Are 4th different final matchup in the last 4 years put the first seeded in the West Denver Nuggets against the eight seeded Eastern Miami Heat. The Nuggets have been on a crash course for this stage all year, taking the conference one seed back in late December and never looking back holding it throughout the rest of the regular season before disposing of there playoffs foes in 5 games in round 1, 6 games in round 2, and an impressive 4 game sweep in the conference finals. The Heat meanwhile were a shell of their first seeded team from a year ago. Being an up and down team all year landed with conference 7th seed at the end of the regular season before ultimately falling down to the 8th seed in the play in. A team of destiny vs a playoff hopeful, on paper it appears this series will be over quickly, and it will be.
It would be disrespectful of me to call the Heat just a good a story, they have proven their are good team, maybe not the most talented, but a good team no doubt led by brilliant head coach Erik Spoelstra. However we must be honest with what we saw. There were heavy
It would be disrespectful of me to call the Heat just a good a story, they have proven their are good team, maybe not the most talented, but a good team no doubt led by brilliant head coach Erik Spoelstra. However we must be honest with what we saw. There were heavy beneficiaries of injury luck with Giannis missing basically the 1st three games of the 1st series in which the heat won 2-1 in the games without him, the Jaylen Brown injury in game 1 of the Conference Finals and the Tatum injury in game 7. Along with the injuries they were shooting unbelievably good from 3 in the 1st 3 games of Conference Finals to race out to a 3-0 lead which is good for them but not a sustainable winning strategy as we saw when they nearly blew the 3-0 lead when there shooting returned to normal. The Denver Nuggets however are a great and talented team and can and will exploit quite a few things with the Miami Heat to make this a quick series
1. For whatever reason they suck at rebounding
The Heat have been outrebounded 783-644 this postseason. That is a 139 difference. Is has not hurt them to bad yet this far but against the monster that is the Denver offense, that last thing you want to do is give up 2nd and 3rd chances. They have not shown they can do this, and I do not expect that to change now. Advantage Denver 2.
2. Denver will kill their zone
The Heat have played an excellent zone defense this postseason, particularly against the Boston Celtics who had no answers to figure it out. However with a more seasoned coach in Mike Malone, and better matchups to exploit, particularly Jokic, the zone can backfire in a big way and essentially taking away the one advantage the Heat potentially had. Advantage Denver.
3. This is not Joe Mazzulla
Head Coach for Boston Joe Mazzulla was put into a tough situation with former Head Coach Ime Udoka being suspended just a month before the start of the regular season. He did an excellent job, leading the Celtics to the conference’s 2 seed but showed obvious signs of inexperience throughout the year and especially during this series. Mike Malone is a seasoned veteran coach with 22 years of experience and having 8 years being head coach of the nuggets. The coaching disparity will be non existent taking yet another potential advantage away from Miami. Advantage neutral.
4. Bad matchups all around
The Nuggets present bad matchups all around for the Heat. Starting with Jokic who his a mismatch for anyone in the league. Jamal Murray who is one the leagues best tough shot takers and makers. The length of Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. will present challenges defensively for the Heat not to mention Michaels lights out shooting. The Heat will have a tough time keeping guys in front them and on the other side of the floor scoring. Advantage Denver.
The Heat have proved me wrong, there not only a good story but a good team but they have ran into a buzzsaw with the Denver Nuggets. This series doesn’t go past five with Denver winning game 5 in front of their home crowd and taking home the franchises first NBA championship.
