Speaker 1: Jolkic spoiling away puts it the first finals game in
Speaker 1: franchise history. Is a rousing success. Denver's nine and all
Speaker 1: and all of the playoffs. They take Game one.
Speaker 2: Welcoming into NBA Pulse, a production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
Speaker 2: I'm Sarahkustak, NBA analyst for the s Networking Today is Friday,
Speaker 2: June second. From our extraordinary core group of NBA journalists.
Speaker 2: We're joined now by NBA dot Com Senior writer Sean
Speaker 2: pal and Sean Game one, the Finals have begun in
Speaker 2: Denver took control with the score doesn't quite tell the
Speaker 2: story one O four to ninety three win, but it
Speaker 2: was dominant from start to finish. Nicolea Jokic ninth triple
Speaker 2: double of the playoffs, sixth in his last seven games.
Speaker 2: But it was a complete team effort from this Denver.
Speaker 1: Teamic tomor Murray good luck for three puts.
Speaker 2: It in Miami. It came out. Whether it was the
Speaker 2: fatigue of having just played and finishing off that tough
Speaker 2: seven game Eastern Conference final, but Bam out of Bayo
Speaker 2: was really the only one that had a stat line
Speaker 2: twenty six points, thirteen rebounds, five assists that was worthy
Speaker 2: of a Game one Finals appearance because the rest of
Speaker 2: the Miami Heat team they struggled. They shot a historic
Speaker 2: low of free throw attempts, just two free throw attempts
Speaker 2: on the game. But when you look at this one
Speaker 2: and Sean, you're out there, You're out there in Denver,
Speaker 2: up close and personal with this game. What jumped out
Speaker 2: to you about the Nuggets dominance here in this opener.
Speaker 3: Well, you know you mentioned Nicola Yogis's triple double. It
Speaker 3: might have been one of the quietest triple doubles he's
Speaker 3: had during the playoffs because he really spent much of
Speaker 3: the game just passing the ball to teammates who hit
Speaker 3: shots on a.
Speaker 1: Bayo right into jokic fins Mari Muri wine open.
Speaker 3: That alone speaks volumes about where the Nuggets are versus
Speaker 3: where they've been the last couple of years. Last couple
Speaker 3: of years. Nikola Jokic is passing them all the guys
Speaker 3: who can't hit shots. You know, now Jamal Murray is
Speaker 3: hitting shots. Michael Porter Junior, Aaron Gordon was very aggressive
Speaker 3: offensively early in particular, and I think that really helped
Speaker 3: Jordan again.
Speaker 1: Aggressively goes right into the page scores again, L Gordon's
Speaker 1: got corfield goals already. We played just over five minutes.
Speaker 3: And you know, if you look at the Miami Heat,
Speaker 3: you know, yes, they played some ruling series to get here.
Speaker 3: They didn't really have much for res But it's not
Speaker 3: the altitude, Sarah, it's the Nuggets. I mean, they're a
Speaker 3: very good team, are a top seed. They didn't get
Speaker 3: there by mistake. They didn't come out of the West
Speaker 3: by mistake. This is a very well rounded team. It's
Speaker 3: not Nikola Jokic versus you know, a bunch of role
Speaker 3: players anymore. He has the confidence in his teammates. He
Speaker 3: gives them the ball, he set them up, and when
Speaker 3: they're rolling like that, the way they will roll the
Speaker 3: first three quarters of this game. This game, Yeah, they
Speaker 3: get a little sloppy at the end, but when they're
Speaker 3: rolling like that, it's I would think it's very, very
Speaker 3: difficult for Miami to win this series because it was
Speaker 3: that dominant. The other thing is, and you mentioned the
Speaker 3: historic low free throw shooting Number one, the starters did
Speaker 3: not attempt a single free thiw wow, and those two
Speaker 3: free throws came from bench players. Simply Miami just settled
Speaker 3: on to three point shots. They didn't fall. You know
Speaker 3: what did fall? Miami fell pretty pretty hard, pretty big thud.
Speaker 3: And what a way to open Game one of the
Speaker 3: NBA Finals.
Speaker 2: And I think we've watched though playoff games long enough,
Speaker 2: playoff series long enough to know how much changes gamed
Speaker 2: game and you can't put too much stock in just
Speaker 2: one game. However, Denver is undefeated at home throughout the
Speaker 2: course of this postseason. They are the number one seed,
Speaker 2: and you mentioned it. Did Denver quite frankly didn't even
Speaker 2: shoot the three point shot that way well, but Miami
Speaker 2: took a lot of them, just over thirty three percent
Speaker 2: from the three point line, thirteen of thirty nine. What
Speaker 2: can Miami do? What do you anticipate as you get
Speaker 2: set for game two? You at least got two days
Speaker 2: in between here, when you know the conference final games
Speaker 2: were every other day, so not playing until Sunday evening.
