2 June 2023 basketball playoffs
Windhorst does a good job giving Miami credit for playing well. The poor shooting early really screwed them, but you have to expect Struss, Martin, and Robinson do better than 2 of 23 or whatever they were combined.
I think Zach Lowe misses the entire point of “turn Jokić into a scorer.” Yes, Jokić can give you 50 and still get 8 assists, but when you have to pick your poison, you have to choose the one that doesn’t get other guys in a rhythm and potentially has them less engaged on defense when they aren’t getting touches. Will it actually work, who knows, but after this relatively easy win for Denver, you have to try it. Plus, I’m going to hammer this home, but if Jimmy’s ankle is okay, he has to guard Murray.
Kevin O’Reactionary already feels like he is backing off his Denver in 6 pick to something along the lines of 5. I don’t think it can be overstated that Miami only gave up 104 in a game where Jimmy Butler was passive and didn’t guard Murray.
As easily as Jokić can make quick work of Bam in the post, for Miami to have a shot, they need to turn Jokić into a scorer. And Jimmy Butler needs to guard Jamal Murray.
Credit to the Heat, though, for not fetishizing one line in a box score that didn’t really explain how the Nuggets owned Game 1, and for not holding three normal-sized folks with TJ Maxx-sales-bin shirts responsible for a job that only the Heat themselves can do.
This is mostly a pointless article. The Heat aren’t blaming the refs because the Heat didn’t attack the basket. As a team with Jimmy Butler who lives at the line, you have to put pressure on the refs to blow the whistle. It’s not about fetishizing one line in a box score, it’s about how the Heat actually performed during the game and the free throws absolutely tell a story about how the game went, and more importantly, how the Heat let an 11 point game, where they played decently (but not perfect), slip away by not being aggressive.
Tons of great clips going over the game last night. Biggest takeaways for me are a) the Miami Heat were doubling Jokić too early and too far outside the paint and b) once again… Jimmy Butler’s lack of aggressiveness.
Give me “Over Reaction” for 500, please. I mean, yeah, I still have the Nuggets winning the Finals, but this is dumb.
Nuggets are favored by 8.5 again in game two. Unless Butler’s ankle is truly f*cked, game two should be closer than game one (11 points), so taking Miami and the points would seem like a no-brainer to me. I originally had Miami wining game two in my NBA Finals Preview so I’m sticking with that.