Butler, Jimmy

Subterms

    Latest story

    113 Shares179 Views

    Miami’s Jimmy Butler Makes Fashion Statement With Emo Hair

    by

    Jimmy Butler’s emo persona was as short-lived as it was spectacular. Regardless of his motivation, it kept the Miami Heat’s media day decidedly off-topic.Jimmy Butler, a forward for the Miami Heat, has never been concerned with what anyone expects of him. He blasts country music in the Heat’s locker room, irritating most of his N.B.A. teammates. He started his own pandemic-era coffee company, initially charging $20 a cup — for sizes small, medium and large. He also is a ferocious competitor, and he pledged on Monday that he would lead the Heat back to the N.B.A. finals this season.“This time we’re going to win it,” he said, “and then y’all are going to say we got lucky.”Mr. Butler, 34, made this bold declaration as he sat on a dais at the team’s media day, an annual rite of passage before the start of training camp in which players speak with reporters. But nothing he said seemed to matter as much as what he wore — he appeared to have pierced his eyebrow, lip and nose, and his hair was in a straightened fringe vaguely reminiscent of André 3000’s “Hey Ya!” hairdo.Mr. Butler, however, seemed to have found inspiration in a different musical genre.“I’m emo,” Mr. Butler said with a faux glower as he brushed his bangs across his forehead. “This is my emotional state. I’m at one with my emotions, so this is what you get.”To be clear: It was neither Mr. Butler’s regular look nor one that anyone expected to stick around once the cameras were off. In fact, before the start of last season, he showed up in dreadlocks, which he claimed at the time were his real hair. (They were not.) Mr. Butler typically has his hair in braids or coifed in an Afro taper fade.Mr. Butler was peppered with questions about his team, his hair and Miami’s failed pursuit of Damian Lillard.Sam Navarro/Getty ImagesIn other words, Mr. Butler enjoys being a provocateur. And he appeared to acknowledge as much on Monday during a photo shoot with his teammate Bam Adebayo, who was flummoxed by Mr. Butler’s facial accouterments.“The whole lip ring is annoying,” Mr. Adebayo told him.“Look,” Mr. Butler said, “I’ve got to stay in character.”Intentional or not, Mr. Butler’s appearance helped to distract from questions about the team’s muted off-season. In addition to losing two key players to free agency — Gabe Vincent and Max Strus — Miami was unable to swing a deal for Damian Lillard, a superstar point guard the Heat had coveted.It is probably worth noting that Mr. Butler was not pleased with that turn of events. Mr. Lillard, after all, had reportedly professed a desire to land in Miami. But after the Portland Trail Blazers traded Mr. Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks, Mr. Butler suggested on Instagram that the N.B.A. should “look into the Bucks for tampering.” (Tampering refers to improper negotiations between players, coaches or team executives.)Mr. Butler’s self-described emo look could have had something to do with his feelings about the Lillard situation — or not. With Mr. Butler, it is impossible to know. Because here’s the thing: Not even his teammates know.“If this is a phase he’s going through at 34, you have to let him go through his phases,” Mr. Adebayo said. “We all go through our emo phases.”At last year’s media day, Mr. Butler had shown up with dreadlocks that he insisted were real. They were not.Wilfredo Lee/Associated PressA six-time N.B.A. All-Star, Mr. Butler is as talented as he is inscrutable. He values his privacy. He seldom discusses his personal life — in an interview with Rolling Stone he brushed off rumors that he is dating the pop star Shakira — though he does offer glimpses. On Monday, for example, he spoke about his friendship with the Irish musician Dermot Kennedy — “That’s my brother through and through,” Mr. Butler said — and about how much he enjoyed visiting China this summer as part of a promotion tour for the Chinese sneaker brand Li-Ning.“I got to sing a lot of karaoke, which means the world to me,” he said, “because I don’t get to do that often here.”He also expressed optimism about the season ahead. Last season, the Heat, who had barely made the playoffs, engineered upset after upset before losing to the Denver Nuggets in the N.B.A. finals.“It’s always been about a championship for me,” Mr. Butler said. “It will always be that for me, nothing else. And it’s just our year. This is the one. And this one is going to feel real good, by the way.”On Tuesday, Mr. Butler arrived for the team’s first official practice of the season with his hair back in braids. But fear not: Mr. Butler posed as #EmoJimmy in his official headshot for the season, meaning that glorious hair will soon make an appearance on an arena Jumbotron near you. More

    More stories

    • 75 Shares179 Views

      in Basket

      Inside the NBA’s Version of Comic-Con

      by

      Promoted as a celebration of the league’s cultural relevance, the convention also highlighted the N.B.A.’s business ambitions.Somewhere under the lights of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center over the weekend, the Jabbawockeez danced during a television special that could have been an email as part of the “most culturally relevant basketball experience on the planet.”That’s what the signs called it, anyway. It was the first-ever N.B.A. Con, the league’s riff on Comic-Con. The basketball-themed Lollapalooza was a three-day smorgasbord of fashion, music and basketball.But seen through another lens, the convention was an intriguing window into how the league sees itself as a business.The first-ever N.B.A. Con drew more than 25,000 attendees.Bridget Bennett for The New York TimesThe event was a three-day festival of fashion, music and basketball. There were also arcade games.Bridget Bennett for The New York TimesFor the N.B.A., stars are bigger than the games — cultural presences far beyond the floor. The N.B.A. took advantage of that by holding the convention during its summer league in Las Vegas, when scores of stakeholders from the union, retired players, owners, general managers, players, sponsors and fans descend on Nevada.“When you ask people about the N.B.A., for them, it’s not a company,” said Mark Tatum, the league’s deputy commissioner. “It’s life. It’s their culture. The N.B.A. is this culture of music and fashion and entertainment and style.”More than 25,000 fans attended, mostly paying $30 to $250 to get in. But really, cultural relevance is priceless, especially when sponsored by Michelob Ultra. (They were there too.)The convention floor was set up to evoke the spirit of New York City, with park benches, Jenga, cornhole and pickleball courts. There were neighborhoods titled the Drip, the Collection, the Network, the Park and the Convos.The Drip, where sponsors set up shop, was the real core of the convention.Sure, a convention does help the league reach fans in a way it otherwise wouldn’t at a time when LeBron James isn’t playing every night. On Saturday, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver detailed a new in-season tournament during a bloated television special. But throwing an N.B.A. Con meant the league also created an opportunity for new intellectual property. It sold N.B.A. Con merchandise and created a new Twitter account, though the account had fewer than 2,000 followers on Monday compared with nearly 44 million on the league account.There was an AT&T booth, where a sign read, “Step into the spotlight and show off your fire fit.” Fans lined up and shot slow-motion videos of their outfits under a fancy spotlight.Attendees swarmed the former Knicks star Carmelo Anthony for photos and autographs.Bridget Bennett for The New York TimesAnother booth, run by a memorabilia company, MeiGray, sold game-worn jerseys. Its main podium showed a mannequin wearing a jersey that Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic wore in Game 2 of the N.B.A. finals last month. It sold for $150,000. Next to that was a smaller podium with a jersey that Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler wore during Game 3 of that series. It sold for $17,500. To the victors — the Nuggets — go the bigger boxes and higher prices.Tucked in a back corner of the convention space was an exhibit called “Rings Culture,” from the jewelry store Jason of Beverly Hills. It displayed several replicas of championship rings. It might’ve been the perfect place for a heist in a movie like “Ocean’s Eleven.”The night before the convention, the N.B.A. held a walk-through for journalists. Tristan Jass, a YouTuber known for trick basketball shots, displayed some of his skills on a temporary court. But before doing so, he described his ascension to fame.“When you ask people about the N.B.A., for them, it’s not a company,” said the league’s deputy commissioner. “It’s life. It’s their culture.”Bridget Bennett for The New York TimesFans measured their vertical leaps near the Drip, an area of the convention where sponsors sold merchandise.Bridget Bennett for The New York Times“We just left a trail of inspiration around the world,” Jass told the crowd.His first shot was a heave from a spot adjacent to the court behind a chain-link fence. He missed the first two attempts, but hit the third. It was impressive. His second shot was a full-court launch from the opposite corner. This one didn’t go as well. After at least 20 misses, some observers — the uninspired ones, clearly — moved on to the rest of the tour. When a shot rimmed out, Jass muttered, “Those ones hurt.”The biggest draw for the weekend was a panel discussion with Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar moderated by Isiah Thomas, the former Detroit Pistons star. There were a couple hundred seats, but a long overflow line for viewers trying to catch a glimpse of a basketball torch being passed. Wembanyama was the much-heralded No. 1 pick in the N.B.A. draft last month.There was a larger backdrop too: Abdul-Jabbar’s conversation with Wembanyama in that 30-minute panel was more time than he had spent chatting with James in the last two decades combined. Last month, Abdul-Jabbar told reporters in Los Angeles that he had “never had a chance really to talk to LeBron, other than two or three minutes.”At N.B.A. Con, Abdul-Jabbar said he was struck by how much the game had changed.“The different duties and what is expected of various players in various positions,” he said. “It’s really been through a tremendous change, and for more than a few minutes, I just sat there and wondered, ‘Would I be able to compete?’”Abdul-Jabbar spent 20 seasons in the N.B.A. and retired in 1989 as the career scoring leader. James surpassed his record in February.“Sure would have been nice, though, to be able to fly from city to city in a charter jet like these guys do,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I didn’t get to do that. I could have played longer.”To that end, the convention served not just as a branding exercise for the N.B.A., but also the players themselves. Scoot Henderson, the 19-year-old who was drafted third by the Portland Trail Blazers last month, is part of a new generation of stars with a marketing reach that players from Abdul-Jabbar’s era would find unrecognizable. Most players are active on social media, which has given them expanded ways to build an audience. Henderson was interviewed in a panel by the former Knicks star Carmelo Anthony — delivering a signal that the league viewed Henderson as next in the star lineage.“I’ve been thinking about myself as a business for a minute,” Henderson said afterward. “The name. A corporation — that’s who I am.”Most fans paid $30 to $250 to get into N.B.A. Con.Bridget Bennett for The New York Times More

