3. Heat Culture might not work against these Nuggets
How the Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals had nothing to do with talent. Yes, Caleb Martin had an out-of-body experience, and Gabe Vincent was a flame thrower from downtown; the things that propelled this team to the finals were the exploitation of Boston’s incompetence and “Heat Culture.”
The infamous Miami zone was problematic against a Boston team that ran an offense that tended to stagnate during long stretches of a game. The best repellant of a zone is swift ball movement, and outside of Jayson Tatum, Boston didn’t have guys confident enough to make those snap decisions.
In the games they won, it was clear this affected the team mentally, especially when the Heat started to hit shots on the other end. Jaylen Brown deteriorated and couldn’t even bring the ball past half-court. In every aspect of the game, Boston got punked. Believe it or not, Denver is not Boston.
Unlike Joe Mazzulla, who went from the second row in the Boston coaching staff to the lead man in a matter of months, Michael Malone has been an NBA head coach for a decade. The magical zone falls apart when a team realizes to put their best player on the free throw line (Jokic), an athletic big in the dunker spot (Gordon), and shooters roaming the perimeter (Murray, Porter Jr., Caldwell-Pope). Even in the non-Jokic minutes, Denver feasted against Miami’s defense, with Bruce Brown and Jeff Green providing quality minutes off the bench.
This Nuggets group seems just too mentally tough to break. This is one of the most cohesive teams in the last few years, where everyone knows their role and accepts it. The role players are fearless and led by a superduper star with only one goal: win.