Game 4 predictions
Matt Schubert, sports editor: One would think Jimmy Butler is due for a big game. If it’s going to happen, it probably has to be tonight if the Heat has any hope of winning this series. Still, even vintage Jimmy Buckets isn’t enough to do the job alone. Can the the Nuggets maintain the defensive intensity they displayed in Game 3? Can one of Michael Porter Jr. or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope break out of their slumps? Can Denver really get another transcendent performance from Nikola Jokic AND Jamal Murray? If the answer to two of those last three questions is yes, the Nuggets are taking a 3-1 series lead back to Denver. Pick: Nuggets 112, Heat 105
Sean Keeler, sports columnist: Going to climb onto a very lonely limb and say Michael Porter Jr. goes out and has his best game out of the series. Sadly, that probably also only happens because the Nuggets get down early and have to start chucking it from deep earlier than anybody would like. The Heat, backs against the wall, play their best game of the series, send us back to Denver at 2-2, and … probably start sliding downhill from there. Miami’s got at least one more A-to-A-minus game in them. Wednesday wasn’t it. Heat 111, Nuggets 109, OT.
Pre-game updates
Guess the stat line pic.twitter.com/mKhHcnkUje
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) June 9, 2023
Nuggets-Heat Game 3: Must reads
Nuggets’ Jamal Murray playing through “nasty” wound on left hand
MIAMI – It’s a good thing history isn’t fragile.
As Jamal Murray walked onto the podium ahead of Thursday’s practice, his left hand was wrapped in protective tape to cover a nasty floor burn he suffered in Wednesday’s Game 3 victory.
During the open portion of practice, most of Murray’s time was spent dribbling two basketballs at once. After 30 minutes, he unwrapped his hand and showed the wound to several courtside reporters.
“It’s nasty,” he said of the raw skin exposed at the base of his left palm, which is Murray’s non-shooting hand. Read more…
MIAMI — Nikola Jokic has one foot in Bam Adebayo’s nightmares and the other on the Larry O’Brien Trophy. And you’re worried about Michael Porter Jr.’s feelings? Now?
If the Nuggets gotta step on MPJ’s ego in order to reach the summit, so be it.
The best move Denver coach Michael Malone made in Game 3 of the NBA Finals was shortening Porter’s window while extending the Nuggets’ rotation. When The Christian Braun Express rolls in from out of nowhere with that much smoke, you ride that puppy ‘til the coal runs out.
“I loved our energy, our effort, our urgency, our discipline,” Malone said after the Nuggets nabbed a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. “I thought we were where we needed to be (Wednesday). We’ll have to be even better come Friday evening.” Read more…
Kiszla: Why is America last to realize what world knows? Nikola Jokic is best hooper on the planet.
MIAMI — The NBA is Nikola Jokic’s world, and we’re just lucky to live in it. While America has been slow to fall in love with the Joker, he’s winning hearts from Nairobi, Kenya, to Belgrade, Serbia, where savvy basketball fans aren’t afraid to stand up and applaud him as the best player on the planet.
So let’s toast him with a glass of Rakija, a Serbian brandy as sweet as the 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists Jokic dropped on Miami on Wednesday night to lead the Nuggets to the most crucial victory in franchise history.
From Wilt Chamberlain to Michael Jordan, the NBA Finals have never witnessed a triple-double of the size and scope as this performance by Jokic.
But forget the numbers. All that matters to him is the W. Read more…
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