    • 138 Shares99 Views

      in Basket

      Miami Heat Prove Value of Patience, Even in NBA Finals Defeat

      by

      There was something novel and fun about the Heat as they pulled off upset after upset as the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed.Jimmy Butler studied a box score. Max Strus pulled on a sweatshirt from Lewis University, the Division II school in Romeoville, Ill., that had offered him a scholarship when high-major programs passed on him. And as fireworks crackled outside, Udonis Haslem — a power forward and a staple of the Miami Heat for the past 20 seasons — reflected on the final game of his playing career.“Proud of these guys, proud of my team,” Haslem, 43, said. “I told the guys I have no complaints, no regrets. They gave me a final season that I’ll never forget, and that’s all I can ask for.”Inside the visiting locker room at Ball Arena on Monday night, there was sadness but also some joy. There was resignation mixed with no small amount of pride. But most of all, in the wake of the Heat’s 94-89 loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals, there was the sense that Miami had lost the series to a superior opponent and a worthy league champion, and sometimes it really is that simple.“We would have liked to be able to climb the mountaintop and get that final win,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But I think this is a team that a lot of people can relate to, if you ever felt that you were dismissed or were made to feel less than. We had a lot of people in our locker room that probably have had that, and there’s probably a lot of people out there that have felt that at some time or another.”The Heat couldn’t hold on to a slim lead in the fourth quarter of Game 5. They won one game in the series: Game 2 in Denver.Daniel Brenner for The New York TimesSome of the story lines that accompanied the Heat on their deep playoff run may be irritatingly familiar by now. How nine of the players on their roster were undrafted. How they seemed to thrive on adversity. How Spoelstra flummoxed arguably more talented opponents with his zone defense. And how Butler and Bam Adebayo, the team’s two best players, filled their more unsung teammates with self-assurance.But there was also something novel and fun about how the Heat, as the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed, went about their business — pulling off upset after upset, surprise after surprise. They were just the second eighth seed to reach the N.B.A. finals.“I’m just grateful,” Butler said of being around his teammates. “I learned so much. They taught me so much. I wish I could have got it done for these guys because they definitely deserve it.”Most of all, perhaps, Miami’s playoff run was a testament to organizational stability, a concept that sounds about as bland as boiled potatoes. But the Heat — along with the Nuggets, who have stuck with their core and their coaching staff through a smorgasbord of ups and downs — have shown that being boring and exercising patience have value, that constant change is seldom the answer.Cheering the Heat in Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals in Miami.Rebecca Blackwell/Associated PressButler said he wished he could have won a championship for his teammates.Megan Briggs/Getty ImagesSpoelstra, who has been with the Heat since the mid-1990s, first as a video coordinator and later as an assistant, personifies that approach. He has been the team’s coach for 15 seasons, making him the second-longest-tenured coach behind San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich — no small feat when coaches in professional sports tend to be shuffled like playing cards. About a third of N.B.A. coaches were fired or quit in the 2022-23 season.And in an era in which some teams stockpile draft picks and strategize about the best way to land top-shelf prospects — this is less diplomatically known as “tanking” — the Heat have continued to prioritize developing their young players while striving to be competitive, even when it is hard and often unrewarding work.Spoelstra recalled training camp, which he described as hypercompetitive. At the time, the Heat were only a few months removed from a disappointing end to their 2021-22 season: a Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. The memory of that game seemed to fuel them.“We could barely get through those full-contact practices without everybody screaming at each other, yelling at the coaches that are officiating, arguing about the scores,” Spoelstra said.Erik Spoelstra has coached the Heat for 15 seasons.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports Via Reuters ConAnd then something odd happened: Miami spent months wrestling with mediocrity. The N.B.A. is not an easy business. The Heat lost seven of their first 11 games. In late December, they had won only half. By April, they were bound for the play-in bracket, and with the No. 7 seed in the East on the line, they lost to the Atlanta Hawks. Needing to defeat the Chicago Bulls to secure the conference’s final playoff spot, Miami trailed by as many as 6 points in the fourth quarter — and then won by 11.The entire process, though, proved important. Despite their struggles, the Heat ignored the lure of quick fixes. They did not flip their roster at the trade deadline. Instead, they kept at the daily grind while banking on the belief that they would find their rhythm, that they would get it right when it mattered, that they were becoming more resilient.“Nobody let go of the rope,” Adebayo said.If the Heat slipped into the playoffs as an afterthought, they crashed the party once they arrived. They needed just five games to eliminate the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round (leading Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks’ star forward, to offer his viral discourse on the definition of “failure”), then beat the fifth-seeded Knicks in six games. Miami proceeded to reach the N.B.A. finals by exacting a measure of revenge on the Celtics, walloping them in Game 7 of the conference finals — in Boston, no less.Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry had 12 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists in Game 5.Daniel Brenner for The New York TimesAs for facing a 3-1 series deficit to the Nuggets ahead of Monday’s game, some members of the Heat expressed as much confidence as ever.“We’ve been through so much adversity this season,” Adebayo said. “Who else would be in this situation?”Some of it could have come off as public posturing, except that the Heat seemed truly determined to extend the series. The Nuggets went 5 of 28 from 3-point range in Game 5, an effort that was due in part to the Heat’s aggressive defense. Butler, meanwhile, emerged from hibernation to go on a late-game scoring binge, and his two free throws gave Miami an 89-88 lead with 1 minute 58 seconds remaining.But the Heat went scoreless the rest of the way as the Nuggets seized their first championship behind Nikola Jokic, their do-everything center.“The last three or four minutes felt like a scene out of a movie,” Spoelstra said. “Two teams in the center of the ring throwing haymaker after haymaker, and it’s not necessarily shotmaking. It’s the efforts. Guys were staggering around because both teams were playing and competing so hard.”Spoelstra added that it was probably his team’s “most active defensive game” of the season.“And it still fell short,” he said.Udonis Haslem said he would retire after this season, his 20th with the Miami Heat.Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesAfterward, Haslem said he was already thinking about next season and how the team’s returning players could build off their experience in the playoffs. He will not be among them.Haslem, who signed with the Heat in 2003 and won three championships with the team, is retiring. And while he played sparingly in recent seasons, he wielded outsize influence in the locker room. He also operated as a connective thread for the organization, as someone who understood pressure and hard work and the way things are done in Miami, from one season to the next — a phenomenon more commonly known as Heat Culture.Haslem pledged that he would still be around next season.“Somewhere close by,” he said. “Somewhere close by, I can promise you that.” More

