Miami Heat

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

    • 125 Shares139 Views

      in Basket

      Jamal Murray Is Learning to Unwind After Winning NBA Championship

      by

      It was a Sunday afternoon in early July, and Jamal Murray had been in Las Vegas for a few days — enough time for the city to wear out anyone.“I’m a little hung over,” he said, smiling in apology as he tried — unsuccessfully — to remember some details of the post-championship interactions he’d had with Denver Nuggets fans. Murray, the Nuggets’ star point guard, was less than a month removed from helping the franchise win its first N.B.A. championship.He had spent the previous night feting his friend Alexander Volkanovski, U.F.C.’s featherweight champion, after Volkanovski won U.F.C. 290 to remain undefeated in the 145-pound weight class. Murray had joined him for several hours before the fight and had been struck by how at ease Volkanovski was. The fighter had been happy to laugh and joke with Murray despite an important bout awaiting him later that evening.“This is like a championship belt for him, right?” Murray said. “He was just so loose about it. It kind of brought me back to, like, I don’t have to take my routine as serious as long as I know how to flip a switch, turn it on and bring it when I need it.”Alexander Volkanovski celebrated his win over Yair Rodriguez at U.F.C. 290 in Las Vegas in July.Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC, via Getty ImagesThe lesson could come in handy for Murray as he prepares for his next N.B.A. season, with training camps beginning in about a month. Last week, he went to Sydney to attend U.F.C. 293, where Israel Adesanya lost his middleweight belt to Sean Strickland. Murray planned to spend some time training with Volkanovski while there.Murray befriended Volkanovski during a visit to Australia last August. They shot a video together, with each one going through the other’s training routines. Murray hit a heavy bag. Volkanovski shot some free throws.There are superficial differences between the two — Murray is nearly a foot taller than the 5-foot-6 Volkanovski, and Volkanovski is eight years older — but in Murray, Volkanovski saw someone who shared the work ethic and discipline on which he prided himself. Volkanovski instantly took to Murray.“I’m a Nuggets guy now purely because of our connection,” Volkanovski said in late July, a few weeks after Murray joined him for U.F.C. 290.Their friendship grew at a challenging time for Murray.Murray had missed the 2021-22 N.B.A. season as he recovered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He had to teach himself how to walk again, and he spent days wondering about his basketball future.Nuggets Coach Michael Malone later recalled that Murray, with tears in his eyes, had asked if the Nuggets were going to trade him because of his injury.In the fall of 2022, Murray began playing N.B.A. basketball again.Denver had the best record in the Western Conference for most of the season. As Murray grew more comfortable, he and Nikola Jokic, the team’s star center, became a fearsome tandem. During the playoffs, they became the first teammates to have triple-doubles with at least 30 points in the same game.“I’m still coming back, though,” Murray said in July. “I didn’t have a full off-season to recover. Or train on what I wanted to. My whole last summer was just working on my strength here.”He patted his knee.“And that was it. I didn’t get to work on my game.”He had thrown himself into his return, and he had also been gravely serious about his pregame routine, leaving no time for levity.The Nuggets won the N.B.A. championship in June, beating the Miami Heat in five games. That final night, as Murray left the arena in Denver, he sat in the passenger seat of a black car and occasionally rolled down his window to greet anyone who wanted to say hello. At one stoplight around 1 a.m., a fan spotted Murray as she was crossing the street. She sprinted over to Murray and hugged him through the car window. Rather than recoil at contact from a stranger, Murray returned the hug, smiling.“Everybody’s just trying to be a part of the moment, which is really cool,” Murray said.Murray bested his career averages in points and assists per game during the 2022-23 season, his return to play from a serious knee injury in April 2021.Bridget Bennett for The New York TimesAbout four weeks later, he joined Volkanovski for his own championship bout.There, Murray saw a different style of preparation than the one he’d employed during the season.“I’ll definitely have my moment throughout my car ride, ‘There’s no way that they’re taking this belt away from me.’ But I’m usually pretty chill,” Volkanovski said. “I’m happy to have a little laugh.”Volkanovski said he wondered if the violent nature of mixed martial arts might have made Murray more interested in his relaxed demeanor before the fight.“Probably he could look at that, I mean, like, ‘This guy’s about to go to war and he literally treats it as, like, you know, this is his job, he knows he’ll be fine,’” Volkanovski said. “‘He’s obviously confident in his preparation and all that.’”While Volkanovski appreciated hearing that Murray sought inspiration from his process, he respects Murray’s process as well.“Everyone has their own way of preparing for their — whatever they do,” Volkanovski said. “And you can never knock it, because obviously he’s playing some good basketball, so you don’t want to change much.”In July, Murray stayed for Volkanovski’s post-fight media appearances, then celebrated afterward at a gathering that Shaquille O’Neal also attended. The summer, at least, afforded a chance to unwind. More

