series for the Nuggets-Heat . Match

top seed Denver nuggets are heading to their first NBA Finals in franchise history and will face a surprising eighth seed Heat Miamiwho returned to the Finals through the play-in tournament.

Nuggets, behind the leadership of the two-time MVP Nikola Jokićwill be looking to claim the franchise’s first title, while Heat, behind the playoff excellence of Jimmy the butlerwill be looking to claim a fourth title in their franchise after a defeat in the 2020 Finals inside the Orlando bubble.

Denver has a lot of motivation after passing LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers with a four-game sweep in the Western Conference final.

Meanwhile, Miami isn’t expected to get this far any time before the knockouts open, especially after the loss. Atlanta Hawks in the first game of the play-in tournament. Since that loss, the Heat have won 13-6 after the season, trailed by a 7 . game the habit of Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals.

Now, the two teams will go head-to-head for the title, and our experts are answering the biggest questions ahead of one of the most unexpected NBA Finals in league history.

THAN: Final fixtures and news | title odds

Nuggets get some rest… a bit also rest?

By the time Game 1 ends on Thursday at Ball Arena, the Nuggets will be given a 10-day break, only the fourth time in two decades that a team has been given such a long break before the Finals. (Year 2013 San Antonio Spurs and golden empire warriors 2017 and 2019 also have 10 days off after sweeping.)

Because Boston was able to come back from a 3-0 defeat to force Game 7, Denver will have seven more days off than Miami. However, Nuggets coach Michael Malone doesn’t believe that’s an advantage.

“For us, my biggest concern is rhythm but more importantly conditioning,” Malone told reporters Friday. when the team returns to practice.

“You’re playing every other day for a long time, and now suddenly you have an 8, 9, 10 day break, whatever that is. I want to make sure we’re up and down, conditionally. .”

Teams like Denver with the advantage of at least a five-day break to advance to the Finals won 10-6 (.625) in their opening game, but that can tell how well they’ve done.

When teams with such a big break advantage play at home in Game 1 of the Finals, they score 8-1 (0.889) — much better than the team’s 0.763 overall win percentage. host in Game 1 (58-18).

More importantly, teams with both home advantage and a break of at least five days will go 8-1 all-time in the Finals, with the only loss coming in 1998. Utah Jazz against “The Last Dance” Chicago bulls. So there’s every reason to think taking a break would be of great benefit to the Nuggets.

–Kevin Pelton

Will Jokic continue to celebrate? Maybe

Not long after receiving his first MVP trophy in the Western Conference finals, Jokic said he wasn’t thinking about winning the MVP trophy.

He’s focused on lifting one piece of hardware, and that’s the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Jokic has four more wins to go before that and the only things standing in his way are Butler and the Heat.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra will have to find a way to do what Rudy Gobert And The town of Karl-Anthony, Kevin Durant And Booker DevinLeBron and Anthony Davis couldn’t do — stop The Joker.

Trying to match Jokic’s wits and slow him down is the biggest challenge in the NBA right now. Blue Draymond told ESPN after the Warriors beat the Nuggets in the first round last year that “every possession is a game of chess” and that trying to outwit Jokic in the post-season was only appropriate for trying. trying to beat LeBron in the NBA Finals. (And that’s without having to deal with Jamal Murray And Michael Porter Jr.. at Jokic’s side last year.)

Spoelstra may be in the midst of his best coaching yet. But as the Lakers discovered after they temporarily slowed Jokic by placing Rui Hachimura in the center to allow Davis to roam, finding a way to stop Jokic in a series of games might be impossible. Jokic is averaging 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists with eight NBA-record triple-doubles in the knockout stages, six coming in his past eight games. .

“We’ve seen all the adjustments,” Murray said when asked about how the Nuggets adapted to Hachimura’s move in Game 1 last round.

“We’ve seen the baseline double, the top-down double, the sign from a non-shooter to single-coverage… We’ve seen every different type of mix. We’ve seen that. [the LA Clippers] try to put Kawhi [Leonard] And [Paul George] to convert it — we’ve seen everything.”

— Ohm Youngmisuk

Miami’s Keys: Keep Bam On The Court, Keep Warm From Deep

Aside from the attention Butler, the MVP of the Eastern Conference finals, will attract, the biggest key to the Heat is keeping Bam Adebayo out of foul trouble. Jokic comes into this series as the most dominant player in the game, so Adebayo will have to try to limit him on defence. And offer some help to Butler in a derogatory manner.

cody zeller And Kevin love provided solid minutes after the season for Spoelstra, but they lacked the skill and consistency of Adebayo. Should Heat’s All-Star center experience any fouls, Jokic will become an even bigger problem.

Also, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin And Duncan Robinson need to keep hitting the photos. Vincent made 11-14 from the field in Miami’s third game against the Celtics, but Spoelstra has repeatedly praised his play and helped the team in various ways.

Martin entered Game 4 with a 63.2% shot rate from the field and was undeterred by the allure of the knockout round, especially after dropping a total of 47 points in Games 6 and 7.

After slipping off the rotation, Robinson filled up wonderfully as an offensive weapon from the bench with Tyler Herro And Victor Oladipo eliminated — Robinson combined 13 to 20 in Games 2 and 3. Herro, who broke his right arm in Game 1 of the first series with Milwaukee Buckscould reappear sometime before Nuggets.

–Nick Friedell