    • 138 Shares99 Views

      in Basket

      NBA Finals 2023: Denver Nuggets Beat Miami Heat for First Championship

      by

      It took 56 years and 38 playoff appearances for the basketball team nestled in the high plains just east of the Rocky Mountains to finally reach the peak of its sport.It took an unheralded center from Serbia who turned into the most formidable player in the game and a Canadian point guard who found himself again after a long and arduous recovery from a career-threatening knee injury. It took patience, collaboration and a discipline born of trying, failing and learning how to keep climbing just a bit higher.The Denver Nuggets are finally champions.They clinched the first title in franchise history Monday night on their home court at Ball Arena, 5,280 feet above sea level — the highest altitude at which any N.B.A. championship has been won. They beat the Miami Heat, 94-89, in Game 5 to seal the victory. They were led by center Nikola Jokic, who stood quietly at the back of the stage holding his 1-year-old daughter as his team celebrated during the trophy presentation, and by point guard Jamal Murray, who cried as he looked up at the thousands of fans roaring for him. The rest of Denver’s indefatigable eight-man rotation bolstered the team’s two biggest stars until the end.“I got news for everybody out there,” Nuggets Coach Michael Malone shouted, as the crowd erupted and confetti swirled in the air around him. “We’re not satisfied with one! We want more! We want more!”Bruce Brown celebrating.Daniel Brenner for The New York TimesJokic was named the most valuable player of the finals, a nice complement to his two regular-season M.V.P. Awards. He finished Game 5 with 28 points, 16 rebounds and 4 assists, becoming the first player in N.B.A. history to lead the playoffs in points, rebounds and assists.“If you want to be a success, you need a couple years,” Jokic said. “You need to be bad, then you need to be good. Then when you’re good you need to fail, and then when you fail, you’re going to figure it out.“I think experience is something that is not what happened to you. It’s what you’re going to do with what happened to you.”The clinching game was neither pretty nor easy. Through the first three quarters, the Nuggets struggled to make 3-point shots and convert free throws. They turned the ball over carelessly. Had they lost, they would have had to play Game 6 in Miami on Thursday. The pressure on Monday may have frayed their nerves.“You want to end it on your home court with all the fans there, your family there,” Murray said. “You want to end it on the home court so bad.”The Heat had a 7-point lead at halftime, and led by just 1 point at the end of the third quarter.Jamal Murray heading to the locker room after winning.Daniel Brenner for The New York TimesBut in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets found the resolve to take the title. With about 10 minutes 59 seconds remaining, Murray hit a 3-pointer — only the Nuggets’ third of the game — to give the Nuggets a 4-point lead. He pranced down the court as the Heat called a timeout. It was Denver’s largest lead since the first quarter.Later, Murray struck again. This time, Aaron Gordon blocked a jumper by Heat guard Kyle Lowry, leading to a transition basket for Murray to give the Nuggets a 5-point lead.And with less than 30 seconds remaining, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope stole a pass by Jimmy Butler and made both free throws after Lowry fouled him to give Denver a 3-point lead.“I’m grateful, man, that we made it here,” Butler said afterward. “Came up short, but I’m blessed. I’m fortunate.”With the win, the Nuggets departed a dubious club. There are now only 10 teams in the league that have never won an N.B.A. championship. Five have made it to the finals and lost, including the Phoenix Suns, who have come up short three times, most recently in 2021.But the Nuggets had never even gotten that far, at least not in the N.B.A. Not since 1976, when they lost to the New York Nets in the American Basketball Association finals, had they reached a championship series.Fans celebrating in downtown Denver.Max Paro/Getty ImagesThe long drought helps explain why the Nuggets were underestimated all season. Pundits and oddsmakers questioned their ability to win, even after they took hold of first place in the Western Conference in December and never let go.People wondered if Jokic, despite his superlative play, could lead a team this far — after all, he had never taken the Nuggets past the conference finals. Those questions may have cost him a third consecutive M.V.P. Award — an accomplishment that many said should be reserved for champions.Some wondered if Murray would ever return to the elite level he had been playing at in 2021, when a knee injury just before the playoffs set him and Denver on a two-year journey to fully reset.Along the way, some role players found their stride, even if they mostly went unnoticed.Caldwell-Pope, whom the Nuggets traded for last off-season, added defense, shooting and championship experience. For a few playoff games, he brought in the ring he had won in 2020 with the Lakers and let his teammates hold it. None of them have one.“They gave me an opportunity here, because of my championship, to be that leader — be vocal, let them know about my experience and how hard it is to get to this point we’re at now,” Caldwell-Pope said after Game 1. “I’m just trying to keep them motivated.”Jokic had never been past the conference finals until this season. Denver drafted him in the second round, 41st overall, in 2014.Daniel Brenner for The New York TimesGordon, whom the Nuggets traded for in March 2021, happily became a defensive stopper after being the offensive star of the Orlando Magic.“I’m not here for the credit,” Gordon said. “I’m here for the wins.”Bruce Brown provided offensive sparks; Jeff Green added veteran calm; Christian Braun, a rookie, offered a youthful fearlessness that would pay off in the finals.The Nuggets blasted through the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round and then beat the Suns in six games. They swept the Lakers in the conference finals and then sat around for a week waiting to find out whom they would meet in the finals.Like the Nuggets, the Heat had taken a 3-0 lead in their conference finals series. But they faltered as the Boston Celtics fought back in the East and won the next three games, forcing a decisive Game 7.“When Boston won Game 6, we’d been sitting so long it almost felt like we wasn’t in the playoffs anymore,” Green said. “Because the only thing we was doing was watching them.”Miami, propelled by its relentless star Butler, won Game 7 for the franchise’s seventh trip to the finals, this time as the No. 8 seed. A victory would have given Miami its first championship in a decade, one far more unexpected than the three it had won.If people overlooked Denver this season, they ignored Miami outright. The Heat barely made the playoffs and then gave even ardent believers reason to doubt when they wavered against Boston. They had an us-against-the-world mentality heading into the finals when, for once, Denver seemed to have the world on its side.And who could blame the Nuggets if that surge of confidence flowed to their heads?Caleb Martin of the Miami Heat, center, battling with Jokic.Pool photo by Kyle TeradaDenver took Game 1, and Jokic notched a triple-double. Afterward, the Nuggets began to celebrate as if they could feel their championship parade rumbling already. They lost focus and allowed Miami to steal Game 2, even as Jokic scored 41 points. Malone, Denver’s coach, scolded the Nuggets and questioned their effort. He wouldn’t have to do that again.Jokic and Murray each had triple-doubles in Game 3 in front of a raucous crowd in Miami. In Game 4, Brown scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, stoking Miami’s desperation.The Nuggets had some unusual visitors in their locker room after Game 4. The Nuggets owner E. Stanley Kroenke and his son, Josh Kroenke, the team president, grinned brightly, each holding a can of Coors. The Nuggets had just taken a 3-1 lead in the finals, and they could feel that the franchise was closing in on its first championship. Only one finals team — the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers — had ever been able to dig itself out of that deep a hole.But the Nuggets players and coaches refused to acknowledge how close they were. They remembered what had happened after Game 1.“We need to win one more,” Jokic said after Game 4. “I like that we didn’t relax. We didn’t get comfortable. We were still desperate. We still want it.”Murray offered a bit more confidence. “We’re just ready to win a championship,” he said. “We have the tools to do it. It’s been on our minds for a while.”Daniel Brenner for The New York TimesA fan with face paint or makeup in the style of the comic book character the Joker — Jokic’s nickname — at Game 5 in Denver.Daniel Brenner for The New York TimesWhen Murray stood on the stage after Game 5, having finally won, ESPN’s Lisa Salters asked him about his journey, about how he couldn’t even walk two years ago today because of his knee injury. As she spoke, the crowd’s cheers drowned out her voice. Murray paused and looked up at them. Tears filled his reddened eyes.“Everything was hitting at once,” Murray said later. “From the journey, to the celebration with the guys, to enjoying the moment, to looking back on the rehab, to looking back at myself as a kid.”Malone’s mind was already on the next championship.Pat Riley, the president of the Miami Heat, who has won nine N.B.A. championships as either a player, assistant coach, head coach or executive, once shared with Malone a message that Malone used to have displayed in his office.“It talked about the evolution in this game and how you go from a nobody to an upstart, and you go from an upstart to a winner and a winner to a contender and a contender to a champion,” Malone said. “And the last step is after a champion is to be a dynasty.”But his players weren’t ready to think about that yet. As he spoke, they were dousing the locker room and each other with champagne, drops of which sprinkled from the Nuggets logo on the ceiling. The players lit cigars, adding the heavy scent of cigar smoke to their celebration.Denver’s role players, such as Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., played a key role in their playoff success.Daniel Brenner for The New York TimesJokic popped in and out of the locker room, sometimes spraying champagne on his teammates, sometimes pouring it right on their heads. He said many times during the playoffs that he was most proud of the success they’d had together.He had been the first player off the court after the trophy presentation, and had walked to the locker room by himself holding his finals M.V.P. trophy. He had been their best player throughout the season, but he wasn’t swept up in the ecstasy that had engulfed his teammates.“It’s good,” Jokic said, when asked about his emotions after winning the championship. “We did a job.”Another reporter tried again a few minutes later, this time asking if he was excited for the parade the city would have to celebrate the championship.“When is parade?” Jokic said, turning to a Nuggets staff member in the room.He was told it was Thursday.“No,” Jokic lamented. “I need to go home.”Then he finally relented just a little bit, and acknowledged that winning a championship felt “amazing.”“It’s a good feeling when you know that you did something that nobody believes, and it’s just us, it’s just the organization, Denver Nuggets believing in us, every player believing in each other,” Jokic said. “And I think that’s the most important thing.”Daniel Brenner for The New York Times More