Speaker 2: What can Miami look for in terms of trying to
Speaker 2: combat the way that Denver came out in particular to
Speaker 2: start this one.
Speaker 3: I think the heat had to go into this game thinking,
Speaker 3: you know what, if we hit a couple of those
Speaker 3: three point shots, maybe it's different. They have to believe that.
Speaker 3: And all season long, this team has been able to
Speaker 3: adjust whenever they're in trouble. We've seen it throughout the
Speaker 3: playoff series, even when Boston came back and tied that
Speaker 3: the Eastern Conference Finals three to three. You saw the
Speaker 3: way Miami responded a Game seven in Boston, and I
Speaker 3: just think that that's just tremendous. That's why you don't
Speaker 3: really count as team out. I mean, it's well coached
Speaker 3: by Eric Spolster, and Spolster I think is the X
Speaker 3: factor from Miami because he's been able to adjust and
Speaker 3: you've been able to find ways to put his players
Speaker 3: in position to succeed. However, having said that, I think
Speaker 3: his leash is going to be pretty short. If Max
Speaker 3: Strews comes out, the guy was you know, zero for ten.
Speaker 3: If he comes out and he starts hitting some more
Speaker 3: you know, air balls, does he go with? You know,
Speaker 3: Heyward Heismith, who by the way, looked pretty good in
Speaker 3: the fourth quarter and he kind of helped to comeback.
Speaker 3: Eric Spolster is not afraid to sit players. You know,
Speaker 3: you saw that with Duncan Robinson. He sat him pretty
Speaker 3: much all season. You know, this is a guy who
Speaker 3: signed a big contract. He doesn't care. He wants to
Speaker 3: put players on the floor who are going to produce.
Speaker 3: This is the NBA Final Finals. Your margin for error
Speaker 3: now now is very slim, particularly against another top seed.
Speaker 3: And that's the other thing you have to concern yourself
Speaker 3: if you're Miami, is Denver one top team too many.
Speaker 3: You know, you've got through Milwaukee, you've got through the Knicks,
Speaker 3: you got through the Boston Celtics, and you didn't have
Speaker 3: home court advantage in any of those series. Now, all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, you come to Denver, the top seed
Speaker 3: in the West, a team that's been unbeaten at home.
Speaker 3: I mean, sometimes, you know, you reach the end of
Speaker 3: the road, you know, you push your team as far
Speaker 3: as it can go. And I'm not saying that that's
Speaker 3: definitely going to happen, and that's definitely the case in
Speaker 3: Miami heat right now. But you know, you go through
Speaker 3: those grueling series that they went to, you go to
Speaker 3: the NBA Finals against some refreshed Denver team, confident Denver team.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know, We'll see what happens in
Speaker 3: the next game. I will refrain from saying this series
Speaker 3: is over because I've seen Eric Spolster in that coaching staff,
Speaker 3: and I've seen Jimmy Butler, and I've seen this team
Speaker 3: respond in the past. But Game two obviously is very crucial.
Speaker 3: They have to win one game in Denver in order
Speaker 3: to win this series, and I think they have to
Speaker 3: show up in the game two.
Speaker 2: What about Jimmy Butler. You mentioned, Hey what high Smith
Speaker 2: comes away with eighteen points? He was the one Miami
Speaker 2: Heat player they got himself to the free throw line.
Speaker 2: I think one of the more surprising individuals not at
Speaker 2: the line is Jimmy Butler. He's someone who normally finds
Speaker 2: production there, not a player. We've seen him throughout the
Speaker 2: course of this postseason. He's been extraordinary, but he's not
Speaker 2: a player that forces anything, reads a defense, patient, poised,
Speaker 2: deliberate in how he's able to attack and impose his will.
Speaker 2: But do you anticipate him in Game two being more
Speaker 2: aggressive and potentially having a larger imprint similar to what
Speaker 2: we saw early on in this postseason?
Speaker 3: You know, Sarah, I think you described Jimmy Butler perfectly.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's very patient, he plays under control, and
Speaker 3: Jimmy Butler is very much a team player. He's kind
Speaker 3: of like Yogic in that regard. He wants to get
Speaker 3: his teammates involved, particularly get him involved early so they
Speaker 3: get their confidence. Throw them the ball, make sure they
Speaker 3: get their shots. Jimmy Butler is not going to be
Speaker 3: a player who's going to come out and aiming to
Speaker 3: shoot thirty forty times. That's just not in his that's
Speaker 3: not his bag, you know. And it's very important for
Speaker 3: him to get his teammates involved and get them confident.
