(1) denver nuggets (8) miami heat 2023 nba finals ft the joker and mommy butler

nuggz in 5

the

if you have to get in a street fight with a team of destiny riding a wave of good vibes it's best to have a 2-time MVP on your side playing at or near his peak. should be interesting for at least the first three games.

i think the team thats won their last 6 games are the ones that are riding a wave

you have to favor the nuggets based on seeding, the regular season and their playoffs performance, but the heat have spat on the odds three times running, so there's that to consider.

all i can think is home court, thanks for that

one fun wrinkle here is Tyler Herro will be back and honestly given how they've played without him idk if that's necessarily a good thing for Miami

lol I had this tab open and thought "wait a minute how do I have one new message on ilxor.com"

oh haha didn't realize that well now i have hacked ilx send me to jail

Mommy Butler will headline next year's Sick New World

hahaha this tab thing is not OK

this feels like it should be nuggets in 5, but the heat have feasted on favorites all season

thought about it overnight and decided that nuggets will win the nba playoffs

there's a number of specific things about this match up that really concern me

the heat having 1 big man in particular... as good as i think bam is, being the only guy on your team above 6' 7" who can go up against jokic in a playoff series is a lot to ask of anyone. also unless they change how they play defense, they're gonna force denver's role players to make threes to beat them and i do think it will put pressure on gordon and bruce brown. but the bargain gets a lot tougher when it comes to MPJ and KCP. also they were happy letting second stars like middleton & jaylen brown shoot threes to their heart's content & i'm not sure that's possible w/ murray. the heat are going to be banking on guys who typically shoot well from three to not shoot well from three

murray in particular feels like the key to me -- jokic is gonna do his thing but i think murray is the one where, if this series goes sideways for denver it will be because murray has some bad shooting games & it starts to seep into the rest of his play and he second guesses himself, won't pull the trigger, starts gumming up the offense in crunch time etc. to be clear i don't *expect* this to happen but if we're sitting here and it's somehow 3-2 miami it wouldn't surprise me if murray's play was the big culprit

ultimately there's really nothing on paper that would make you think this series will be particularly competitive, even head to head the heat have had huge issues w/ denver in the regular season recently. but the heat have thrived the entire playoffs on being the underdogs, that they're in yet another series where everyone is laughing off their chances like "yeah the other team in 5 gimme a break" has me feeling good. when they got up 3-0 on boston and everyone had to admit that it looked like they were gonna win the series they completely lost their mojo. having to go win it in boston as the underdogs was actually a far more comfortable position, weirdly, and i think it showed in how they played. i think they'll be ready to attack the series and put some pressure on denver in a way they haven't felt yet in the playoffs. will that be enough? probably not but sometimes we think we know where the finals is headed and it veers completely off course and flies off the side of a mountain. go heat.

It's no wonder why the Nuggets own an all-time home winning percentage of .652. Away from Denver, the Nuggets are a paltry .350 all time. That .302 difference between home and road win percentage is the largest for any active franchise in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37762170/nba-finals-2023-how-denver-altitude-gives-nuggets-edge

thats even wider than i expected

it's notorious that visiting teams to the mile-high city can't adjust quickly to the altitude, but that's a huge difference.

Jokic, however, believes the Nuggets' play should get more credit for their home-court advantage.

"Maybe, maybe not," Jokic says of whether the elevation impacts the opposing team.

"We think it's us."

fair point

the denver nuggets will win the nba playoffs in five

On paper, it looks like the Nuggets in a walk but the Heat seems to be able to defy expectations. I can't see Miami winning but I would not be surprised if they win 2 or 3.

It's no wonder why the Nuggets own an all-time home winning percentage of .652. Away from Denver, the Nuggets are a paltry .350 all time. That .302 difference between home and road win percentage is the largest for any active franchise in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

I was honestly shocked to learn, though, that over the WHOLE NBA, home teams win 60% of the time. That's a huge advantage! And makes the Nuggets stat not so startling. 65-35 instead of 60-40.

iirc home court advantage has decreased a lot recently

didn't Charles Barkley used to talk about how teams would party all night in visiting cities and play a lot of NBA games hung over

also 65-35 I think is a pretty dramatic split for the not-exactly-historically-great Nugs

nugs are historically fine? they have an all time winning pct slightly over .500, they were only really bad in the 90s

iirc home court advantage has decreased a lot recently

Sure, but the that might be true for the Nuggets HCA too.

yeah they've been decent for a while but I still think that home court split is pretty significant

imo kinda hard to judge the degree to which denver has a special home court advantage nowadays vs the degree to which they have the 2 time MVP who never misses games on their team

it makes sense that altitude especially if you’re just flying in and out would have some effect. but there’s a pretty big fly in the ointment here

speaking as someone who has spent some time in colorado when you come into 5k ft denver from sea level you dont really notice the altitude, until you try to do some exercise and then you definitely notice it, and theres also an advantage for denver going the other way in that if you train at altitude you have more endurance at sea level

isn't that like a Dragonball Z plotline or something

training/living at high elevation then competing at sea level is why kenya produces so many of the top long distance runners in the world

amongst other reasons, its a pretty fascinating situation, if you find running interesting lol

AFTER THE NUGGETS finished 23-18 at home during the 2021-22 season with Murray out with a knee injury, general manager Calvin Booth had a staff member research what the competitive advantage is from playing at elevation and how the Nuggets can exploit it both physically and mentally.