    • 175 Shares99 Views

      in Basket

      Miami Heat Face 3-1 Deficit in NBA Finals After Game 4 Loss to Nuggets

      by

      Only one team has come back from a 3-1 series deficit in the N.B.A. finals, but the Miami Heat seem confident they can be the second.The Miami Heat would be the first to assess their path to this late stage of the season as imperfect. Pretty much everything has posed a challenge. The injuries. The losses. Even their experience in the play-in bracket — a loss followed by a come-from-behind win — seems apocryphal, or at least true to form, now that they are facing the Denver Nuggets in the N.B.A. finals.In the process, the Heat have co-opted adversity as a part of their identity. Adversity has hardened them and made them more resilient. Adversity has fueled their postseason run. Adversity has improved them as players and helped them bond as a team. Adversity has them competing for a championship.Bam Adebayo, the team’s All-Star center, cited the “ups, downs, goods, bads” of the season as if they were inseparable qualities, as if none could exist without the others. Coach Erik Spoelstra has taken to occasionally describing his team as “gnarly” in the most complimentary way possible.“That’s a Spo term,” Adebayo said at a news conference earlier this week, adding: “A lot of you in here probably never thought we would be in this position right now.”The Heat were able to get Denver’s Nikola Jokic, center, in foul trouble, but he still scored 23 points.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports Via Reuters ConThe problem, of course, is that a steady diet of adversity takes a toll, and the Nuggets are a full meal. So much talent. So much size. So much depth. And not even the Heat, who have made a habit of navigating their way out of bleak situations, could match them on Friday night as the Nuggets pulled away for a 108-95 victory in Game 4 that has them on the cusp of their first N.B.A. title.The Nuggets have a 3-1 series lead. Game 5 is Monday in Denver.“It’s going to be a gnarly game in Denver that is built for the competitors that we have in our locker room,” Spoelstra said, adding: “We get an opportunity to play a super competitive game in a great environment.”Spoelstra was notably upbeat, but that was nothing new. Count the Heat out at your peril.“Our whole season hasn’t been easy,” Adebayo said. “It just seems like we won’t quit.”They refused to quit after slipping into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the East. They refused to quit after losing two rotation players, Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo, in their first-round series with the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks. Herro broke his hand, and Oladipo tore a tendon in his knee.The Heat wanted adversity? They flourished, eliminating the Bucks in five games.They wanted more adversity? They nearly blew a 3-0 series lead to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals before returning from the abyss to win Game 7 — in Boston — and advance. Afterward, Mike McDaniel, the coach of the N.F.L.’s Miami Dolphins, sent Spoelstra a text in which he described tough times as an opportunity, not that Spoelstra needed to be reminded.“We share very similar thoughts about finding strength in adversity,” Spoelstra said.Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said he did not expect his team to get much sleep after Friday night’s loss.Rich Storry/USA Today Sports Via Reuters ConNow, the Nuggets are loading the Heat up with more adversity than they can handle. Ahead of Game 4, Heat forward Kevin Love acknowledged that the team’s “room for error is so small.”Duncan Robinson, Love’s teammate, pledged that their “urgency should be and will be at an all-time high.”In the first quarter of Friday’s game, the Heat channeled that urgency by ditching their zone defense and matching up in man-to-man, which limited the Nuggets’ outside looks while cluttering up the two-man, pick-and-roll game that Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray like to run.Before long, the Nuggets established themselves. Sensing some space between himself and his defender, Jokic stepped back from 27 feet and made a 3-pointer. Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon sliced to the rim.Early in the second half, Jokic dribbled straight at Adebayo, bumping up against him — once, twice, three times — before flipping the ball up and in with his left hand. A nifty bounce pass from Gordon to Murray led to a layup, a 10-point lead and a Spoelstra timeout. Some fans left in the fourth quarter.“Some correctable things we’ve got to do,” said Jimmy Butler, who led Miami with 25 points. “But it’s not impossible. We’ve got to go out there and do it.”The Nuggets got something that approximated a usual effort from Jokic, who collected 23 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists while dealing with foul trouble. But he got ample help from the likes of Gordon, who scored 27 points, and Bruce Brown, who finished with 21 points off the bench.Many of the Heat’s more unsung players have struggled in the series, and that hurt them again on Friday. Gabe Vincent finished with only 2 points, and Max Strus went scoreless. Miami wound up leaning on the veterans Kyle Lowry, who scored all 13 of his points in the first half, and Love, who made three 3-pointers.Butler, left, and Kyle Lowry have faced the pressure of the N.B.A. finals before. Butler’s Heat lost to the Lakers in 2020, and Lowry’s Raptors beat the Warriors in 2019.Lynne Sladky/Associated PressAfterward, the Heat seemed cognizant of their new reality — that nearly everyone would be counting them out. Spoelstra called it “the narrative” that he said he was certain would circulate over the weekend. Butler, indicated that he did not care.“We don’t have no quit,” he said. “We are going to continually fight, starting tomorrow, to get better, and then we are going into Monday to do what we said we were going to do this entire time and win. We have to. We have no other choice. Otherwise, we did all this for no reason.”He added: “We’ve done some hard things all year long, and now it’s like the hardest of the hard.”The challenge before them is great, though not insurmountable. The Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 3-1 deficit in the 2016 N.B.A. finals, shocking the Golden State Warriors, who had set a record by winning 73 games during the regular season. Still, Cleveland is the only team to recover from that deep a hole in the finals; 35 other teams have tried and failed.Spoelstra said he told his players in the locker room “to feel whatever you want to feel” after the loss. He did not expect them to get much sleep, and that was probably a good thing. He wanted them to stew on what had happened, and then refocus on the hardest-of-the-hard task ahead.“Our guys love this kind of deal,” Spoelstra said.The Heat wanted adversity? They definitely have some now. More

