NBA Finals: Historic playoff offense from Nikola Jokic, Nuggets faces toughest test yet with disciplined Heat

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The Denver Nuggets finally have their NBA Finals opponent, setting the stage for a matchup between an unstoppable force and an immovable object.

Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have led the Nuggets offense to nearly 120 points per 100 possessions in the playoffs so far — better than the Sacramento Kings’ all-time best regular-season mark and currently the most efficient postseason offense of any team to make it past the conference semifinals.

If any opponent’s finally going to stop them, however, it’s the Miami Heat.

Behind the brilliance of Erik Spoelstra’s game-planning and relentless, unyielding execution from his band of loyal soldiers, the Heat have stymied everyone from Giannis Antetokounmpo to Jalen Brunson to Jayson Tatum en route to their second Finals appearance in four years.

They play zone. They play man. They jump lanes and force turnovers. They take you out of your comfort zone. Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent are body-sacrificing, ball-stripping pests. Sharpshooters Max Strus and Duncan Robinson are anything but doormats on the defensive end due to their size and length, combining for five blocks this postseason. Butler, when he’s locked in, is as stout as any one-on-one defender on the planet.  And of course there’s the man in the middle, Bam Adebayo, who’s finished in the top five in Defensive Player of the Year voting in each of the past four seasons.

“When I talk about our team’s competitive will, we are following Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo,” Spoelstra said after the Heat’s devastating last-second Game 6 loss to the Boston Celtics. “Their will is incredible. If you’re a basketball aficionado, the aesthetics might not always be perfect, but you have to admire the competitive spirit out of this group.”

Adebayo will probably get first crack at Jokic, though history has taught us that Miami won’t gave him the same look more than a handful of times in a row. If you were to design a player in a lab to guard Jokic, it might be Adebayo — his size and strength can at least make things tough on Jokic’s post-up…

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Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-finals-historic-playoff-offense-from-nikola-jokic-nuggets-faces-toughest-test-yet-with-disciplined-heat/

Author : Colin Ward-Henninger

Publish date : 2023-05-30 05:29:18

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