DENVER, June 1 ------ Denver Nuggets squad looking to prove its championship quality and an upstart Miami Heat lineup that made defying the odds a trademark are on an NBA Finals collision course. Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic of Serbia leads the Western Conference top seed Nuggets against sharpshooter Jimmy Butler and the Heat, who needed a play-in victory just to grab an eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. The best-of-seven championship series begins Thursday at Denver. It’s the Nuggets’ first trip to the NBA Finals since making their league debut in 1976.
Denver has won hard-earned respect after 46 seasons of futility, this year as a playoff top seed for the first time. “Our goal is to win a championship, so we have much more work to do,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Seems like for years now, some dusty old cowtown in the Rocky Mountains, the little respect that we get. You can sit there and complain about it or you can just embrace who we are and what we have. Until we win a championship, people are going to keep saying that about us. So that’s what drives us. Getting to the finals doesn’t do it. It’s winning a championship,” said Malone.
Miami center Bam Adebayo says the key to slowing Jokic is “making him take tough shots” but added, “The biggest thing for us is try to limit his assists. Sounds easier said than done. Biggest thing for us is watching film and figuring that out.”
“We’ve got four more wins to go,” Nuggets guard Jamal Murray said. “First Nuggets team to go all the way. We just want to make the most of the opportunity.” To do that, the Nuggets must defeat a giant-killer Heat team that became only the second eighth seed to reach the NBA Finals after the 1999 New York Knicks. The Heat stunned NBA wins-leader Milwaukee, beat New York and edged Boston in seven games in the East final after letting the Celtics pull level from a 0-3 hole.
“We have some incredible competitors in that locker room. They love the challenge,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Things don’t always go your way. The inevitable setbacks happen and it’s how you deal with that collectively,” he said.
Source: philstar.com
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