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in Basket

      South Florida’s Heat and Panthers Chase N.B.A. And N.H.L. Titles

      by

      It is rare for teams from one market to play in the Stanley Cup and N.B.A. Finals in the same year, and a first for southern franchises, but it was bound to happen.Martin Schwartz and Matthew Mandel are having a moment. Actually two. The lifelong friends hit the sports jackpot this month when the Miami Heat and Florida Panthers both ran the playoff gauntlet and made it to the finals, where they are now vying for N.B.A. and N.H.L. titles simultaneously.Schwartz and Mandel, lifelong South Florida residents and friends since college, have shared season tickets to both teams for years. They have had lean years — the Heat won just 15 games in the 2007-08 season — and home games filled with noisy fans rooting for the visiting teams.They celebrated the Heat’s title runs in 2012 and 2013 powered by Dwyane Wade and LeBron James and savored the Panthers’ sporadic playoff runs. But never did they believe both teams would start the postseason as No. 8 seeds, topple top-ranked clubs in upset after upset and battle for championships.“I was very pessimistic when the playoffs began,” said Schwartz, who was a batboy for the Florida Marlins in the 1990s and wore a Panthers jersey to the Heat game on Wednesday when they fell to the Denver Nuggets. “But we’ve come to realize it’s all about the playoffs. You gotta enjoy it. You only get one chance.”This is the 10th time that two teams from one market have played in the Stanley Cup and N.B.A. Finals in the same year. The last time it happened was in 2016, when the Golden State Warriors and San Jose Sharks (both losers) vied for titles. The Bruins and Celtics have done it three times, stretching back to 1957 and the Knicks and Rangers twice. But never have a region’s hockey and basketball teams won in the same year.Panthers fan Carissa Kania.Saul Martinez for The New York TimesAnthony Rowell opts for a helmet instead of a toque.Saul Martinez for The New York TimesKC Navarro reps the Miami Heat.Saul Martinez for The New York TimesEmma Uzzo has got the Panthers.Saul Martinez for The New York TimesThe chase for championships has turned into a nightly affair in South Florida this week as the Heat and Panthers play four consecutive nights at home. Their arenas are about 40 miles apart, and each team has their core fans, though some like Schwartz and Mandel have gone all in on both sports. The teams are both down 1-2 in their series heading into Friday’s Heat game.“It almost never happens, so we wanted to give it a shot,” said Raul Arias, a Miami native who attended the Heat and Panthers’ games on back-to-back nights with his brother, father and friend.This is the first time that two teams in a Southern market have chased titles at the same time, but it was bound to happen. The country’s biggest sports leagues have been pushing into Florida for years, and for good reason: They are businesses in search of new fans, new sponsors and more television viewers, and America’s demographics have been tilting South and West for decades.The Rangers and Bruins have been on the ice since Calvin Coolidge was president. But history is fungible and in sports, fleeting. The Heat arrived in Miami in 1988, back when Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” was a hit song. The Panthers entered the N.H.L. in 1993. Since then, six teams — the Columbus Blue Jackets, Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild, Seattle Kraken and Las Vegas Golden Knights — have joined the league.Fans at Quarterdeck Restaurant near the Panthers arena for Game 3.Saul Martinez for The New York TimesThese South Florida hockey fans could easily hang with their northern counterparts.Saul Martinez for The New York TimesThe Final between the Panthers and Las Vegas Golden Knights is, perhaps to the dismay of more traditional fans in Canada and the northern states, the ultimate distillation of the N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman’s “Southern Strategy.” Bettman has defended this shift despite the financial woes of teams in Arizona and other new markets. But teams in northern markets, including the Devils and Islanders, have had financial problems. And while teams in Southern markets — Atlanta comes to mind — have lost teams, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars are both on solid ground.Speaking to reporters before the first game of the Final, Bettman’s deputy, Bill Daly, noted that Ryan Smith, the owner of the Utah Jazz, has also expressed interest in bringing a hockey team to Salt Lake City.Fans of older teams might groan if another team landed in a “nontraditional” hockey market. They already think little of South Florida fans, who are accused of showing up fashionably late to games and leaving early to beat the traffic. They’re often typecast as transplants who still root for old hometown teams. Or the ultimate burn: They just show up when the going’s good and disappear when their teams are in the tank.Miami Heat fans and siblings Federico, Jose Luis and Luis Benitez before the start of Game 3.Saul Martinez for The New York TimesAll of that’s true to some degree. But fans are like that everywhere, including in New York and Los Angeles. And while Florida has been growing by leaps and bounds, adding millions of new residents in the past decade, some of the transplants here are embracing their newfound sports bounty. The playoff games have been sold out with some tickets on the resale market fetching four figures. Since May 1, sales of Heat and Panthers gear have soared 460 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Fanatics. Sports radio hosts have been yapping hoops and hockey, with some soccer spliced in after Lionel Messi said Thursday he was joining Inter Miami.“The more they win, the busier we get,” said Norma Shelow, who for more than 30 years has co-owned Mike’s at the Venetia, a short walk from the Kaseya Center. She said business is up 40 to 50 percent during the playoffs, when fans start filling the restaurant a couple hours before game time. Since May 1, sales of Heat and Panthers gear have soared 460 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Fanatics.Saul Martinez for The New York TimesShelow said she had plenty of regulars, including N.B.A. referees who stop by after games. But she also welcomes lots of newcomers, who typically call for reservations even though the bar is first-come, first-served.“I’ve lived here all these years and never seen this,” said Abel Sanchez, 50, an amateur sports historian. “If either of them wins a title, it’s a moment. If both win, who has the movie rights? And if you want to hop on the bandwagon, there’s room.”It’s not unusual for transplants to adopt a new home team, or to split their loyalties. My dad rooted for the baseball Giants growing up in New York, then switched his allegiance to the Mets when our family decamped to Long Island in the 1960s. (He still loved Willie Mays and took me to see the San Francisco Giants when they came to town). When he moved to West Palm Beach in the 1990s, he adopted the Marlins, who rewarded his loyalty with two World Series titles.Florida added four million new residents in the past decade or so, and some were bound to become Panthers fans.Saul Martinez for The New York TimesFlorida added four million new residents in the past decade or so, including many flocking to Miami from Latin and South America. Some of these newcomers have adopted the Heat and Panthers as their home teams even if they never played basketball or hockey. And why not? Rooting for a sports team may be the most communal activity in American life.“I’m all in on Jimmy Butler,” said Adam Trowles, a Briton who splits his time between Miami and London, where he watches Heat games in the wee hours. “I’d marry him if I could.”On Wednesday, Trowles looked for tickets to attend game three against the Denver Nuggets. The cost was too steep, so he and his girlfriend, Gessica Jean, watched the game at Duffy’s Tavern in Coral Gables.For all the hoopla, football remains the undisputed king of sports in Florida. The Dolphins and the Miami Hurricanes are still the toast of the town — when they win. Tampa went wild in 2021 when the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl and the Lightning won the Stanley Cup.But basketball and hockey have their place. Transplants from Canada and the Northeast and Upper Midwest have held on to their allegiances. But over time, new fans are born, even for the Panthers, whose home ice at the FLA Live Arena, in Sunrise, Fla., is sandwiched between a shopping mall and the Everglades Wildlife Management Area. For locals, it’s been a parade of riches.At Quarterdeck, a sports bar 10 minutes from the arena, Tyler Craig watched the Panthers beat the Knights in overtime on Thursday.“It’s almost exhausting how many games we’ve been watching,” he said. More

