by Davin Haley (8th)
WIth the NBA Finals starting this tomorrow (6/1/2023), they look to be very exciting. Two teams who have completely different play styles going head to head to win four games. Will it be a sweep? 5 games? 6 games? Or will the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets need to make up their minds in game 7. The number of games is not as important as the discussion that has been brought up in the past few days leading up to the finals.
The finals mean a lot for each team that makes it and the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets are no exception.
Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokic (L) and Miami Heat Jimmy Butler (R) face off in the the 2023 NBA finals.
Looking into the Nuggets first, a finals win would be their first championship victory in franchise history. Nikola Jokic would most likely win finals MVP which would make Joel Embiid’s MVP win this past season seem undervalued as not only did Jokic get MVP twice before, but now a finals MVP. Jokic winning finals MVP would make him the first center to win finals MVP since Tim Duncan back in 2005.
If the Miami Heat were to win the finals, they would have already been the first team in the eighth seed to make the finals since the New York Knicks. The Heat actually winning the Finals would not only give the Heat their fourth franchise championship, but would make history as no eighth seed has ever won an NBA championship. A finals win would also be the first for Jimmy Butler who has been a crucial part of the Heat since he joined the organization back in 2019.
The Nuggets are very strong contenders for winning, but when the paint matters the most, I don’t think that the Nuggets can pull the rebounds off especially when you could be up against Bam Adebayo in the paint. Jokic is truly an excellent passer, but if a big man is playing guard, points in the paint are going to be difficult when you have 6 '9 Bam Adebayo attacking the ball and the boards.
Jimmy Butler and his Heat may have some issues as well. Although they might go into game one favored by most NBA fans, the Heat came into this playoff series in the eighth seed, and now they are in the finals. Butler has had the team on his back for a lot of the season with some special appearances from Bam Adebayo, and Caleb Martin who really showed up in game seven of the Celtics series scoring 26 points in three quarters. The consistency not just of Butler, but of the whole team is going to be important, especially when facing the Nuggets who have excellent chemistry. After losing three games in a row and being taken to game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals, and losing chances of sweeping the Celtics at home, the Heat need to keep consistency or else the Nuggets may have too much momentum game after game.
I must say the NBA Finals are going to be great this year. Two teams no one thought would make it this far managed to demolish teams that were hoping for their shot at the finals. Both teams will hopefully put up a fight to keep us entertained.
Image Citation:
"NBA Finals." AP Photo/Getty Images. Published May 30, 2023. Accessed May 31, 2023. https://www.skysports.com/nba/news/36226/12893051/2023-nba-finals-can-denver-nuggets-win-their-first-ring-will-miami-heat-spoil-the-party