The NBA Finals Are Set
The Denver Nuggets have been in chill mode since May 22 after sweeping The L.A. Lakers out of the Western Conference Finals. It looked as though the Nuggets would know their opponents quickly after the Miami Heat took a 3-0 lead over the Boston Celtics on May 21 with a 128-102 blowout win. The Celtics showed their fight by taking the next 3 games to even the series and force Game 7 last night. It looked as though all the momentum was with Boston after a shocking last milli-second tip-in to win Game 6. What wasn’t expected was how anti-climatic Game 7 ended up being.
The Celtics opened Game 7 missing their first 10 three-point attempts and couldn’t capitalize on an early 9-4 lead. The C’s had 4 straight possessions when they could’ve extended their lead and really put the screws to the Heat but Miami ended the 1st quarter on an 18-6 run to take a 7-point lead into the 2nd. Boston would never get closer again as Miami answered every Boston run with a soul-crushing basket and then extend their lead. By the time the 4th quarter arrived the Heat pushed their lead to 20+ points and the raucous Boston crowd went dead silent.
Jimmy Butler finished with 28pts, 7rebs, 6assts & 3stls. Jimmy would also be named the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP for his performance throughout the series. The star for Game 7 though was Caleb Martin as he scored 26 points on 11 of 16 shooting while grabbing 10 boards & 3 assists. The Celtics never got out of the gate and it seemed doomed from the start when All-Star guard Jayson Tatum twisted his ankle on the 1st possession of the game. Although he played 42 minutes, Tatum was never a major factor as he finished with 14 points & 11 boards. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 19 but he only shot 8 for 23(including 1 for 9 from 3-pt territory) while committing 8 turnovers. The Heat were white-hot from 3 shooting 50%. The Celtics? Only 21%. There’s your ballgame.
With The Finals now set here’s a look at the potential starting lineups:
| 2023 NBA Finals | Miami Heat | Denver Nuggets |
|---|---|---|
| PG | Gabe Vincent – 13.1apg, 1.7rpg, 3.9apg | Jamal Murray – 27.7ppg, 5.5rpg, 6.1apg |
| SG | Max Strus – 10.3ppg, 3.3rpg, 1.0apg | Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – 11.7ppg, 3.2rpg, 1.6apg |
| SF | Jimmy Butler – 28.5ppg, 7.0rpg, 5.7apg | Michael Porter, Jr. – 14.6ppg, 8.0rpg, 1.8apg |
| PF | Caleb Martin – 14.1ppg, 5.7rpg, 1.7apg | Aaron Gordon – 13ppg, 5.5rpg, 2.5apg |
| C | Bam Adebayo – 16.8ppg, 9.2rpg, 3.8apg | Nikola Jokic – 29.9ppg, 13.3rpg, 10.3apg |
| 6th Man | Kyle Lowry – 8.8ppg, 3.4rpg, 4.3apg | Bruce Brown – 12.2ppg, 3.9rpg, 2.2apg |
I don’t think the Heat will be able to keep up with Denver offensively but they will make every game interesting. I also think this will be a short series as Denver’s size advantage will eventually wear Miami down. Look for Nikola Jokic & the Nuggets to hoist their 1st ever NBA Championship as I predict they will dispatch the Heat in 5 games.
Bulls Musings
- According The Athletic/Stadium NBA Insider Shams Charania, the Bulls have begun discussions on a contract extension with Bulls C Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic is an unrestricted free agent who averaged 17.6ppg, 11.0rpg and 3.2apg in 82 games this season. The front office has talked about wanting to bring the key players back from a season where the Bulls underwhelmed their way to a 40-42 record. That record was good enough to get them into 10th place but they would ultimately bow out to the Miami Heat in the Play-In tournament. There are few big men who can do the things Vucevic can do but there were also plenty of times when Vooch seemed like the forgotten man. That can’t be the case going forward.
- While the Bulls are trying to keep their core intact, internally they’re fearing the worst for PG Lonzo Ball. On his podcast, Organizations Win Championships, 670 The Score’s Dan Bernstein offered this sobering news:
“The other thing I heard is even though publicly there has been an expression of guarded optimism regarding a future for Lonzo Ball,” Bernstein said. “And there’s a reason why for you’re pursuant to all kinds of union issues, why they haven’t asked for the salary exemption yet because they don’t want to send the message publicly that they’re done with him. They don’t think it’s likely that he ever plays again.”
— Dan Bernstein, Organizations Win Championships Podcast
- Ball underwent a 3rd surgery on his left knee back in March that effectively ended his 2023-24 campaign. This knee injury has been compared to former Blazers star Brandon Roy. Roy’s career was tragically cut short with the same knee injury. Only time will tell if Lonzo Ball will ever be able to play basketball again.
Scottie Trippen’s At It Again
Ugh… Scottie Pippen continues to poison his legacy each time he opens his mouth. Ever since The Last Dance documentary dropped in 2020 Pippen has been on a vengeful, petty campaign to try and sully the legacy of his former teammate Michael Jordan. This past weekend Scottie offered his latest salvo against His Airness on Stacey King’s Gimme The Hot Sauce Podcast:
SMH. Look… I understand how Scottie may feel slighted that people may not recognize and pay tribute to how great of a player he was. I was one of his biggest defenders. He was one of my favorite players to watch growing up but Scottie played next to arguably the greatest player of all-time and you know what – there should be no shame in that. Pippen won 6 championships, 2 Gold Medals and countless All-NBA & All-Star team selections while playing alongside Michael. Jordan himself on plenty of occasions has praised Scottie’s game and attributes a large part of the Bulls’ dynasty to Pippen.
For Pippen to call Jordan a ‘horrible’ player is not only inaccurate it’s completely asinine. Let’s look at Jordan’s stats before Pippen’s arrival and the 3 seasons Pippen was there prior to their 1st championship:
- 1984-85: 28.2ppg, 6.5rpg, 5.9apg, 2.4spg, 51.5% FG, NBA Rookie of the Year, All-Star Selection
- 1986-87: 37.1ppg, 5.2rpg, 4.6apg, 2.9spg, 48.2% FG, 2nd in MVP Voting, All-Star Selection, All-NBA
- 1987-88: 35.0ppg, 5.5rpg, 5.9apg, 3.2spg, 53.5% FG, All-Star Game MVP, NBA MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA, All-NBA Defensive
- 1988-89: 32.5ppg, 8.0rpg, 8.0apg, 2.9spg, 53.8 FG, All-NBA, All-NBA Defensive, 2nd in MVP Voting
- 1989-90: 33.6ppg, 6.9rpg, 6.3apg, 2.8spg, 52.6% FG, All-NBA, All-NBA Defensive, 3rd in MVP Voting
Scottie is continuing to tarnish his legacy with the things he continues to say. For all his accomplishments he also has his shortcomings. Fans will remember Pippen sitting out the final 1.8 seconds against the Knicks in a critical Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Semi-finals. They’re going to remember him sitting out the first 35 games of the ’98 season because he “didn’t want to f*** my summer up”. They’re going to remember him demanding to be traded while the Bulls were attempting to complete their three-peat in 1998. His portrayal in the Last Dance documentary was self-inflicted. Nobody told him to sign that horrible contract or make the business decisions he did. This is all on him… and that’s something he can’t and won’t ever accept. Scottie has to knock this off and stop tripping.
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