GAME 1 OF THE NBA FINALS!!! HEATS V. MCCHICKENS, JUNE 1ST, 2023, 8:30PM

[contract]

I like Strus, but he has been awful for several games in a row. He has to be treated the same way Robinson was (finally) treated much of this season. Miss 3's, play less. I don't think you bench him outright, but his minutes need to be cut. He's not a good enough play maker or defender to be playing heavy minutes if he isn't making shots. 9 three point attempts (all misses) in 21 minutes!

Zeller getting minutes over Love is not a good move, unless Love has some injury I'm not aware of. Kevin has his weaknesses but Zeller doesn't really have any real strengths (besides being able to foul and occasionally rebound). At least Love can make open shots, rebound and catch the ball. His defense can't be much worse either. And I'd take Love's championship experience in these big games for a few minutes at a time.

More minutes for Highsmith - self explanatory. He was our 2nd best player, right after Bam.

This game isn't on Spo for me though. He can't put the ball in the basket for Strus, Martin, Robinson, etc. I give him credit for putting Highsmith in. But these are a few adjustments I'd like to see, and feel fairly confident (especially more minutes for Highsmith) that we will see in Game 2.

Yeah, I don't understand the blaming Spo thing. It's not like we weren't getting open looks. If guys don't hit we're screwed because we just don't have a ton of scorers sitting around on the bench to put in. This is the talent we assembled. All he can do is create opportunities for them. If too many guys go cold at once

And yeah, at this point Zeller looks like the sort of fighter that heavyweights schedule for tune up fights or to pad their record. I'd rather have UD out there.

[contract]

Highsmith one game closer to that Finals MVP. Carry us buddy!

Nah, they'll just give it to Jimmy.

[contract]

This whole postseason has been about match ups.. and the Nuggets have the biggest mismatch player in the NBA. No team has an answer for him.

But what we can do is put more size back in the line up

Vincent
Butler
Caleb
Bam
Love

Shelf Strus.. play herro, lowry, duncan and highsmith off the bench

More size = more slow

That's not a good tradeoff.

And as for the biggest mismatch player in the NBA ... Bam has to return that on the other end. Not one game, but every game. Like I said earlier, I want Bam to have 100 dunk attempts in this series. No mid-range, no bunnies, no layups. He needs to attack the rim like prime Vince Carter. Like it said something about his momma.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Also, this was a pretty low energy GT for a Finals game. Feels like we were all dead set on eliminating the Celtics and calling it a season.

I could tell you why but I don’t feel like getting into all that this morning lol

[Enso]

I was working so I missed game 1, saw the highlights but not the same as watching the game. Can anyone provide a breakdown as to what happened ?

[contract]

I was working so I missed game 1, saw the highlights but not the same as watching the game. Can anyone provide a breakdown as to what happened ?

Not really. Basically the Nuggets took an early lead and were never really threatened the rest of the way.

Scroll down to the "Game Flow" ...

https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401544846

That'll tell you everything you need to know. I think the last lead the Heat had was 7-6. After the 1st period we never got closer than 6 points the rest of the way.

[SoFlaKingReal]

What happened is Jimmy Butler **** the bed. 13 points and ZERO free throw attempts from your “star” player is how you lose Finals games.

[HIF]

Considering the short turnaround and altitude, I wasn't expecting a win anyway. Our 3 pointers let us down - so many open 3's missed especially in that first half, whilst we let them take uncontested 3s.

It's going to be hard, but I saw enough that we have a chance and no sweep.

[Letsgokings]

We're in huge trouble

[contract]

We're in huge trouble

Nah trouble would be losing a home game.

[HIF]

We're in huge trouble

only if we can't change the 3 point situation. they are heavy favourites, we'd expect to be in worse trouble

[TroubleS0me]

Butler hasnt had a good game since ECF vs Celtics Game 2

[greg4012]

Read on Twitter

We have to win the turnover battle and take advantage of their lack of depth.

Steal one of these 1st 2 and then protect homecourt. A loss at home in game 3 would be 3 straight home losses, hopefully we don’t let that happen.

I think we’ll need to win 2 in denver overall but I could be wrong

This graphic is telling. Battle for the paint. Miami's defense is predicated on keeping teams out of the paint. Denver's offensive engine ignites with paint offense.

Revisiting this from before the game.

Nuggets scored 32 in the paint in the first half to lead 59-42.

Nuggets scored 14 points in the paint in the second half. Miami outscored Denver 51-45 in the second half

Maybe some of it was Denver taking their foot off the gas (I'm skeptical of this as their main guys all played heavy minutes and Jokic looked very tired towards the end of the game). But, Miami definitely made some adjustments to protect against us ending up with our smaller guys getting mismatched near the basket. Miami also helped on Jokic much less. We need to build off of this.

[Vertical Limit]

What happened is Jimmy Butler **** the bed. 13 points and ZERO free throw attempts from your “star” player is how you lose Finals games.

I mentioned it before… did not like how Butler was breathing after one quarter.. he was taking huge breaths.. like the altitude was affecting him. Meanwhile Bam, seemed to adjust just fine to it. Bam looked like he couldve played another four quarters while Jimmy after one quarter looked like he just finished double OT.

[vaara]

What happened is Jimmy Butler **** the bed. 13 points and ZERO free throw attempts from your “star” player is how you lose Finals games.

I mentioned it before… did not like how Butler was breathing after one quarter.. he was taking huge breaths.. like the altitude was affecting him. Meanwhile Bam, seemed to adjust just fine to it. Bam looked like he couldve played another four quarters while Jimmy after one quarter looked like he just finished double OT.