Understanding that exercising at elevation can lead to symptoms of nausea, fatigue and cognitive impairment for those not acclimated, the Nuggets wanted to see when they could strategically push the pace and identify lineups that can play faster to maximize potentially the most influential home-court factor in the league.

"All the teams I've been on, essentially you're definitely going to feel it in the first couple minutes," Booth, who played 10 seasons in the NBA, told ESPN. "Typically, you get your second wind pretty quickly and you stop thinking about it. But now in a high-intensity environment like the playoffs, maybe late in the game it starts to affect you a little bit more."

Booth also wanted to examine how other pro and college teams that play at altitude try to get into the heads of opponents.

By halfway through this season, the Nuggets had devoted the majority of their allotted 30 seconds designated for introducing the opponent's starting lineup to their altitude warning. (It has forced Speller to go through the opponents' starting five as if he is competing in a speed reading contest.)

Speller will also slip an ominous-sounding "5,280 feet" during breaks in the game like he did during one coaching challenge in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the conference finals.

"He just drops that in kind of subliminally when you can tell a guy is getting a little tired [or] made a bad pass," Craig Dzaman, Nuggets senior director of game presentation, told ESPN.

Don't know if this really makes a difference but it's pretty funny

a good chunk of elite american endurance athletes live in boulder, when i lived there itd be funny to be out running trails and have these guys absolutely shredding past you

yeah ive spent some time at my uncles place in CO which is at like 7200 ft and you dont really notice it until you try to do any exercise at which point it's immediate. ive never been there longer than 2 weeks though so i dunno how long it takes to go away completely but 2 weeks wasnt quite enough for me

i am obviously not an athlete though. if i was then i'd be in the nba instead of posting about it

for me once you go that high its noticeable without the exercise, not uncommon for people to get altitude sickness at 7k ft and have to be taken down to lower altitude, i lived at a little higher than that for a while dont really remember how long it took to adjust maybe at least a few weeks, but you never fully adjust because theres just not that much air up there

friends -- I am in sweden, and my cable logins aren't working. what's the best way to stream the game in high quality? I had no idea VPNs cost money...I'll do it, but is there another way??

I use this sometimes: https://reddit.rnbastreams.com/

it's annoying and you gotta click through some ads to watch (I think the trick is don't close the pop-ups until AFTER the stream starts), but hey, it works. sometimes.

ya that would be a last resort, but I’d ideally like a realiable high quality stream

ESPN+? Does that have the same issue as your cable logins?

i think abc.com might be showing it without having to connect a cable account?

there are definitely some high quality streams on there, you just gotta make sure to full screen it and never ever ever look at the chat box. idk maybe for the finals they'll be a bit more unreliable because so many more people will be on. for random Bucks games they were fine. similarly you can search Twitter for streams, you can usually find something if you're in a bind. I know Twitter clamped down on that for a while but I am guessing that shit is running rampant on Elon Twitter

crackstreams dot biz/nbastreams

stream dot nbabite dot com

nbabite dot to

make sure you have all of the adblockers and preferably a pihole running as well

the bootleg streams were noticably more unreliable/overloaded for the warriors/lakers series lol

yes. there are still plenty of good streams available though. there must be an enormous number of people pirating.

I had to use one for that one game that was on NBA TV or whatever and it took a few tries but eventually you find a good one

ESPN giving Tim Legler air time now because they realized he was the only one watching the Nuggets all this time and could talk about them competently lol

— Voja (@VojaMedic) June 1, 2023

the 2023 nuggets will win the nba playoffs

― methinks dababy doth bop shit too much (m bison), Monday, June 22, 2020 10:52 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

BISON

salute

hoopstradamus

whoa

YouTubeTV sponsoring the nba finals yet won’t provide its customers with better quality than 720p.

I’m VPNed up baby let’s go

*respectfully taps gloves with j0rdan*

this is an exciting time for a life long nuggets fan like myself

I used to ride my bike to McNichols to see the games back in the 80s. I was there when Alex English got his 20,000th point. Even though I've been away for 30+ years, I'm really excited and emotional about this.

thats awesome

this is an exciting time for a life long nuggets fan like myself

― lag∞n,

as a noted and long-time resident (some even say "the spiritual mayor") of denver, colorado, usa, i'm quite enthused for this series

as the creator of all life including the denver metroplex i am very excited to watch the nuggets play against the team that formed against My will, the heat

*bows humbly*

lol

dark blue and dark red uni combo a real shame, they are the exact same color value

let’s go jimbeaux!

porter starting slow again

just looked up the time in sweden, bless your commitment k3v

Gordon lighting them up is a very good way to start.

gordon locked in

porter starting slow again

― k3vin k., Thursday, June 1, 2023 8:44 PM (one second ago) bookmarkflaglink

on offense, I should clarify. been great on the boards and on D already

time to get the small guys off of gordon

just looked up the time in sweden, bless your commitment k3v

― Clay, Thursday, June 1, 2023 8:45 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

I stopped at like every bar we passed today to ask if they would be open, sadly ball is not life out here. stockholm beautiful city tho

denver’s size is already the story. other than the playoffs and when they played the nuggs, I haven’t seen a ton of heat games this year, but based on their numbers it doesn’t look like they crash the offensive glass much — and it seems like they’re selling out there to make sure they’re set on defense. will be interesting to see how that plays out

of course as soon as I say that bam has a putback slam

Aaron Gordon all world express

Aaron Gordon has 6 dunks/layups. That is the most in any quarter in his entire career. @ESPNStatsInfo

— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) June 2, 2023

jokic 0 fga with less than a minute to go in the first

carving them up with movement and passing

why attempt a field goal if your teammate is open in the paint

he took a shot

ok so now I open the NBA app and the game is streaming live?