    • 150 Shares189 Views

      in Basket

      Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic Lead Nuggets Over Heat in Game 3

      by

      Murray is often overshadowed by his teammate Nikola Jokic, but he has proved his value in leading the Nuggets to a 2-1 lead over the Heat in the N.B.A. finals.Some N.B.A. players treat their postgame interview sessions like fashion moments. They wear styled couture outfits, bold graphic shirts or lively prints — anything to stand out.But on Wednesday night, Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray walked into the interview room after winning Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals wearing an unassuming white T-shirt and baggy gray sweatpants. A few glints here and there — a glittering bracelet and large stud earrings — added a little sparkle.Murray’s attire represented an ever-present dichotomy in his public persona. There are ways in which he seems unassuming, perhaps because he is often overshadowed by his teammate Nikola Jokic. But when you really pay attention, particularly throughout this year’s playoffs, his play sparkles through those perceptions.“Jamal, he’s a guy that thrives, lives and excels in the moment,” Nuggets Coach Michael Malone said. “Never afraid of it. You can’t say that for a lot of players.”Murray got off to a hot start in Game 3, with 20 points in the first half. That’s more than he had in all of Game 2, which Denver lost.Sam Navarro/USA Today Sports Via Reuters ConWhen people talk about the Nuggets, they often fixate on Jokic more than Murray. It makes sense: Jokic is the engine of the team, and a two-time winner of the Most Valuable Player Award. He was the team’s only All-Star this season, and he has been a matchup nightmare for Denver’s playoff opponents because of his size, strength and unique ability to facilitate the team’s offense as a center.The depth of Jokic’s talent can cause some people to undervalue what Murray contributes as Denver’s dynamic starting point guard and second-leading scorer. But on Wednesday, Murray could not be overlooked as he outscored Jokic and helped Denver take a 2-1 series lead against the Miami Heat. With the 109-94 victory, the Nuggets reclaimed the home-court advantage they lost on Sunday when the Heat won Game 2 in Denver as Murray underperformed. To win the series and a championship, the Nuggets will need Murray to excel just as he did in Game 3.“I mean, we win,” Jokic said when asked what it does for the Nuggets to have Murray playing as well as he has in the playoffs. “I think it’s pretty simple. But he’s playing phenomenal.”Part of what obscures Murray’s dynamism is his difficult journey, in addition to the grand shadow cast by Jokic. Murray doesn’t draw much attention to himself off the court. He is from a small town in Canada and has been open about meditating since high school.He was budding into a star during the 2019-20 season when the coronavirus pandemic threatened to interrupt his path. He was having the best offensive season of his career, averaging 18.8 points per game, when the N.B.A. paused its season in March 2020 for several months because of the pandemic.When the season resumed on a sequestered campus at Disney World in Florida that July, Murray was even better. He averaged 26.5 points and 6.6 assists per game in the playoffs as the Nuggets fought their way to the Western Conference finals.Doc Rivers, who coached the Los Angeles Clippers at the time, sometimes saw Murray and Malone while getting haircuts on the campus in Florida. The Clippers faced the Nuggets in the conference semifinals and lost despite having a 3-1 series lead.“That’s like a nightmare for me,” Rivers said in April. “He was incredible.”Murray is often overshadowed by his teammate Nikola Jokic, but he has proved how important he is to the Nuggets during this playoff run.Justin Edmonds/Getty ImagesA year later, with the Nuggets seeming like they would challenge for a championship, Murray tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and missed the 2021 playoffs, embarking on a recovery process that can take two full years. That was 26 months ago.“I do think he’s headed back to that direction,” Rivers said in April, referring to Murray’s star turn at Disney World. He added: “He’s starting to do it consistently, and that’s probably what people are waiting for, but it’s going to happen. You can see it coming.”Murray missed the entire 2021-22 season, including the Nuggets’ brief trip to the postseason, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors in the first round. This is his first playoff run since his time at Disney World.On Wednesday, Malone said that Murray had been “dying to get back to this setting, and just go out there and put on the performance that he’s putting on.”He has scored more than 30 points in eight of the Nuggets’ 18 games this postseason. He scored 37 points twice in four games against the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals. He has had 10 assists in each game of the finals.“Jamal, he expects a lot of himself,” Nuggets guard Christian Braun said. He continued, “Those are the performances we expect from him.”Murray had 26 points, 6 rebounds and 10 assists in Game 1. In Game 2, the Heat focused on neutralizing him. They put their best player, the indefatigable Jimmy Butler, on him and often hounded him with double teams. Murray scored 18 points in the game.“I’m not going to tell you how to beat it,” Murray said on Tuesday, referring to the Heat’s plan, “but I’ve got my ways.” He smiled as he thought about it.In the moments after Game 2, Murray had feigned self-conviction. But over the next few days, Malone saw the truth. Murray hadn’t brushed off the loss at all. He had internalized it and blamed himself.In Game 1, Murray’s 26 points helped Denver hold off Miami. The Nuggets have never won an N.B.A. championship.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports Via Reuters Con“I felt like I didn’t bring the intensity that the moment called for,” Murray said. “Even though I didn’t play terrible, I felt like I could have done a lot more. Most people that have watched the Nuggets play, when I have a game like that, I’m most likely going to bounce back.”On Wednesday night, Murray responded with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He and Jokic became the first pair of N.B.A. teammates in any regular-season or playoff game to have triple-doubles with at least 30 points in the same game. Jokic finished with 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the first player in N.B.A. history to have at least 30 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in a finals game.“It’s greatness,” Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said. “That’s the dynamic duo right there.”Murray scored 20 points in the first half, making 8 of 13 shots, including 3 of 5 3-pointers. Murray made a habit of making big shots to stymie Heat runs. Miami trailed by as many as 21 points.“Jamal set the tone for their group, and he was aggressive, assertive,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said, adding, “It made things a little bit easier for Jokic.”Murray scored less in the second half, but made big plays defensively and off the ball.“Forget the stats for a second — I felt Jamal’s presence, his energy, and he was here in the moment,” Malone said. “And for him and Nikola to do what they did tonight in a game that we needed to take, regain home-court advantage of the series, was special to watch.”Murray delivered in a high-pressure situation. He felt burdened by the way he played in Game 2, but he didn’t shy away from the feeling.“People ask: ‘It’s a big stage. Do you get nervous and stuff?’” Murray said. “You’re supposed to be. That’s what makes you care. That’s what makes you alive. That’s what makes you enjoy these moments.” More

