You’re Joking…. (NBA Finals Guide)
The NBA Season is long and it bends towards Jimmy Butler
The finals are here ( it only took literally- 3 months) and while many hot picks wanted a classic Celtics-Lakers match up, the marquee event in the world of basketball has two somewhat unexpected teams duking it out for the title. Odds makers will tell you this is a done deal, basketball twitter will tell you Florida is inevitable, and the worst person you know will say Lebron should have won the whole thing. It’s a lot of hot takes to navigate, and we’re here to be your road map. (Truly we just love maps). And like any good road trip, we’ll be stopping for some spicy heat-nuggets along the way!
Denver’s Quest for Glory
Despite coming into the playoffs as the number 1 seeded team after winning the western conference in the regular season, no one really bought the Denver Hype at first. They may be led by 2x reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, and don’t get it twisted the NBA is a league of STAR POWER more than anything else, but in case you missed it the playoffs started literally two months ago so there was just plenty of room for things to go wrong before now. The Nugs have flamed out in the playoffs in recent years, most notably losing to the Lakers in the bubble in 2020. And UNLIKE a lot of other teams who did crazy rebuilds and trades in the off season (see: The Utah Jazz), coming into this year they seemed to be using the same recipe: Follow Jokic’s lead and hope for the best. There are supposedly other members of this team (notably: Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope aka KCP), but they are merely small actors supporting an Oscar winning performance (proof: after watching these games I don’t think I heard any of these dudes mentioned)- Jokic is a massive force on the floor, he is literally unstoppable. Every player on the opposing team has to guard him (you saw this go poorly for the Lakers, where big man Anthony Davis got lost in the secret nugget sauce and it completely disrupted Los Angeles’ team rhythm).
So who IS this Serbian prince? Well, as mentioned, he’s a pretty dang big star in the NBA and abroad. He’s put his home country on the map as a basketball powerhouse, and though he struggled in his first few years to match the athleticism the league demanded (read: the nuggets man loved his nuggets), at 28 he is in his prime in terms of physique and in basketball intelligence. He is the leader of this team both statistically and emotionally, but he isn’t really the hero most people want. He’s a classic Eastern European dude: spends his summer tending to his horse farm back home (???? literally mucking out stalls???), he doesn’t share much about his personal life and isn’t the drama queen that some stars are (cough James Harden cough). His nickname is the Joker (get it? because his last name?)
Will it be enough to bring the Larry O’Brien trophy back to Denver for the first time…ever? Well!
Enter: The Miami Heat
Ok now we are talking about an ACTUAL underdog: who knew Florida would make it this far. The Heat were 1 play in game away from missing the playoffs completely (the alternate universe in which DeMar DeRozan’s daughter attended the Bulls-Heat game instead of “going to school” and successfully heckles the heat into a loss…we may never know what that future held). Then they went off and beat the Bucks (shocked the world), the Knicks (RIP but not a huge stretch), and heavy heavy favorites the Celtics. Those were all hard fought, hard won, GRITTY series, which is exactly what the Heat wants. Heat Culture baby!! (this is something you can say at literally any given time in reference to Miami basketball. No one really knows what it means, no one really cares, it’s literally vibes).
I’m not afraid to admit that I too underestimated Miami. When one of their key players Tyler Herro (sorry but I am legally obligated to link this) was ruled out early on with an ankle injury (insert our typical spiel about the NBA season being too long, the amount of games being hard on the players etc etc), I thought, but how could the Heat overcome this? One man and one man alone: Jimmy Butler folks. Jimmy Buckets. HIMmy Butler. Call him what you want but he has been in RARE form this playoff season, making the Heat look like the ‘96 Bulls (pulled that reference out of my ass I hope it’s accurate) despite the fact that they spent the regular season as a mid tier team. Truly the man is built different! He has played through an ankle injury nearly all playoffs, he has put up NUMBERS for his team, and he has been a gosh dang inspiration that it even made me, a hater of all things florida, join the Miami Camp. UNLIKE his western foe Jokic though, Jimmy has not done this alone. He has been the juice of the team (they’ve got the juice), but his supporting cast has seriously stepped up their games as well- see: Bam Adebayo (a name I love because whenever he scores I can yell BAM à la Emeril Lagasse), Kevin Love, and Kyle Lowry. (this is less important but they also have a player named Nikola JoVic? Has anyone checked to make sure that he isn’t Nikola Jokic in a trenchcoat?!?!!?!). They have worked for years to develop a Miami style of play that is unique and effective: Jimmy is just the latest in a long line of players to lead this charge, and a huge part of that culture is coach Eric Spoelstra (Not to brag but I spelled that right on my first try). Spoelstra has been a basketball nerd since Day 1- working as a Video Coordinator in Miami in 1995 and staying with the Heat since then. This man has worked for the Miami Heat longer than most of his players have been alive?!?!!? Hot dang! For the record, you should know that he’s never won coach of the year, but he beat several on his way here. Anyway the Heat have BUCK’d expectations (see what I did there? Because they upset the Bucks? Get it?) all playoff season, so it’s hard to root against them now. That being said, the Nuggets have been on an absolute tear, sweeping team after team and not even looking stressed. Both teams have gotten a bit of rest coming into this series, which could be a key factor.
The Series
While most people think the Nuggets will do away with Miami in 5, this series, like all NBA Playoff match ups, could go to 7 games. The games started June 1 (yes sry we late we had a lot going on)in Denver, which, as a reminder, is at altitude ( something they never let you forget) . We’re not in the business of making picks (what if the NBA decides to rehire me! I can’t be caught playing favorites!) but we ARE ride or die Pitbull fans so you won’t catch us rooting AGAINST the 305. However, the Joker seems…inevitable.