JVG watches a guy get completely clobbered in the face and says "thats not a foul to me"

he has his own fouls

JVG is of the mindset that if it wasnt intentional then its not to be called a foul

jokic bulldozing zeller content is good

that was amazing lol

he was like fine fine i'll take this one myself

this is about how i expected the denver games to go

Murray jump shots like buttah

nice finish for the nugs

couldn't go much better for denver than that

Cody Zeller wandered onto the court a while ago and security still hasn’t noticed or done anything about it

— Zach Harper (@talkhoops) June 2, 2023

jokic very much like nash where scoring is his second choice.

I'm having a good time

feel like jokic is fully actualized now, played a perfect clean controlled half to set the tone

watching my boys and eating the world's most mediocre delivery pizza as the sun comes up at 3am in beautiful europe which is technically where jokic is from, the vibes are correct

Murray jump shots like buttah

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, June 1, 2023 6:29 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

top three jump shot form for me for current players. a lot of people like porter jrs but i dont like how close his feet are and it looks a little too floppy for me

beautiful xp

jokic 3/3 from the field with 10 assists no turnovers in the first half lmao

k3v living the dream with a stress free half of basketball

Pat Riley crashing random zooms, hoping to stumble upon some gloating nuggs fans he can show Duncan

if miami continues to miss all the threes they made vs the celtics im going to wait til after the series to whine about it but just know i am harboring a whine

i am harboring a whine

noted

struss and martin 0/12 fg so far

leading with player interviews to start quarter instead of coaches is an improvement

no interviews ever tho

yeah its way better. coaches way too stressed to say anything interesting

heat just not guarding bruce brown

hes been hitting some tough shots tho for sure

a finals wedgie!

where’s nuggs finals fap?

I’d love to see adebayo’a shot chart after this game, he’s got to be like 10/16 from a foot behind the FT line

adebayo baffles me, in game 7 he would barely look at the rim

my suggestion to the heat for game 2 is make shots earlier in the game, that's the time to do it

Denver looked super comfy surprised anyone broke a sweat.

nuggets underperformed from 3, room for improvement there next time

Some ill-advised three-point attempts for sure, they took their foot off the gas which is fine with such a comfortable lead and not enough time but I'm sure Malone had some pointed observations.

watching my boys and eating the world's most mediocre delivery pizza as the sun comes up at 3am in beautiful europe

This reminded me of attempting to watch game 1 of the finals in 2019 while at Primavera Sound in Barcelona. Only problem was someone like FKA Twigs or Low was about to start their set or something

seems like the heat really miss butler — any word on if he’ll be back for game 2

i thought jimmy looked tired last night. he had good explosion in his legs but by the second quarter he was walking up the court and having other guys bring the ball up. the heat taking two FTs as a team is probably an indication that they were all kinda beat down

if there was anything interesting that happened for the heat in that game it was that the one thing everyone seemed to agree on before the series -- you can't play zone w/ jokic on the floor -- actually didn't play out that way. i think JVG called it out on TV but it had the effect of neutering the murray-jokic two man game. i don't think it's a panacea by any stretch, but perhaps a button the heat can continue to push when they need the nuggets to cool off for a 3-4 min stretch, or perhaps at the end of a close game. i thought before the series that making murray uncomfortable should be the heat's no 1 defensive priority & he looked way less comfortable when they threw zone at them. i think the issue is that you can momentarily trick jokic into being overly passive by switching up your looks but i think moving forward if he sees a few possessions of zone in a row he's just gonna say fuck it & start scoring a bunch. they left him really easy open floater type looks that he missed i think bcuz he was a bit discombobulated but i wouldn't bank on that, obviously. heat just kinda need to play better & also see what they can do to rattle murray a bit & shift some pressure to denver's other players. onwards and upwards

Yeah, I don't think he's gonna stay discombobulated.

at least two days off between all these games is so lame

good for the Heat to get some rest but yeah no ball tonight it sucks

yeah just got in tried to turn on the game had no idea it was tomorrow

How does this sched MAKE money for league/teams, I don’t get it but I tend to believe they must think it’s a +

its weird because during the conf finals they're pretty adament on having games on every night

i think they have probably determined that they get more eyeballs on thursday and sunday than they would on a friday or a saturday

but game 4 is on Friday

i'm sure it's all about what times the broadasters are most advantaged

Not sure how much it matters but the nhl finals first game was tonight

nhl puts final in ice from arena on surface of sun during solar flare. surface: inconsistent

Miami in both finals as well

oh yeah if they share an arena that becomes a factor

they do not share one tho

i think from the league’s perspective you also want your most visible games of each year to be played at as high a level as possible, so i think the two day breaks are purposeful from a rest perspective

& as cad says thurs/sun are also marquee TV nights, those being games 1 and 2 are not accidental. when each conference finals was 3-0 the league was like “yeah we don’t move the dates” & i heard hollinger say it was partly bcuz of international media, you can’t just shift travel on all those ppl suddenly. but i think the league also just wouldn’t part w/ the thurs/sun opening schedule

are they trying to pull one on me by putting the game at 8 after a month of games at 8:30

jokic coming out more aggressive tonight but its not paying off yet

generally speaking if jokic is shooting a lot of 3s, the offense isn’t in rhythm

pretty much a nut low quarter from the nuggets and they’re down 3

Assertive Jeff green appearance

Bam post ups tend to not be very fruitful huh

Damn they should sit Joker the whole game

heat should think about trying to win the non-jokic minutes

no it’s good

as I’ve been saying all year the jeff green minutes are where it’s at

Jokic water polo passes are the best

hello is anyone on ILH watching the NBA finals

i'll be caught up for the second half

the thing about sweden in june is the sun doesn’t really set so if you like to sleep the jokes on you

it’s moments like this when using a roster spot on udonis haslem seems most valuable

insane 3rd from Joker

do you think jimmy knows the finals have started?