    • 200 Shares159 Views

      in Basket

      Jimmy Butler and Nikola Jokic Led Their Teams to the NBA Finals in Very Different Ways

      by

      Experts in leadership say the differing styles of Miami’s Jimmy Butler and Denver’s Nikola Jokic show there’s no one right way to be a leader.A few weeks after Caleb Martin joined the Miami Heat, he didn’t yet have much social capital with his teammates. But he had been a backup player for most of his career who knew that it was important to get along with the stars — and Jimmy Butler, a six-time All-Star and the team’s leading scorer, was unquestionably Miami’s biggest.Martin had heard that Butler had an aggressive personality, that he was known to bark at teammates and coaches. But Martin wasn’t thinking about the potential consequences of upsetting Butler during a pickup game on one of those early days. He made a move just as Butler was passing to him, and the ball sailed out of bounds. Martin could tell Butler was frustrated. He marched up to Butler and said, “Anything you got a problem with, come say it to me.”For a split second, Martin wondered if his boldness would irritate Butler. He wasn’t even on a full-time N.B.A. contract yet. But it didn’t.“He didn’t view it as disrespectful or nothing like that,” Martin said. “As much accountability as he puts on other people and holds other people to, he holds himself to it. It’s a two-way street. He allows feedback.”Butler’s reputation for being brash and aggressive is not without merit, and he has called out Martin’s mistakes plenty of times. Butler doesn’t shy away from airing his grievances, yelling in team huddles, at opponents, or sometimes at nothing at all. He’s just as loud with his encouragement.The Heat’s opponent in the N.B.A. finals, the Denver Nuggets, have a different type of leader in Nikola Jokic, who is quieter. He doesn’t make speeches or chastise his teammates, and he rarely shows much emotion during games.Their contrasting styles illustrate ideas that leadership experts have highlighted for decades. The underlying ethos that both players follow seems to matter more than how their leadership manifests.“It’s such a great example of avoiding this sort of static concept of ‘what does it mean to be the best kind of leader?’” said Peter Bregman, an author and executive coach who works with leaders of major corporations. “Because here you have two completely different people who lead in very, very different ways, equally effectively. And so it sort of betrays this concept that there’s a best practice in how to do this.”“I don’t want him to ever apologize for who he is and how he approaches competition,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said about Butler.David Zalubowski/Associated PressProfessional basketball offers a helpful guide to understanding leadership. The best N.B.A. players make split-second decisions in front of thousands of people live and millions more who watch on television. Their actions off the court are scrutinized, and sometimes they are blamed for their teammates’ mistakes. But no matter the results of their decision-making, they must often return to lead the very same people the next day.When Nuggets players are asked about Jokic’s leadership style, they say he leads by example, more than with words.“He’s professional in every aspect of the game,” Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said. “Just seeing that, seeing it on the court, makes everybody want to play basketball with him and want to play better.”When Butler’s teammates are asked about his leadership, they allude to the edge in his personality, but that edge comes from a passion they can understand. They say he holds people accountable, but their collective goal — to be the best team in the N.B.A. — is clear in Butler’s critiques.He also embraces the responsibility that comes with being the team’s leader.“He’ll do anything for you,” Miami Heat center Cody Zeller said.Some scholars might explain those differences using leadership language focused on tasks versus relationships. Afsaneh Nahavandi, a professor of management at the University of San Diego, sees Butler as a more task-oriented leader and Jokic as a more relationship-oriented leader.“He’s professional in every aspect of the game,” Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said about Jokic.David Zalubowski/Associated Press“Every leader is getting something done, so everybody has a task in mind,” Nahavandi said. “But do you approach it through pushing the task and pushing people? Or do you approach it through let’s just kind of let people develop their own thing and focus to make sure that people are happy?”That leadership framework was examined in the 1960s by the psychologist Fred Fiedler, who studied leadership among high school basketball players. Basketball offered a well-controlled way to understand how a group of people who needed to achieve one task together responded to different leadership styles.Fiedler also found that leaders’ successes are heavily dependent on their environment.Butler’s style hasn’t worked everywhere. When he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, his teammates didn’t respond well to his demanding nature, and Butler left the team after insisting on a trade.But in Miami, the so-called Heat culture demands excellence, commitment and a thick skin.“My style of leadership works here,” Butler said, making air quotes around “leadership.” He added: “It really is a match made in heaven. I love it here.”Sometimes Butler’s style leads to explosions, like in March 2022, when Butler and Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra screamed at each other during a game and had to be held back by other players. Today, Spoelstra speaks about Butler with reverence.“I don’t want him to ever apologize for who he is and how he approaches competition,” Spoelstra said. “It’s intense. It’s not for everybody, and we’re not for everybody. That’s why we think it’s like an incredible marriage. We never judge him on that. He doesn’t judge us for how crazy we get.”The Nuggets demand excellence, too, but the language they use about one another is often gentler. They like to talk about their collaborative nature.“We have guys that understand that being selfless is a huge part of being a Denver Nugget,” Coach Michael Malone said. He added: “You have to have guys that get along — on the court, off the court — and come together and share in a common goal.”“You have to have guys that get along,” Nuggets Coach Michael Malone said.Kyle Terada/Usa Today Sports Via Reuters ConIt hints at a culture where a less confrontational style, like the one Jokic adopts, could work.Jokic’s teammates seem to respond well to that quieter form of leadership, though some have tried to help him tap into a more commanding demeanor at times.DeAndre Jordan, a 15-year veteran, pulled Jokic aside during training camp to encourage him to be more vocal.“At first he was like: ‘Brother, I don’t do that. You have to do it,’” Jordan said.But Jordan and other veterans kept encouraging him. A few months into the season, they saw him start to assert himself more in huddles and offer feedback to his teammates. He doesn’t take it beyond the bounds of what makes him comfortable, though.“We don’t want him to be somebody who he’s not,” Jordan said. “I’m sure he doesn’t want to be that as well.”Though Jokic and Butler use very different styles, they have earned the trust of their teammates.Chris Adkins saw clues to how they developed that trust when he watched some of their interviews. Adkins, the academic director of leadership development at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, saw a manifestation of research that he said has shown that “ability, benevolence and integrity” are three essential components of fostering trust.“Their players seem to buy in, whether it’s a more vocal or more quiet approach, because they know deep down this person has high ability, they’re consistent with great integrity, they practice what they preach, they walk the walk,” Adkins said. “But they’re also committed to us, not just to their own ego.”Jokic is well known as an unselfish player; he averaged 9.8 assists per game this season. He has often said that his basketball ethos came from a coach in Serbia who told him that when you pass you make two people happy, but when you score only one person is happy. He eschews credit when he speaks to reporters and is quick to praise his teammates.Butler grew up outside of Houston and was kicked out of his home as a teenager. After high school, with little interest from major college programs, he spent a year at a junior college in Texas, before going to Marquette. Though Butler makes fewer assists than Jokic, he also plays in an unselfish style, and he instills confidence in his teammates.“My style of leadership works here,” Butler said of Miami.David Zalubowski/Associated PressButler has balked at other Heat players being called “role players,” saying he prefers to simply think of them as teammates. When asked if he was too passive in the Heat’s Game 1 loss, when he scored just 13 points, Butler said he wasn’t and that he planned to keep looking for his teammates throughout the series.It can take Heat newcomers some time to understand how Butler operates.Kyle Lowry joined the Heat in 2021, two years after Butler did. Lowry was a six-time All-Star guard coming from a leadership role in Toronto, which won a championship in 2019. He made clear he loved Butler’s thirst for winning and his devotion to his teammates, but also said his personality is “very different.”“He may say some things or he may do some things that you might be like: ‘Oh. Whoa.’ But it’s coming from the best part of his heart,” Lowry said.How does he know?“We’re around him every single day,” Lowry said, before throwing in a good-natured dig. “Unfortunately. But fortunately.” More