I'm thinking that Butler is injured and they are not telling us. It would not surprise me if they tell us after the finals that he is having a surgery. Over the course of the game, I'm not sure if I did see him sprinting full speed, perhaps once to defend. In the Boston series he was also moving quite slow last 4-5 games. I think there is something broke in his body, I find it extremely unlikely that he would have quit the team in conference finals.

[Shewasfly]

What happened is Jimmy Butler **** the bed. 13 points and ZERO free throw attempts from your “star” player is how you lose Finals games.

I mentioned it before… did not like how Butler was breathing after one quarter.. he was taking huge breaths.. like the altitude was affecting him. Meanwhile Bam, seemed to adjust just fine to it. Bam looked like he couldve played another four quarters while Jimmy after one quarter looked like he just finished double OT.

I'm thinking that Butler is injured and they are not telling us. It would not surprise me if they tell us after the finals that he is having a surgery. Over the course of the game, I'm not sure if I did see him sprinting full speed, perhaps once to defend. In the Boston series he was also moving quite slow last 4-5 games. I think there is something broke in his body, I find it extremely unlikely that he would have quit the team in conference finals.

If anything its his knee. Might need to have it drained (which is why getting the sweep against Boston made so much sense, for the extra rest ). I don't think its his ankle.

[fishfuego.]

Read on Twitter

We have to win the turnover battle and take advantage of their lack of depth.

Steal one of these 1st 2 and then protect homecourt. A loss at home in game 3 would be 3 straight home losses, hopefully we don’t let that happen.

I think we’ll need to win 2 in denver overall but I could be wrong

This graphic is telling. Battle for the paint. Miami's defense is predicated on keeping teams out of the paint. Denver's offensive engine ignites with paint offense.

Revisiting this from before the game.

Nuggets scored 32 in the paint in the first half to lead 59-42.

Nuggets scored 14 points in the paint in the second half. Miami outscored Denver 51-45 in the second half

Maybe some of it was Denver taking their foot off the gas (I'm skeptical of this as their main guys all played heavy minutes and Jokic looked very tired towards the end of the game). But, Miami definitely made some adjustments to protect against us ending up with our smaller guys getting mismatched near the basket. Miami also helped on Jokic much less. We need to build off of this.

Denver had a 6’10” abusing Vincent over and over. At some point Spo needs to adjust and bring another big to play aside Bam, to change the look and have them think twice about going inside and try to execute from the perimeter, and at this point it would require for them to be hot from there, but if not then you’ll have them playing to your benefit.

[greg4012]

This graphic is telling. Battle for the paint. Miami's defense is predicated on keeping teams out of the paint. Denver's offensive engine ignites with paint offense.

Revisiting this from before the game.

Nuggets scored 32 in the paint in the first half to lead 59-42.

Nuggets scored 14 points in the paint in the second half. Miami outscored Denver 51-45 in the second half

Maybe some of it was Denver taking their foot off the gas (I'm skeptical of this as their main guys all played heavy minutes and Jokic looked very tired towards the end of the game). But, Miami definitely made some adjustments to protect against us ending up with our smaller guys getting mismatched near the basket. Miami also helped on Jokic much less. We need to build off of this.

Denver had a 6’10” abusing Vincent over and over. At some point Spo needs to adjust and bring another big to play aside Bam, to change the look and have them think twice about going inside and try to execute from the perimeter, and at this point it would require for them to be hot from there, but if not then you’ll have them playing to your benefit.

They didn't get to that mismatch in the second half. I think Spo adjusted how Denver hunted those off-ball mismatches with our smaller guys in the game

[RRR3]

This graphic is telling. Battle for the paint. Miami's defense is predicated on keeping teams out of the paint. Denver's offensive engine ignites with paint offense.

Revisiting this from before the game.

Nuggets scored 32 in the paint in the first half to lead 59-42.

Nuggets scored 14 points in the paint in the second half. Miami outscored Denver 51-45 in the second half

Maybe some of it was Denver taking their foot off the gas (I'm skeptical of this as their main guys all played heavy minutes and Jokic looked very tired towards the end of the game). But, Miami definitely made some adjustments to protect against us ending up with our smaller guys getting mismatched near the basket. Miami also helped on Jokic much less. We need to build off of this.

Denver had a 6’10” abusing Vincent over and over. At some point Spo needs to adjust and bring another big to play aside Bam, to change the look and have them think twice about going inside and try to execute from the perimeter, and at this point it would require for them to be hot from there, but if not then you’ll have them playing to your benefit.

Love is our only big who can play with Bam.

[vaara]

I mentioned it before… did not like how Butler was breathing after one quarter.. he was taking huge breaths.. like the altitude was affecting him. Meanwhile Bam, seemed to adjust just fine to it. Bam looked like he couldve played another four quarters while Jimmy after one quarter looked like he just finished double OT.

I'm thinking that Butler is injured and they are not telling us. It would not surprise me if they tell us after the finals that he is having a surgery. Over the course of the game, I'm not sure if I did see him sprinting full speed, perhaps once to defend. In the Boston series he was also moving quite slow last 4-5 games. I think there is something broke in his body, I find it extremely unlikely that he would have quit the team in conference finals.

If anything its his knee. Might need to have it drained (which is why getting the sweep against Boston made so much sense, for the extra rest ). I don't think its his ankle.

Yeah, I'm not sure if it is knee or ankle or rib, but it really feels that something serious has been bothering him for a while now. It seems that he knows that he can't drive and finish with contact and there is reluctancy.