glad to see him fulfill his childhood dream of watching a Finals game

I feel like if I were the best player in the playiffs, I’d have more than 10 field goals through 7 quarters. personally!

do you think jimmy just really loves playing in the eastern conference playoffs?

might have to make a "do not make fun of jimmy butler for doing so tempts fate" sign that i can tap

well as they say the Heat are very much "back on their bullshit" right now

might be time for denver to get the starters back in

heat can win any game if and only if they shoot 50% from 3, is the theme of this playoffs

lol Bam sold that pretty hard

Denver kind of self destructing.

amazing Miami is flopping their way into a road Finals victory

too many fouls

steam coming out of jokic's ears rn

nuggets trying out the “ do everything wrong” strategy

can't they look back and switch that block to a goaltend, the way they switch 2s to 3s and vice versa? or does it need to be reviewed in the moment since it was a live ball as it was played

no

ya even I think it was a goaltend

ooooh this might be a game still

in my opinion the Heat absolutely have to hang on to this lead

No timeout?!

such a weird game beginning to end

no Miami Heat playoff game has had any momentum or flow whatsoever

no Miami Heat playoff game has had any momentum or flow whatsoever

― frogbs, Sunday, June 4, 2023 10:35 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this has been their playstyle for this entire iteration of the team

my understanding of this series boils down to white elephant art vs termite art

silly game

gotta say for all the praise Christian Braun got in the 1st half he really blew it in the 2nd on defense

That goaltend call was big. Jamal got a good look tho at the end

the two Jamal 3s before that were amazing shots

maybe coaches should start using timeouts at the ends of games idk

no Miami Heat playoff game has had any momentum or flow whatsoever

― frogbs, Sunday, June 4, 2023 10:35 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this has been their playstyle for this entire iteration of the team

― ciderpress, Sunday, June 4, 2023 10:38 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

they really gummed it up heat style in the 2nd half

lol spo isnt having it

Erik Spoelstra shut down Ramona Shelburne's question about turning Jokic into a scorer or a passer quickly pic.twitter.com/PxcWQNN5w4

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) June 5, 2023

watched this play live and gasped that he shot it with two wide open teamates

If you are wondering how a guy who plays 29 mins a game is only averaging 1 assist per game... pic.twitter.com/qPaYF2f6nu

— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) June 5, 2023

8 points on 3-5 shooting in the 4th for butler while facilitating the offense down the stretch

funny thread to read back

17-9-4 on 50/81 shooting for bam in the playoffs now w/ two street free agents as his back ups

23-11-4 on 54% shooting in this series while battling jokic for 40 mins per game

sabonis was third team all NBA this year… wonderful season for him but the heat have the guy who wins you playoff games

i know embiid is obviously a better basketball player than bam but the next time embiid is playing with that level of intensity and endurance in an NBA finals game (while putting up 20/10) will be the first

8 points on 3-5 shooting in the 4th for butler while facilitating the offense down the stretch

funny thread to read back

― J0rdan S., Monday, June 5, 2023 2:23 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

;) I was texting a heat fan buddy of mine at the same time so I was just getting a little riled up. I do like how he gets sleepy during the games tho maybe he should drink a coffee or something

Gabe Vincent's jumping 180 faceplant flop might usher in a new era of "trick flopping", but Bam is amazing.

The Heat are shooting 50% on Wide Open and 44% on Open threes against MIL/BOS/DEN. Their opponents are shooting 39% and 33% on those shot types!

Jimmy was just sitting there in the corner waiting for the ball. Boom.

“All theses high-paid analysts, I don’t want to mention names…TNT, ESPN…they were WRONG! Are they gonna lose their jobs? No. Are they going to get a cut in pay? No!”

- An enraged Papi joins the show to spread a little #HEATCulture as well as a few “I told you so’s”. 😂😂😂… pic.twitter.com/98boQPNckm

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) June 2, 2023

so uh what are they gonna do with Tyler Herro

it doesn’t seem like he’s ready to play

Reporting from #NBAFinals: I spoke with Tyler Herro ahead his Game 2 pregame routine and he told me he experiences both soreness and swelling in the right hand after shooting and he can feel the soreness when he’s making a “follow through” shooting motion. He also shared his…

— Ros Gold-Onwude (@ROSGO21) June 5, 2023

i think they will activate him if he’s healthy enough to play but i’m not sure they’ll actually play him unless it gets to a point of desperation. i don’t think they’re just gonna start working him back into the rotation like it’s the regular season but i could see a scenario where the heat have a game where they’re having trouble scoring & herro and his fresh legs start to seem like a better idea

If the HEAT have been painting fourth-quarter masterpieces all postseason, this was their pièce de résistance, 36 points on just 19 possessions. That was good for 1.89 points per possession, the fourth-highest mark in a postseason fourth quarter of the past 10 years – and the third-best final period of this year, including the entire regular season. Better yet, on possessions that didn’t include a turnover in that final period, Miami scored 2.12 points per.