    • 163 Shares149 Views

      in Basket

      The Heat, a Long Shot in the Playoffs, Pull Even with Long Shots

      by

      Miami, usually outgunned by the Denver offense, made 17 3-pointers to even the N.B.A. Finals series at one game apiece.Michael Malone is generally the kind of coach who would leave a negative Yelp review after vacationing in Shangri-La. But his worry was warranted this time.On Saturday, the day before Game 2 of the N.B.A. finals, Malone lamented his team’s poor defense in the first game of the series against the Miami Heat. The Nuggets had given the Heat looks at a lot of wide-open 3-pointers — a bad sign, Malone said, even though good shooters like Max Strus and Duncan Robinson kept missing and Denver won the game.On Sunday, Strus and Robinson combined for six of Miami’s 17 3-pointers. On a night when the Heat mostly seemed outmatched, their 3-point shooting helped them steal a victory on the road to tie the series at one game apiece. Somewhat appropriately, they won by 3 points: 111-108.“There was miscommunication, game plan breakdowns, personnel breakdowns,” Malone groused afterward. He added: “We got lucky in Game 1. Tonight, they made them.”The Heat have frustrated all of their playoff opponents this year by making jump shots they had missed during the regular season. Most teams over the last decade have focused on generating points from the most efficient shots: 3-pointers, free throws and shots at the basket. Miami has followed that trend to an extent, but it was one of the worst 3-point shooting teams during the regular season and had been more likely to grind out points — led by Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo — by focusing more on midrange baskets.That’s likely a doomed strategy against Denver, an offensive juggernaut. The Heat cannot match the playmaking of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon. For the Heat to win, they have to remain hot from 3-point range, just as they have been during the postseason.Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said shooting long balls gave his team its best chance against the Nuggets.Kyle Terada/Usa Today Sports Via Reuters ConOn Sunday, Miami Coach Erik Spoelstra said that the Heat had been “more intentional” in their offense, suggesting that the plan had been to lean into their 3-point shooting.“That doesn’t guarantee you anything either,” Spoelstra said. “But at least you give yourself the best chance.”The Heat have seized on their chances this postseason, shown by their unlikely run to the N.B.A. finals as a No. 8 seed. Kevin Love, who joined the Heat midseason, said he wasn’t aware of the team’s 3-point struggles until he came to Miami.“I always feel like there’s something to closing the door to the regular season,” Love said, adding: “You just kind of get to reset. And I think guys felt that. They just had another level of confidence and understanding that if we go out there and just be ourselves and play free and play fluid, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win.”During the regular season, Miami ranked third in shots taken between 10 and 14 feet from the basket, and 10th for shots between five and nine feet. That’s not to say the Heat didn’t shoot enough 3s: They were 10th in attempts per game. They just didn’t make them.In the second quarter on Sunday night, the Nuggets led by as many as 15. The game was on the verge of turning into a blowout. But Kevin Love, who hadn’t played in the last three games, hit a deep shot to keep the Nuggets within sight. Miami shot 8 for 17 from 3-point range in the first half — which helped the Heat stay within 6 points of Denver at halftime.Nikola Jokic’s 41 points and 11 rebounds weren’t enough to hold off the Heat.Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressThe Heat continued to bomb 3’s and tied the game relatively early in the third quarter. Denver still led going into the fourth quarter, but the 3s helped the Heat keep the game within reach, allowing for a comeback.In the final frame, it was Robinson’s turn. His two 3s in the opening minutes cut the Nuggets’ lead to 2. Miami’s eventual victory was its seventh of this postseason run after being down by at least 10 points. It has matched the 2022 Golden State Warriors and the 2011 and 2012 Heat for the most double-digit comebacks in one postseason in the last 25 years.While the Heat do have some strong shooters, they do not include the team’s best players, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. In addition, guard Tyler Herro, one of the team’s best shooters, has missed almost the entire playoff run with a right hand injury.Miami’s offense often centers on Adebayo grabbing the ball at the elbow and using his passing skills, or Butler driving the baseline and using shot fakes and strength to create space for himself.In the playoffs, Miami flipped a switch. Suddenly, its 3-pointers have begun to fall at an elite clip. Entering Game 2, the Heat had been the best 3-point shooting team in the playoffs at 38.7 percent. In the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics, the Heat shot 43.4 percent from 3 over seven games.Asked if he had knew why the Heat suddenly improved their shooting, Cody Zeller, Miami’s reserve center, said he thought that the regular season “was inaccurate.”“The playoffs are more accurate as far as how good of a shooter our guys are,” Zeller said. “We haven’t been surprised by guys making shots in the playoffs. We’re more surprised by not making shots during the regular season.”The 3-pointer, which teams are more reliant on than ever, is a high variance shot. Offenses can create many open looks, but players are still shooting a ball into a circle that is 10 feet off the ground. You’re more likely to miss than make them. But if a team gets hot over a couple games, it doesn’t matter what the other team does defensively. The Celtics saw that and so did the Nuggets in Game 2.The Nuggets have more offensive weapons than the Heat. For the Heat to keep pace, the answer is to keep shooting more and more 3s.“In terms of the shooters, that’s pretty simple: Let it fly. Ignite. Once they see two go down, it could be three, it could turn into six just like that,” Spoelstra said Saturday, while snapping his fingers.“Let it fly. Ignite,” Spoelstra said after the game. Max Strus took his advice in Game 2, hitting four 3-pointers.Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressIn the regular season, the ideal tactic to defend the Heat was to focus on Butler and Adebayo and gum up the middle, forcing the ball to the perimeter. After all, during the regular season, the Heat shot 34.3 percent — a low-ish number — from 3 on shots considered open, according to the N.B.A.’s statistics. No N.B.A. defense can take away everything from an opposing offense.Strategies are generally to push teams toward what they’re not great at. The Celtics did just that, and Miami made them pay at a rate of 42.1 percent on open 3-pointers.The temptation when a team goes cold on its deep shots is to focus more on getting shots near the rim. In Game 2, the Heat rarely went to the rim, only shooting 10 times in the restricted area.Miami heads home with the series tied at one game each. Once again, the Heat won a playoff game they weren’t expected to win on shots they weren’t expected to make.“That’s what this game is,” Butler said. “Make or miss game. Make or miss league. We made some shots. They didn’t.” More