Some people thought he deserved the Eastern Conference Finals MVP trophy over Butler after averaging 19.3 points and 6.4 rebounds against the Celtics on absurd 60/49/88 shooting splits. A guy Miami signed to a two-way deal two summers ago was legitimately the third-best player in the conference finals. Martin’s emergence has been, by far, the best story of the playoffs so far. Doing so will require them to overcome some size disadvantages. If the Heat don’t score this series, they won’t win. Maybe the load he’s had to carry in this offense is starting to weigh on him.Īs good as Gabe Vincent and Martin were the last series in spots when they needed to pick up the offense, it’ll be tough for them to play at that same level with the size Denver can throw at them.Īnd Denver’s offense won’t lag like Boston’s did so often in the conference finals. But he started losing some of his explosiveness as the most recent playoff series lingered. In Butler’s matchups against the Nuggets this season, he had a lot of success forcing their bigs to guard him in space as he attacked the rim. While Adebayo is the only reasonable matchup for Miami to turn to against Jokić, Denver has several options to throw at Butler as he attempts to go into “Playoff Jimmy” mode. If he’s unable to find some level of success, Miami won’t have any chance of winning this series. Ultimately, this will all come down to Adebayo taking on the toughest assignment in basketball. Butler would have a better chance, but he has too much responsibility on offense to take on that assignment. Caleb Martin, Max Strus and Haywood Highsmith would have no shot at stopping Jokić in the post. Miami doesn’t have wings with that size to run that kind of scheme. The Los Angeles Lakers found some success by putting thicker wings such as LeBron James and Rui Hachimura on Jokić to free their shot blocker, Anthony Davis, to roam the paint. Even if Cody Zeller and Kevin Love can body up Jokić a bit in the post, they’ll have huge targets on their backs in the dribble-handoff game against Murray, who can easily cook those guys on the perimeter. The Heat don’t have many other reasonable options in which to turn. But no matter the scheme, Adebayo must dig deep and find whatever method he can to make life difficult for the two-time MVP. He’s so smart that he’ll figure it out over time. Spoelstra and his staff will throw a little bit of everything at Jokić to slow him down. However, no one will be more willing to test that theory than Miami. He slices up any defensive scheme an opponent throws at him. Through 15 games this postseason, Jokić is averaging 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists. Nikola Jokic is shooting 17-27 (63%) when defended by Bam Adebayo and 68% against the Heat across the last two seasons, per. As Spoelstra said after his team’s win in Game 7 on Monday night, “If your best players aren’t defenders, it’s hard to create a good defense.”Īs good as Adebayo has been as a defensive anchor, no one in the league has figured out how to solve all the problems Jokić presents for a defense, especially how he’s played during this playoff run. His versatility, tenacity and basketball IQ are staples of the identity Miami has built over the past few seasons. Bam Adebayo.Īdebayo is one of the most capable defensive centers in the NBA. Here are a few of the main areas that will factor into how this series goes.įrom the opening tip of Game 1, all eyes will be on the matchup that most likely will determine the direction of this series: Jokić vs. The Heat have taught us never to doubt their will to win. It’s certainly within the realm of possibility. Still, winning this series will require Jimmy Butler, Spoelstra and the rest of this Heat roster to reach a level of greatness that’s even higher than what they’ve done to this point. Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray are playing the best basketball of their respective careers and Denver has looked like the best team in the playoff field since the start of the postseason.īy getting to this point, the Heat have proven so many people wrong about what they’re capable of and how they match up against teams that appear more talented on paper. The Denver Nuggets enter the NBA Finals as heavy favorites, which isn’t surprising considering Miami has been the underdog every step of this historic playoff journey. But the Heat have a different type of challenge awaiting them in the next round. This team is the definition of battle-tested. And, after one of the wackiest seven-game series in NBA history, Miami outlasted the Boston Celtics to win the East for the second time in the last four seasons. They overcame Jalen Brunson’s scoring barrage to eliminate the New York Knicks in the second round. They took down Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
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