After two games, heading to Miami: pic.twitter.com/eIf78jENfj

— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) June 5, 2023

Important note:

Denver has started 13% of its possessions in transition, while Miami is just at 5.1%

Everything starts and ends with the Nuggets' defense. If they can get stops or force more turnovers, it unlocks them in a different way.

— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) June 5, 2023

Turnovers a concern for Denver.

I’m amped up

KCP has to be the worst transition finisher in the league. it’s incredible

someones got to do it

bad call btw

Uh oh Jimmy trying some Harden shit

jokic has been so good at reading these double screens on defense

still makes me so mad that people talk about him like he’s a bad defender, he does so many little things right

also in general tries harder in big games lol

christian braun brings great energy and is eventually going to be a solid starter type of guy, but the games just way too fast for him when the ball’s in his hands

heat are such fucking floppers man

two awful offensive foul calls changes this game so much

So Boban is going to be in the Gran Turismo movie?

(Yr not wrong some of these are egregious and there’s no balance. It’s brothers tho)

the nuggets have dominated every part of this game except three point conversion and the whistle factor. sounds familiar unfortunately

the jeff green giveth and the jeff green taketh away

ok refs are reading my posts

this crowd is a bit excited

that murray heave was so crucial. miami was about to blow it open

the heat are so much better coached it’s insane

"blood cleanses the soul" - Jeff Van Gundy

nba broadcasts could use more of that old time religion imo

tony brothers is very much in the house

(lebron james kid voice) nikola jokic

murray has to make quicker decisions against these traps

this is an insane christian braun game

I’m floating

he's been awesome, wow

it's wild the instant people start to take Miami seriously they turn back into the 8 seed with the NBA's worst rated offense

but yeah I love this Christian Braun shit one of the coolest NBA things is when some random bench dude comes in for 5 minutes in a playoff game and just totally fucks shit up. Bobby Portis did that a lot during the Bucks title run.

this talking dog movie is bullshit by the way. the instant I see this trailer I think "I know I'm gonna have to see this with my daughter". and then it turns out to be Rated R? are adults gonna come to the movie theater and say "uh yeah 2 tickets for the dog movie"?

hahah i had not noticed it's rated r, that seems very ill-conceived even in an era when adults love to consume children's entertainment

OK Mark Jackson with a real lol there.

are tons of parents not going to accidentally take their children to an r-rated talking dog movie where the dogs say all the cusses

Arf arf!! I've got fleas!! On my motherfucking hog!! Arf!!!!

hahaha

lol frogbs

The Denver superstars were too much for the Heat tonight. Both Jokic and Murray had dominate performances and put up triple doubles. First Jamal Murray with 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists followed by Jokic with 32 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists.

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 8, 2023

otm

it's like magic

dominate performances

den outrebounding by 25 is pretty dominate tis tru

theyre big

First Jamal Murray, followed by Jokic. Then comes baby in the baby carriage.

its weird as soon as there's any serious talk about Miami actually having a shot at the title they instantly revert back into who we thought they were

idk theyre only down by one game they just have to recapture the all time 3pt% advantage they had vs bucks and celtics

well right there is just no sense of momentum or narrative with this team, my prediction is they get their ass kicked in Game 4 by like 30+ points and then win 3 really crazy/stupid games in a row

eh i still think the most likely outcome is that they fold like a low seed whose luck ran out

it's no fun to predict the most likely outcome though, besides these playoffs have really been total vindication for the "I just got a feeling" crowd. like imagine saying prior to the All Star Break that the Lakers would make the WCF and it wouldn't even be the craziest run of the playoffs. every weird thing is happening this year. it's like the season finale of the NBA. I don't really care which team wins it I just want more of that insane Boston/Miami Game 6 shit

What a sequence from Christian Braun. pic.twitter.com/Gn1CBdjAV7

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) June 8, 2023

duncan robinson's stumbling chase so disturbing

the thing about the heat is that they’re just so clearly the superiorly coached team that you can’t count them out in a short series. denver has the massive talent advantage and so far that’s been enough

it's like the season finale of the NBA

unless you meant series finale

they should take a year off after this one and reboot with 2 new main characters (teams)

first glimpse of real jimmy so far perhaps…

if there were a stat for referee plus minus the heat would be about +50 through 13 quarters, yet are -22 overall

btw i stopped in a bar near my office to catch the first quarter of game 3 and there were some ex-military guys there i guess? and they stood up to salute during the national anthem? this seems like real sicko behavior

robinson has been so much better than strus

why am I the only one who understands how bad jeff green is

This YouTubeTV ad is using one of those electronic Raymond Scott tunes, props to them

Lmao Joker sinking it from Steph Curry range

the heat getting beat on back cuts is not pleasing to me

No Dray no techs cmon

my gf has been calling spo “the deacon” due to his outfits

heat keep getting it to 5, nuggets keep pushing it back to 7

yo Hosono song in that Nike ad?

btw i stopped in a bar near my office to catch the first quarter of game 3 and there were some ex-military guys there i guess? and they stood up to salute during the national anthem? this seems like real sicko behavior

― Clay, Friday, June 9, 2023 9:08 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

obvs a country wrong track indicator and not even the official prescribed behavior saluting is something you do in uniform

btw what if denver wins this series without mpj hitting a shot

it’s stressing me out but it might happen

nice dunk bam

nice to see bam going up strong tonight…

Fun 2nd quarter

the girl whos been courtside at a bunch of heat playoff games wearing custom heat gowns, idk its not a great look

yo Hosono song in that Nike ad?

― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, June 9, 2023 8:33 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Wait which one?

btw what if denver wins this series without mpj hitting a shot

― lag∞n, Friday, June 9, 2023 9:35 PM (sixteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it’s stressing me out but it might happen

― k3vin k., Friday, June 9, 2023 9:38 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think it would be a rebuke to god

one of the guys I most love to rebuke tbh

praying hands? no, more like talk to the hand

some guys make a three pointer look really close jokic makes it look far away, but it goes in anyway

heat are refusing to play zone and are just letting murray & jokic kill them every possession… i’m perplexed

i think that’s the first bad pass i’ve ever seen jokic throw

man it really feels like the nuggets have had about 3 chances to blow this open and they’ve fumbled every timr

i think that’s the first bad pass i’ve ever seen jokic throw

― J0rdan S., Friday, June 9, 2023 10:16 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah that was the kind of live-ball mistake he rarwly, rarely makes anymore.

what a boneheaded play by bam

fortuitous situation. jokic wasn’t going to be sitting the second half either way and now he gets some extended rest

third quarters have been the separator

mr 50 balling out

here comes the Miami Heat 4th quarter chaosball

nice flop bam

the fix is in

ohhh NOoOOo I can't believe this

malone had the opportunity to challenge that call that gave his best player his fifth foul, but decided not to. a choice for sure

i’m w/ you kev

are the refs gonna be ballsy enough to give Jokic #6

blouses

bruce brown

i’m always happy for miami hurricane bruce brown

nuggets finding good formulas for winning (murray triple double, huge role player games)

heat couldn’t string together stops all second half yet played zero possessions of zone. i do not understand

the zone is too mysterious, not even its practitioners understand it

The Denver Nuggets couldn’t be stopped tonight! Role players Aaron Gordon (27 points) and Bruce Brown (21 points off the bench) led the Nuggets along with their outstanding team defense.

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 10, 2023

might just be true

At the end of the day, this Finals Series boils down to the fact that the Nuggets are a more talented team than the Heat.

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 10, 2023

brutal

yo Hosono song in that Nike ad?

― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, June 9, 2023 8:33 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Wait which one?

― frogbs, Friday, June 9, 2023 11:11 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

found it on the web. Was watching the game on TSN (Canada).

what on earth

Source: The Heat's mascot, Burnie, had to go to the ER last night after a mid-game bit with former UFC champ Conor McGregor appears to have gone too far. More here, at @TheAthletic https://t.co/EeQVnIP8Ci

— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) June 10, 2023

what exactly were they going for there

the boy is back in town

Miami's Tyler Herro -- who was upgraded to questionable -- is expected to suit up for Game 5 and attempt a return tonight, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 12, 2023

That should put them over the top.

nuggets will win the nba playoffs

everyone's saying it

i said it first

well I think it's pretty cool that Herro will at least get one game, considering how ridiculous everyone (me included) thought it was when recaps of Bucks/Heat Game 1 included a line about how Herro wouldn't be able to return until the Finals

the 2023 nba finals: when mommy met daddy

Tyler Herro has been playing, only for the nuggets and using the name "Christian Braun".

fake name if ever there was one

its pronounced uhh *looking at bruce brown*

hahah

wtf they brought back greasy acapella anthem guys from game one

I was just in denver there’s only 4 people in the city who can sing they gotta recycle

they shouldve got some shitty jam band

Should get Bob Dylan to do 'Jokerman'

rock fight

boulder must have its share of white guy college funk improv dudes

dre jordan in the game sure why not

nuggets managed the non jokic minutes well again, gotta tip your cap

mpj with a couple nice weird angle floaters

refs letting guys get bludgeoned at the rim

If I were Miami I would’ve played this kind of defense in Game 4

jimmy is avoiding shooting

denver into the bonus super early

denver is not playing particularly well but the heat are always gonna scrap

really like porter’s energy tonight, unfortunately he still can’t hit a shot from outside the paint

I thought Jimmy might try to do some Kobe shit this game but yeah you almost don’t notice he’s out there

early foul trouble snowballing

love the joker old school power game

lowery trying hard to foul him out lol

my favorite part of the broadcasts in denver is when they show the celebs in attendance and it’s strictly old nuggets players

hahah was going go to say, nothing against laphonso ellis but that was the weakest celeb rundown i've ever seen in my life.

Eric Andre!

denver cant hit a shot man

can't shoot, can't hold on to the ball and they're still only down a couple scores

yeah feels like it should be more of a blowout right now

def a lucky to be only down seven situation

heat not exactly raining fire themselves

nuggs are 1-15 from 3

heat not much better 4-15

if someone had never seen michael porter jr. in their life and you told them his elite skill was shooting and then they watched this series....well, they wouldn't be taking you very seriously after that

mark jackson does this thing when he refers to jokic where he pauses very pregnantly before saying "the joker" and it makes me laugh every time bc it sounds like he's a gotham cop who can't believe the chaos he's seeing and needs to call in batman

"that's a tough post move from..... the joker ...."