Speaker 3: So when the fourth quarter rolls around, yeah, he can
Speaker 3: take over. But if he's not taking over the fourth quarter,
Speaker 3: they're still rolling. They still have the confidence to make
Speaker 3: those shots. Having said all that, as I said before,
Speaker 3: the margin for error now is a little bit short.
Speaker 3: And I think Jimmy Butler can read the room, and
Speaker 3: I think he knows right now that, yeah, you know what,
Speaker 3: maybe I have to come out maybe a little bit
Speaker 3: more aggressive. And if I'm aggressive and suddenly I'm double teamed.
Speaker 3: Now these guys are open and maybe they can hit
Speaker 3: those shots. And by the way, Aaron Gordon, the guy
Speaker 3: who's assigned with guarding Jimmy Butler, look at the path
Speaker 3: that he's been on through these playoffs, He started out
Speaker 3: in the first round against Carl Anthony Towns, giving away
Speaker 3: what about four or five inches there. Then he goes
Speaker 3: up against Kevin Durant. Okay, we know who Kadie is.
Speaker 3: And then the next round Lebron James. I mean, just
Speaker 3: think about his defensive assignments in this postseason and now
Speaker 3: he's got Jimmy Butler. So Aaron Gordon is not scared. There,
Speaker 3: he ain't scared. He's going to be up for the challenge.
Speaker 3: But again, we've seen a lot of very good to
Speaker 3: great games by Jimmy Butler in this postseason. I think
Speaker 3: he and sposed they're going to have a conversation between
Speaker 3: now and the start of Game two, and I think
Speaker 3: he might see a little bit more of aggressive and
Speaker 3: assert of Jimmy Butler at the start of Game two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, on the flip side of things, let's get back
Speaker 2: to Nicola Jokic. He was tremendous, as I said, his
Speaker 2: ninth triple double of this playoff set's all time all
Speaker 2: time leader in a single postseason, four triple doubles, six
Speaker 2: in his last seven games. He became just a second
Speaker 2: player to record a triple double in their finals debut
Speaker 2: joining Jason Kidd. How masterful does he continue to be
Speaker 2: in your eyes in ways in which he You know,
Speaker 2: the numbers speak for themselves, but when you're watching it,
Speaker 2: it's the numbers, it's the eye test, it's everything. He
Speaker 2: he just really seems unstoppable.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna pay him the highest compliment by saying, I'm like,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm not surprised. You know, we think about it.
Speaker 3: Guy gets triple double here and there and everything. You're like, oh, wow,
Speaker 3: that's pretty good. But to me, it's kind of routine, Sarah.
Speaker 3: I mean, it doesn't blow me away anymore, and it should.
Speaker 3: It should. You can't take a player like him, for granted,
Speaker 3: a guy who's you know, seven foot tall and he's
Speaker 3: throwing these one handed water prolo passes, bounce past his
Speaker 3: pocket passes, finding guys.
Speaker 2: Yo.
Speaker 1: Kincher comes to double team, spins away, finds Brown wide open,
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown down.
Speaker 3: We've really, i mean, at least this generation, we've really
Speaker 3: never seen anyone like him. You can go back to
Speaker 3: our Beatus Cibotus uh, you know the former great Soviet players.
Speaker 3: Obviously you know his his son Demontes cebotis the Sacramento Kings,
Speaker 3: but you know, Sabonis was a little bit like that,
Speaker 3: particularly before his knees really gave way. By the time
Speaker 3: Sabonis came into the NBA played for the Portland Trailblazers,
Speaker 3: he wasn't the player he was on international level, but
Speaker 3: he was still a great passer. And also you can
Speaker 3: go back even a little bit further and talk about
Speaker 3: Bill Walton, the MVP of the World champion nineteen seventy
Speaker 3: seven Portland Trailblazers. The offense ran through him, okay, and
Speaker 3: he played the high post pretty much the way Jokic is,
Speaker 3: and he was able to control a game piece of
Speaker 3: pick a game apart with his passing that way. But
Speaker 3: of course I'm only enlightening people who are like sixty
Speaker 3: and seventy years old who can remember those two players.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about the generation here and now and what
Speaker 3: they're seeing from Nicola Jokic. I mean, it's just really
Speaker 3: really amazing to watch. He's had a fantastic postseason run.
Speaker 3: You can even make the argument over the last three
Speaker 3: years he's been the best player in the NBA, certainly
Speaker 3: from the MVP count. He won two of them and
Speaker 3: finish runner up in the third and so this is
Speaker 3: just a continuation of what we've seen from him. The
Speaker 3: difference is, Sarah, he has better, healthier teammates and better
Speaker 3: teammates around him in order to rack up those assists.
