Nuggets-Heat isn't an NBA Finals matchup that many prognosticators picked two months ago — I know I sure as hell didn't! — but considering how we've gotten here, it ought to be an awfully compelling one.
, statements to make and legacies to define. We've got one franchise seeking to burnish its standing as one of the sport's elite organizations with a fourth championship in the last 17 years; we've got another looking to stamp its passport for rarefied air by winning the first title in its 56-year history.Let’s take a look at the five most interesting players — to me! — in the 2023 NBA Finals, in context of both of the questions they will face and the possibilities they might unlock.
Miami has played zone on 16.4% of its defensive possessions overall this season, according to Second Spectrum, by far a league high. Against the Nuggets, though, that rate dipped to 5.9%. Miami has sent double-teams in the post 19.7% of the time against the league at large. Against Denver, though, an extra defender came on just three of 28 post-ups .
In eight meetings dating to the 2019-20 campaign, when Bam became a full-time starter, Jokic has scored 60 points on 26-for-48 shooting with Adebayo as his closest defender, according to Second Spectrum’s matchup tracking data. He’s also had 31 assists against just seven turnovers with Adebayo as his primary defender in the half-court.
It'll be important for Adebayo, then, to keep himself out of those positions as much as possible — to try to do his work early by pushing Jokić a bit further out on the catch and denying him easy post entries. He'll also need to crank up his ball pressure when Jokić faces up and stay disciplined enough with his hand and body positioning to avoid picking up the kind of ticky-tack whistles that can land him in foul trouble. Miami has allowed 3.
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