porter sucks

only shot he's afraid of is the one that could save his life, its a shame

nice take on that turnover though, i did not like his chances going into two guys

wild dribble there lol

ok he heard us lol

porter doesn’t suck but he is in a wonderful situation where if he plays poorly it kinda doesn’t matter bcuz there’s good guys behind him who can play

that was a crazy quarter

MPJ kinda reminds me of mike miller on the heatles in that both were overpaid crippled shooters you couldn’t really rely on but the team won a few titles so it’s all good

spo tried to sneak some zeller minutes in there, didn’t work out

porter sucks

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, June 12, 2023 10:10 PM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

he’s been great!! if he could hit 20% of his jump shots that’d just be gravy

kyle lowry what's up man

refs are not calling shit

lowry must be stopped by any means necessary

both teams need to chill a bit I think

lousy shooting

wow Butler just doesn't have it today

this is only nominally basketball

I called this a rock fight in 1Q and ay

helps that the refs have permanently swallowed their whistles

ref flip a coin every quarter to decide whether fouls exist or not

yeah it's weird to see two players on the floor and play just continue

idk this feels like the Final Battle for the Nuggets. you have to defeat Miami the same way they've been defeating other teams.

the refs have absolutely no idea what to do with this game and i'm just thankful i'm (mostly) neutral

jesus christ run some plays

oh nooo Butler the basketball gods will not like that

damn gordon fouling jimmy's foot with his balls

Lol

that is absolutely wild

the fix is in

lol what

refs be serious!

that's insane to let stand

what the hell was that call

i absolutely can't stand the heat lol

man I'm gonna kick all of my opponents next time I play at the Y

loling at watching the odds swing back and forth on Bovada every time the other team takes the lead

was rooting for Miami just so we'd get more basketball but no this cannot stand

LOL at Jimmy Butler

big free throws

man Strus missing that open 3 that was probably the difference

whatever happens it's not going to be reflected in the box score but aaron gordon played his ass off in this game

pic.twitter.com/Zvf5wabE7j

— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) June 13, 2023

this whole game has been very fucked up i gotta say

i think the denver crowd just figured out that this was a clinching game

Jimmy ya blew it

lol

mommy threw it away

nuggets won the nba playoffs

congrats Denver!

denver nugs congratulation

congrats to the Nuggets of Denver, CO!

beautiful

as a life long nuggets fan i find this very gratifying

awesome playoff run by an awesome team

i believe the nuggets have won the nba playoffs

look Miami Tyler Herro broke his hand diving for a loose ball in Game 1 of a series you had no chance in and when he finally is able to go and live out his lifelong dream of playing in the Finals you give him 0 minutes, sorry but that is just karma

Scott Foster has ordered the last three minutes be replayed

omg jokic: "the job is done we can go home now"

at least the series went out with a bang, good game

congrats to the nuggets, dominant playoff run

nuggets won the nba playoffs

― ciderpress, Monday, June 12, 2023 11:01 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

we did it!!!!

shout out ciderpress jimbeaux and matt armstrong

that's how you win the world series of basketball with a gorgeous display of your flawless game

lol jokic "the job is done and we can go home now"

congrats nuggs fans. what a wild game.

so cool seeing franchises get that first one

also it's been a pretty nice couple of years for Christian Braun huh

joker for the offs 30-14-10 55/46/80 crazy stuff

i would want to go home too after that game tbh

jokic catapults into a top 20 all-timer now right?

lmao jokic bros lifting malone in the air. amazing

"basketball is a fun sport"
-- nikola jokic

otm

to me he was meaningfully better this year than in prior playoff runs--much more in control, better on defense, fully understanding how much he can run the game.

the denver nuggets have won the nba playoffs

great team, really really enjoyed watching them

shout out to the ilh nugz crew

I'd have to look back at some of Shaq's titles but that really felt like the best a center's ever played in the playoffs

nuggs 16-4 in the playoffs pretty good

lmao jokic bros lifting malone in the air. amazing

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Monday, June 12, 2023 10:07 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

god they are gonna be on one tonight, watch out denver

to me he was meaningfully better this year than in prior playoff runs--much more in control, better on defense, fully understanding how much he can run the game.

― call all destroyer, Monday, June 12, 2023 11:08 PM (fifteen seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

def, hes really grown as a scorer over the last few years too, just has a bunch in his bag that wasnt there before

also it's been a pretty nice couple of years for Christian Braun huh

― frogbs, Monday, June 12, 2023 11:06 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think he was a 2-time state champion in high school too. championship DNA

shoutout to the nuggets management in its various iterations, gordon and kcp and bruce brown were inspired acquisitions and the absolute right types of guys to put around jokic and their plan worked to perfection

Nikola Jokic was really drafted during a Taco Bell “Quesarito” ad😂 pic.twitter.com/1b3IVmwEt0

— Laterals™️ (@LateralsIG) May 25, 2023

hate when the leathery corpse of an owner takes a victory lap but at least it was brief

Flashback to April 8, 2014. Nikola Jokic was getting buckets on everyone at Nike Hoop Summit practice, including Jamal Murray. Now he's the best player in basketball. pic.twitter.com/6xdNCM8ACX

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 12, 2023

I don't think I've seen Coach Michael Malone this happy. pic.twitter.com/XpMVOKnFIW

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) June 13, 2023

who among us does not want to be bounced by large serbian guys

jamal tearing up 🥺

Oh my god pic.twitter.com/hlo3EDXvYZ

— Not Really No (@paulbeattystan) June 13, 2023

jamal is such a likeable dude. v happy for him

can't believe the nuggets did it what a season friends

after many years one thing we can say is jeff green, nba champion!

i have always believed in him (when he plays on nikola jokic’s team)

8 different nba champs in the last 11 years, wild

Congrats to the Denver @Nuggets and the remarkable finals MVP Nikola Jokić for bringing home the franchise’s first NBA Championship!

