Denver-Miami: Verstappen vs. Alonso in the NBA

Those who bet on the NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat before the start of the playoffs will have great benefits in their accounts. Many predicted the presence of the franchise from Colorado, the best in the Western Conference with a record of 53 wins and 29 losses in the regular season. But very few believed in the Miami Heat, who made the playoffs, after finishing in eighth place with a record of 44?38. Not only that, they lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the first play-in option and the passport visa in the last opportunity, against Chicago.

When they got inside, they were more and more surprised. First, they eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks, the best in the Eastern Conference (58-24), in a series that required only five games. They then eliminated the New York Knicks in six games. And to the Celtics, in a historic series that was just decided in the seventh (84-103 for those from Florida).

The Nuggets never needed a tiebreaker and arrive with much less mileage and more rest for the big event: 4-1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, 4-2 against the Phoenix Suns and 4-0 against the Los Angeles Lakers.

If the comparison with Formula 1 is valid, the final has many parallels with the duel between Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso. The Nuggets are a well-oiled, flawless machine, as capable of accelerating as they are of maintaining an almost impossible cruising speed for pursuers.

The trait that best identifies the Miami Heat is the way they handle games and the options they are given, no matter the circumstances and no matter how much adversity arises, such as losing their best long-range shooter, Tyler Herro, in the first game against the Bucks. Although he has some option to reappear in the series against the Nuggets.

In Denver, Michael Malone is setting up the lineup of the team in which two of his own names stand out. Most of all, that of Nikola Jokić. Everything looks simple around him. He is the best in the team in points (24.5), rebounds (11.8) and assists (9.8). He is one of those players who almost always makes good choices for the good of the team. He can score near or far from the rim, and if defenses close in on him, he emerges as an outstanding passer in search of an advantage.

Jokić is like a clock. Along with him and at his best level, Jamal Murray is back, after overcoming a serious knee injury. The Canadian point guard always thought, before and after the accident, to increase his benefits when the playoffs come around. In the playoffs, he recorded the best numbers of his career: 27.9 points, 6.2 assists and more than 40% accuracy in three-pointers.

That rising performance when the series arrives also follows Jimmy Butler, the Heat’s big reference. He is averaging 28.2 points (ten more than in the regular season), 6.7 rebounds (one more) and 5.7 assists (0.4 more).

In the picture, the spotlight is on Adebayo, but far from Jokic’s numbers and influence. However, in the Heat there are always seconds ready to step up. And the one that is getting more and more attention is Caleb Martin. He arrived in Florida two years ago with a dual contract, halfway between the first team and the one connected to the G-League. The following year, he renewed for three campaigns and twenty million dollars. The defensive net is another of the Heat’s big weapons.

Malone and Spoelstra, two long-time strategists

NBA franchises tend to gobble up coaches more often and with less patience, because results and goals are more important than the ability to think long term. It wasn’t always like that, but this end of the season was especially hard on the benches.

Greg Popovich is the exception that proves the rule, with the San Antonio Spurs, twenty-seven seasons in a row. Jerry Sloan was 23 years old for the Utah Jazz. Red Auerbach, 16 in the best stretch in Boston Celtics history.

It is increasingly difficult to find instances of continuity over time in the same franchise. And two of them are the two teams that meet in the final. This is Michael Malone’s eighth consecutive season at the helm of the Denver Nuggets, which he joined from the Sacramento Kings. He previously coached as an assistant to Don Chaney, Mike Brown, Monty Williams and Mark Jackson.

Race in Miami

Erick Spoelstra was an assistant coach in the Miami Heat from 1997 to 2008, and since then the head coach. He went from being an assistant to Pat Riley to leading the team when his mentor traded the bench for president. And there the tandem continues, three decades later. He joined the Florida franchise at the age of 25 to take up scouting (talent acquisition).

He has always been guided by a maxim that he himself summed up in a few words: «Don’t sweep anything under the carpet. Don’t point fingers or blame anyone. The team is a family, and we’re in this together.” If his career stands out for anything, it’s that the collective is above the individual, even when he was led by LeBron James, Wade, Chris Bosch or Ray Allen. One of of the main words in his vocabulary is “perseverance”.

Michael Malone is another chest breaker for the group. When Jamal Murray suffered a serious knee injury and asked the coach if he would be traded, the answer was clear. He invited him to recover well, that he would wait for him. And so it was.

Like his colleague, he works piecemeal in the laboratory and does not negotiate with students about demand: “It’s not so much a matter of motivation. It’s more about continuing to build good habits. If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.”

Malone has been grinding the game for the Nuggets, who have taken a step forward in their defensive numbers this season.

Spoelstra has always stood out as a master tactician when it comes to finding ways to make the most of available resources and weaving defensive frameworks that make opponents very uncomfortable.

Duel of strategists is served, and it promises.