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On Thursday evening at the Ball Arena in Colorado, Game 1 of the 2023 NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat will begin. Both teams won their respective conferences by overcoming all top rivals before facing one last hurdle before lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Nikola Jokic of Mile High will go for glory and bring home its inaugural championship; on the other hand, Jimmy Butler leads an intricate unit where each player has his specific job to perform until it comes time for action or explosion.
The Nuggets easily swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, showing an incredibly dominant performance against AD and LeBron that signalled their intention to win their inaugural title. They’ve shown this by defeating the Timberwolves, Suns, and Lakers along the way – an admirable run that shows that the Nuggets mean business.
Nikola Jokic is the focal point of the Nuggets’ success, having recorded two NBA MVP awards and posting an average triple-double average in 15 playoff events of 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 10.3 assists per contest.
Miami made history when they became the first team ever to reach the NBA Finals from a play-in tournament; they actually trailed in the fourth quarter of the play-in tournament before coming back to beat the Bulls.
Jimmy Butler leads his unit with 28.5 points per game, and six other Heat players (excluding Oladipo and Herro ) average nine or more points per game; these players can all drop 20+ buckets in any given moment, as we have witnessed previously in these playoffs.
Miami is an adaptable and fluid team, boasting one of the biggest advantages in these playoffs – as they can be dominant on either end of the floor.
At present, the Nuggets’ spread ranges between 8 and 8.5 points depending on which bookmaker is being used, though we’re not confident that they will cover that despite likely fatigue from the Heat entering this finals series. But on the flip side, we don’t see them dropping and missing an opportunity to kick off the NBA Finals with a strong win at home.
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