NBA Finals preview capsule: Breaking down Nuggets vs. Heat
The 2023 NBAFinals start Thursday in Denver. Here's a preview of theseries:
8TH SEEDMIAMI HEAT (44-38, 12-6) vs. 1ST SEED DENVER NUGGETS (53-29,12-3)
How they gothere: Heat — beat No. 1 Milwaukee 4-1, beat No. 5 New York 4-2,beat No. 2 Boston 4-3. Nuggets — beat No. 8 Minnesota 4-1; beat No.4 Phoenix 4-2; beat No. 7 Los Angeles Lakers 4-0.
Seasonseries: Nuggets, 2-0. Denver’s two victories came by a combinednine points, with a 124-119 home win on Dec. 30 and a 112-108victory in Miami on Feb. 13.
Schedule:Thursday and Sunday at Denver, June 7 and 9 at Miami, June 12 atDenver if necessary, June 15 at Miami if necessary, June 18 atDenver if necessary.
Starters:Heat — F Jimmy Butler, F Caleb Martin, C Bam Adebayo, G Max Strus,G Gabe Vincent. Nuggets — F Michael Porter Jr., F Aaron Gordon, CNikola Jokic, G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, G Jamal Murray.
Key reserves:Heat — F Kevin Love, F Haywood Highsmith, F Duncan Robinson, C CodyZeller, G Kyle Lowry. Nuggets — F Bruce Brown, F Jeff Green, FChristian Braun.
Storyline:The Nuggets have cruised to the first NBA Finals appearance infranchise history behind Jokic, the two-time NBA MVP who isaveraging 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists in thepostseason. The Heat are here for the seventh time, though this istheir most surprising trip. Minutes away from missing the playoffsentirely, they went on to become the second No. 8 seed to reach thefinals, joining the New York Knicks in 1999.
Injury watch:Miami’s Tyler Herro, out since breaking his hand in the postseasonopener against Milwaukee, has been working out in hopes of playingin this series.
Numbers ofnote: The Heat haven’t won in Denver since Nov. 30, 2016. ...Denver is 8-0 at home in the postseason and has won six straightoverall since being tied 2-2 with the Suns. ... The Heat have wonGame 1 on the road in all three series thus far. ... In Jokic andMurray (27.7 ppg), the Nuggets have two of the top nine scorers inthis postseason. Butler (28.5) is seventh. ... Miami’s bench hasoutscored its opponents by 213 points in the postseason. ... TheHeat lost their past two home games after winning their first sixof the postseason.
Prediction:Denver is a nine-point favorite in Game 1,according to FanDuelSportsbook.But with the Nuggets perhaps rusty sincefinishing off the Lakers on May 22, the Heat may have anotherchance to open with a road win. Even if they do, this time it won’tmatter. Jokic and Murray are on too much of a roll to be stoppednow. It took Denver a long time to get to the NBA Finals, but itwill be worth the wait. Nuggets in 6.
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