Amuse Productions

Photo Courtesy: Sky Sports

It’s that time of the year. The time where we get sad our favorite NBA players aren’t on the court anymore and are somewhere in Cancun, but are happy we still get to see some amazing talent square off in the Finals. This year is a very different Finals with two teams not everyone expected. Denver was odd to not expect as their 2-time MVP Nikola Jokic had yet another historic season, and arguably a robbed 3rd MVP award, leading a Denver Nuggets team that was also historically efficient on offense and defense. As I said previously, they’re not flashy, but they’ll very much beat you by 20 if they have to. Miami was definitely the dark horse, coming into the playoffs through the play-in as the 8th seed losing their first game and giving up the 7th seed spot (which would’ve seen them face the Celtics way before), they would then go on to beat the Chicago Bulls and claim the 8th seed, then knocking off a 1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks, granted without Giannis in 5 games. They then faced off against a red hot New York Knicks team with a Jalen Brunson led offense that seemed very reminiscent of the 90’s led team with John Starks. Miami beats them in 6, and going against Boston we thought the Celtics would do a lot more, but an almost choked 3-0 lead, Miami beats them in 7.

Photo Courtesy: NBA.com

What’s very interesting and kind of ironic, is that Miami is only the 2nd ever 8th seeded team to go to the NBA Finals, the last was the 1999 New York Knicks who would knock off a Reggie Miller led Indiana Pacers and face the 1 seed San Antonio Spurs, losing to them in 5 games. However, how different is Miami to this New York Knicks team, and will they stand a chance against Denver? In an NBA season where having over forty 20+ PPG scorers is a normality, Jokic still managed to nab himself 24.5 PPG, 9.8 APG, and 11.8 RPG as a Center is unprecedented. Granted we are moving into position less basketball, which gives more freedom tactic wise, but for a big to be able to have that sense of passing, as well as that tenacity at his size to move like a guard with his combo of footwork and dribble moves is killer. Upping his game now in the playoffs to 29.9 PPG, 10.3 APG, and 13.3 RPG is something unlike what we’ve ever seen. The crazy thing is, Miami may not have an answer for that at all. Sure Bam Adebayo will be his matchup, and Bam is a great defender overall, but when it comes to bigger players, he tends to become a lot smaller in stature. Bam himself in this playoffs only has 16.8 PPG and 9.2 RPG, especially on worse shooting from the regular season from 54% to 49%. Miami’s main answer to Jokic may have to be constant double teams, or what the Lakers did which, despite them being swept by the Nuggets worked great, have a smaller defender waiting being posted up by Jokic, while you have the bigger defender in the paint waiting to block or simply defend Jokic.

Photo Courtesy: AZ Central

The only ace in the hole for Miami is Jimmy Butler, and knowing how great of a coach Mike Malone is, he may see those exploits Boston had on him, which really was simply to force him to be nervous and not shoot the whole game. Jimmy will most likely be the deciding factor for Miami as will Jamal Murray which means we may be seeing some duels of back and forth, “Anything you can do, I can do better” displays. However, what it may come down to is simply whose depth it may be that shoots and plays better. The matchups are there, but it’s mainly if Bruce Brown keeps that momentum for Denver with great defense and efficient shooting, or Caleb Martin for Miami with a deadly 3 and defensive presence that is very distracting for most, and again it may be what the bench and the depth of these teams does that will be the deciding factor.

The key for Miami is to try not to rely on Jimmy for everything, but also not rely on the 3 as much as other teams have done against them. Defensively, the zone defense may not work as much against Denver, Jokic is way too smart and Denver moves the ball too well to contain them on a simple zone defense, especially with their reliable shooters.

The key for Denver is to exploit Miami on the inside, Boston did this fantastic as they kept pushing in certain games into the paint and easily got by Miami’s defense, and seeing how smart the plays are from Denver, it might be easy with their bigger size and physicality to push Miami’s back against the wall. On defense, contain Jimmy as much as you can, and by that you need KCP on him, as much as Murray isn’t a bad defender, he’s not great to contain someone like Jimmy Butler, KCP has the size and capability to be able to box Jimmy out and keep him away from the paint.