Homework entails a bit of cramming this week for the Nuggets.
Not that they weren’t already preparing for the Miami Heat. With an extra week of rest going into their first-ever NBA Finals, the Nuggets had time to observe and study as Miami and Boston wrestled in a seven-game Eastern Conference Finals that finally ended Monday night. A coach was assigned to scout both potential opponents.
But since that series went the distance, only on Tuesday could Denver definitively hone in on the Heat. For defensive matchup specialist Aaron Gordon, that means it’s time to hit the books.
“We have player personnel sheets and booklets, essentially, that we can go through and study players’ tendencies, what their strengths are, where they like to get to. How they’re most effective,” Gordon said. “I just kind of go through that. Treat it like a bible for the next couple of days.”
Miami star Jimmy Butler is his newest foe after a Denver playoff path featuring Karl-Anthony Towns, Kevin Durant and LeBron James, but Nuggets coach Michael Malone understands the looming challenge of Butler isn’t as simple as any individual one-on-one for an entire series.
“It’s on all five guys on the floor,” Malone said.
Welcome to the NBA Finals, Denver. Where every individual performance is remembered, every matchup dissected, every shot selection or strategic decision scrutinized.
And where every storyline is inflated, even blown out of proportion.
The Nuggets are already on top of that.
“I told our team, forget the eight-seed stuff,” Malone said, referencing the underdog Heat’s updated resume. Miami has eliminated Milwaukee and Boston, the NBA’s top two regular-season records.
“You get to the NBA Finals, it’s not about seeding anymore,” Malone said. “And for those who are thinking this is going to be an easy series, I don’t know what to say to you people. I mean, this is going to be the biggest challenge of our lives. It’s the NBA Finals. You’re trying to win the first NBA championship in franchise history. That’s going to be the hardest thing that we’ve ever done. Which is the way it should be.”
The face-value disparities are hard to miss. The Heat started this postseason as a play-in team before mowing through the Eastern Conference. The Nuggets held the best record in the West for almost the entire regular season. They wanted more respect nationally; now they’re about to get it as a heavy betting favorite to win the championship.
When bulletin board material runs thin, just direct all attention toward X’s and O’s.
So what stands out to the Nuggets about Miami? First of all, Butler.
“Jimmy is a difficult cover for different reasons than the guys I’ve guarded in the past, like K.D. and LeBron, KAT. Jimmy does everything,” Gordon said. “He does all the intangible things. He gets out in transition. He gets cuts. He gets offensive rebounds. He gets backdoors. He gets spin-outs. He does a lot of the game within the game, as well as being really skilled. He’s a difficult cover.”
Malone was quick to mention Caleb Martin, who he thought had a good chance to win MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals. “He’s shooting into a very big basket right now,” he said. That’s indicative of the Heat as a team, too. They lead the league in playoff 3-point shooting. Gordon is intent on denying the drive-and-kick.
Then there’s the defense. Malone’s leading “theme” of the series, he said, will be avoiding turnovers. Miami leads the postseason in points off turnovers per game. Erik Spoelstra deploys a zone more than most NBA teams. Nuggets veteran Jeff Green complimented Spoelstra’s culture and tactical knack for mixing up coverages.
“Try to find open spots, just try to make the right reads,” Jeff Green said. “… They do different things within their zone, obviously, so our job is just to be aggressive and make plays.”
Gordon has been an aggressive student so far. Time is ticking toward Game 1 on Thursday (6:30 p.m. MT, ABC), but he has already arrived at one conclusion.
“We’re not looking at the seeding or the story around it,” he said. “This is a very talented basketball team … and all those guys over there got game.”
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