Speaker 3: When he's passing the ball, those guys are making.
Speaker 2: The shot making the shots, and that's something Miami is
Speaker 2: gonna need to do more of. We are going to
Speaker 2: take a break, but gets us some Game two predictions
Speaker 2: and some potential firepower coming back for the Heat. Welcome
Speaker 2: back to NBA Pulse, Sarahustak joined by the great Sean
Speaker 2: Pyle and uh Sean Game two. Uh, he's gonna need
Speaker 2: a lot more from Miami in Denver and just what
Speaker 2: they had shown in that first opening game. But it
Speaker 2: was reported prior to the game uh, the Tyler Hero
Speaker 2: could come back in Game two for the Miami Heat. First,
Speaker 2: I want to ask you about that. What difference do
Speaker 2: you think that could make given the amount of time
Speaker 2: that Hero has been off and obviously what he could
Speaker 2: add to this team in terms of what they could
Speaker 2: use after seeing the way that they played Denver there
Speaker 2: in Game one.
Speaker 3: Well, you know one reason why I want to see
Speaker 3: him and uniform is out. I keep watching his his
Speaker 3: bench attire. You know, in these games he's got the
Speaker 3: muscle shirt on. I'm not sure he had a much
Speaker 3: muscle definition. No offense here. You're a shooter, not a weightlifter.
Speaker 3: And you know he's got the big hats and he's
Speaker 3: looking at Look, nobody wants to see Tally Hero on
Speaker 3: the floor more than Tally Hero. The guy's a competitor,
Speaker 3: guy's a baller, sir. He wants to play. H if
Speaker 3: he could play, he would play. Uh And you know, look, yeah,
Speaker 3: there's a couple of games in between. There's a couple
Speaker 3: of days in between these games. These games he could
Speaker 3: he's ramping up his basketball activity. We all know what
Speaker 3: type of player he is. But you know, to get
Speaker 3: hurt and the opening game of the postseason and then
Speaker 3: sit for multiple weeks and then come back in the
Speaker 3: NBA Finals of all places, and to be able to
Speaker 3: come in and have an impact. Look, I love Tyller
Speaker 3: Hero as a player, but I would say even for
Speaker 3: players better than Tylly Hero, that's quite the challenge. To
Speaker 3: be able to get that rhythm back, you get that pop,
Speaker 3: you know, with the ball off the fingers, be able
Speaker 3: to play defense defense after missing that much time. That
Speaker 3: would be a steep challenge. I'm rooting for it, Sarah,
Speaker 3: because I want to see both teams at full health.
Speaker 3: Who doesn't. I don't want to see see Denver have
Speaker 3: any excuses, not that they need excuses of their top
Speaker 3: top seed coming out of the West, but I like
Speaker 3: to see teams at full strength. I like to see
Speaker 3: what Denver can do against a Miami Heat team with
Speaker 3: Tyler Hero. Let's just say, for argument's sake, he does
Speaker 3: come back in this series and he's effective. Well, you know, obviously,
Speaker 3: that's just one more weapon that Miami has, one more
Speaker 3: teammate for Jimmy Butler. He can throw the ball to
Speaker 3: with confidence, and all of a sudden, if the Miami
Speaker 3: Heat is settling for three point shots and hitting him,
Speaker 3: you have Tally Hero on the floor who can probably
Speaker 3: solve that situation. So I'm rooting for him. I want
Speaker 3: to see him in uniform next time. He's wearing something sleeveless.
Speaker 3: Let's hope it's a jersey and not a T shirt
Speaker 3: on a bench.
Speaker 2: Sean, before we go, who do you have? Who's your
Speaker 2: pick for Game two?
Speaker 3: I'm going to go with Denver again. I suspect it's
Speaker 3: going to be a lot closer through the first three quarters.
Speaker 3: I can probably see basically a reversal closer for three
Speaker 3: quarters and then Denver pulling away at the end. Again,
Speaker 3: this is a team that's undefeated at home, and I
Speaker 3: think that atmosphere in Denver is electric. I think the
Speaker 3: fans sent something from a team making its first trip
Speaker 3: to the NBA Finals obviously don't have an NBA championship.
Speaker 3: I think the fans sense that something special was happening.
Speaker 3: I see Denver going up two oh and this series
Speaker 3: going back to Miami.
Speaker 2: All right, well, we will see what happens on Sunday
Speaker 2: apm Eastern on ABC. We will continue to watch and
Speaker 2: read all your stuff Sean on NBA, and enjoy your
Speaker 2: time there in Denver. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 3: Thanks, Eric, appreciate it.
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