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 13, 2023

nuggets have officially jumped the shark

shoutout to the nuggets management in its various iterations, gordon and kcp and bruce brown were inspired acquisitions and the absolute right types of guys to put around jokic and their plan worked to perfection

magic runnin obama's twitter

what if magic's twitter is obama's burner and he just posted from the wrong account

Bart Harley Jokic https://t.co/qjSzNBs1zW

— fraser ramon (@SteveMerkle9) June 13, 2023

The Nuggz deserved this one, especially Jokic & Murray. Enjoy it to the hilt, nuggz fans! Fate is fickle and you never know how long the next one might take. Jimmy Buckets finally ran out of rabbits to pull out of his, um, let's say his hat.

pic.twitter.com/i5JldbKdxK

— richard (@richard_normal) June 13, 2023

surprised LeBron's never done this

Nikola Jokic has become the first NBA player ever to lead the playoffs in total points, total rebounds, and total assists. Simply incredible.

— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) June 13, 2023

Cmon man lmaooooooo pic.twitter.com/Myebr2PFw3

— Eddie Gonzalez (@bansky) June 13, 2023

xp he came close one year but kevin love outrebounded him by a few

It turns out the nuggets really were close to contending in the bubble

matt!

I’m so drunk

we did it!

congrats buds

I'd have to look back at some of Shaq's titles but that really felt like the best a center's ever played in the playoffs

Congrats nuggets crew!

Really enjoyable team. No floppers, no foul baiters. Dudes just hooping playing a fun brand of ball. Love when great players who are fun to watch get it done and show out.

yeah real easy team to root for. also I like the way their roster is constructed, they made a lot of smart moves and picked up a bunch of cool players. obviously Jokic evolving into one of the greatest centers of all-time was pretty lucky but hey, you gotta get lucky somewhere. the Nuggets were barely challenged and I don't see why they couldn't just run it back next year.

I don’t know what to do now

yeah they rolled only bit of luck in there is they never faced a top offensive team so their regular season middling defense held up, they did get pretty torched by the suns two leet players, a team with two great offensive players and also other good players couldve given them trouble, but it did not happen so who cares, maybe next year

the thing about the nuggets defense is their main lineups were actually very good at defense all year, they just did play the deandre jordans thomas bryants bones hylands in the playoffs

they played good defense def but i think a really good offensive team wouldve been able to do some stuff, and then wed have a shootout on our hands

Suns needing a historically great performance from Booker to win definitely a point in favor of the Nugs though

but why was he able to have a historically good performance

he shot 80% from the field in consecutive games sometimes u gotta just tip your cap

i mean hes playing against the other team (nuggets)

obvs he was liquid metal hot but some of thats gotta be on the defense, particularly considering that the suns 3-12 players were giving them basically zero

yeah nuggets defense is exploitable they had the fortune of going up against a very weak offense in the finals tho

think they'll be favorites in the west again next year but a better team is surely gonna come out of the east

don't think Miami would've seriously challenged them either way but Denver were pretty lucky the ECF wasn't a sweep, Butler having to play 7 games really did seem to wear him out. and when Butler's struggling this team can barely get to 90.

miamis shooting came back to earth, their opponents shooting did stay on earth tho

one interesting if maybe not meaningful thing about this year is that out of the nba big man mvp triumvirate the more robotic and predictable embiid and giannis were out in the early rounds while the free wheeling improvisor jokic took home the ring

Kind of soothing to me somehow that I don't think the Bucks would have won these finals

yeah didnt seem like they really had it, overall the nugs were the only team that really had the vibe this year

this bit is so good, we are all the joker now

Nikola Jokic finding out when the parade will be, and saying he wants to go home 😂 pic.twitter.com/8umJGSiu8m

— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) June 13, 2023

nobody likes their job, maybe they do, theyre lying

lmao

uncle champ

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FygHga-WYAA9pje?format=png&name=large

shout out ciderpress jimbeaux and matt armstrong

Back atcha. What a ride.

congrats nuggz and fans!

injury karma shined down on the nuggs in a real way

Congrats to Dan Shimensky, Steve Short, Jason Miller, Felipe Eichenberger, & the rest of the Denver medical team. The Nuggets did not lose a single man game to injury or illness during their entire playoff run!They also finished the regular season with the 6th fewest games lost.

— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) June 13, 2023

I stayed relatively quiet this NBA postseason as the big bad injury bug stayed away from the final few rounds. Overall the numbers of games lost to injury or illness per the number of playoff games played (2.62) was the lowest it’s been since the 2018-19 season.

— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) June 13, 2023

Reporter: ...and are looking forward to the parade?

Jokic: When is parade? When is parade?

Off camera voice: Thursday.

Jokic: (holds his head in both hands, then wipes hands down across his face) No. No. I need to go home.

Is.. Denver home for him or somewhere else?

serbia

relative to other nba cities there are probably a lot of horses in the immediate vicinity of denver but its just not the same

https://phantom-marca.unidadeditorial.es/861dc1aa08726c9cf563601407cbfa96/resize/660/f/webp/assets/multimedia/imagenes/2023/06/13/16866429447472.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EZW-ODt3ByE/SaworHNXnpI/AAAAAAAABMM/sj03urkjdLQ/s400/Horse500.jpg

I mean

Blucifer!

huh because i didn't consume any news today except some trump bullshit, i missed that denver celebrated in lodo by having a failed drug deal with suspected fentanyl, multiple handguns, 20 shots fired, and nine people injured. so fucked up.

I don’t know what to do now

well in 20 minutes or so you can see the stanley cup awarded

it will be ridiculous if the vegas fans boo gary bettman but i hope they do it anyway

xps ok, realizing that his whole "yay. we won. time to go home" attitude is hilarious