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in Basket

      Dwyane Wade Talks Hall of Fame Induction and a Political Hopes

      by

      When the Miami Heat selected Dwyane Wade with the fifth pick of the 2003 N.B.A. draft, the league was in dire need of star players to carry it out of the Michael Jordan era.Wade’s draft class — which also featured LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony — ended up fitting the bill and then some. Wade immediately became one of the league’s most popular players, and his Miami teammate Shaquille O’Neal gave him the catchy nickname Flash. It was apt — Wade routinely attacked the rim with snazzy spin moves and finished with highlight-reel dunks and layups on his way to winning three championships.This weekend, Wade will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, a feat that seemed inevitable as he piled up accolades over a 16-year career. He made 13 All-Star teams, led the league in scoring once and was named the most valuable player of the 2006 N.B.A. finals, which Miami won over Dallas.“To be able to be one of those select few out of an entire generation of people who have tried to play the game of basketball and to be able to walk into the Hall of Fame, it doesn’t matter if I knew 10 years ago or I just got the call yesterday — it all feels surreal,” Wade said in a recent interview.Since retiring in 2019, Wade has acquired an ownership stake in the Utah Jazz and the W.N.B.A. team in his hometown Chicago, the Sky. In the spring, Wade revealed that he had moved his family out of Florida to California because of state laws that negatively affect the L.G.B.T.Q. community. Wade’s teenage daughter, Zaya, is transgender, and Wade has been outspoken on her behalf.Wade recently spoke to The New York Times about his basketball career and potentially running for political office.This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.Dwyane Wade’s jersey is lifted into the rafters during his jersey retirement ceremony at American Airlines Arena in 2020.Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesYou grew up in the South Side of Chicago without very much. When you retired, the former President Barack Obama taped a tribute video to you. How do you reflect on that journey?My dad and I talk about it. We still can’t believe it. We still can’t believe the N.B.A. career happened and it’s gone by. I got a call from President Obama on my birthday when I turned 40, and it was like: “Hey, pick up the phone at this time. There’s going to be a call coming.” I’m like, “OK.” Once I got on, I heard, “You’re waiting for the president of the United States.” I was like: “What? This is my life, right?”Your first N.B.A. game was against Allen Iverson. You’re having a bit of a full-circle moment this weekend by having him induct you. Why did you pick him?Michael Jordan was my favorite player. But as I was growing up as a kid, as Michael Jordan decided to retire from the game, Allen Iverson became the hero of our culture. I think a lot of people know I wear No. 3, but a lot of people don’t know why I wear No. 3. And so I just wanted to take this moment as an opportunity that is supposed to be about me, and I wanted to be able to shine light and give flowers to individuals that allow me and help me get here. My family, of course. My coaches, of course. My teammates, of course.But what about those individuals that gave you the image of what it looks like and how it can be done? And Allen Iverson gave me the image of how it looks like, how it could be done coming from the broken community that I came from. So I want to give him his flowers in front of the world because he deserves it.Wade and Allen Iverson attend the Stance and Dwyane Wade’s Spade Tournament at The One Eighty in Toronto in 2016.George Pimentel/WireImage, via Getty ImagesYou’re being inducted alongside Dirk Nowitzki, with whom you had, let’s call it a tense relationship at points. What’s your relationship with him like now?I respect Dirk as one of the greatest players that ever played this game of basketball. It’s funny to have something with someone and we’ve never guarded each other. We played totally different positions, but as I’ve always said, if I’m going to have any words with anyone, I want them to come in the finals.Dirk and I have played in the finals against each other twice. His team won once. My team won one. So I call it a wash. And I’m thankful to be able to be a part of the class that I’m a part of. And Dirk to me — and there’s no shade on anybody who’s ever played — but I think Dirk will probably be looked at as the greatest international player that we’ve ever seen.You’ve talked at length about your advocacy on behalf of the transgender community, especially with your own child. What was your reaction to the Orlando Magic donating $50,000 to the super PAC affiliated with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida? (DeSantis has supported legislation such as what opponents deemed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, a law signed last year that limits what instructors can teach about sexuality and gender in classrooms. The Magic’s donation was dated May 19, just days before DeSantis announced a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.)I have so many things that I’m focused on and there’s so many, so many battles to fight, in a sense. That’s one that I’m not choosing to fight, with so many other things where my voice is needed. People are going to do what people want to do. And there’s nothing that you’re going to be able to do to stop them, per se. And so I’m trying to help where the need is and where I can.There were some reports in the spring that Florida Democrats were recruiting you to run for Senate.[Laughter] I heard that.Have you ever been approached to run for office?Yes.“I’ve been able to be a star,” Wade said. “I’ve been able to be Robin.”Ike Abakah for The New York TimesSo describe to me what that approach was like.I mean, it’s just conversation. “Hey, you would be good for,” “Hey, we can see you in,” “We would love to have you in.”It’s things that I’m passionate about that I will speak out on and speak up for. And so I don’t play the politician games. I don’t know a lot about it.But I also understand that I have a role as an American citizen and as a known person to be able to highlight and speak on things that other people may not be able to because they don’t have the opportunity to do this.So you’re running.[Laughter]Let me see if I can get you to be a little spicy. I’m sure you’ve seen some of the comments Paul Pierce has made comparing the two of you. He’s said a couple of different things. But one of the things he said — I’ll read the quote — “Put Shaq on my team. Put LeBron and Bosh with me. I’m not going to win one? You don’t think me, LeBron and Bosh, we’re not going to win one? We’re not going to win a couple?”What was your reaction to seeing what Paul said about you?I’m living rent-free right now.I got so many things going on in my life. Comparing myself to someone who’s not playing or someone who is playing is definitely not on my to-do list. Listen, Paul Pierce was one of the greatest players that we’ve had in our game. And I think, you know, when you are a great player and you don’t get the attention that you feel like your game deserved, sometimes you’ve got to grab whatever attention where those straws are. And Paul believes he’s a better player than me. He should believe that. That’s why he was great. That’s not my argument, and I didn’t play the game to be better than Paul Pierce. I played the game the way I played it, and I made the sacrifices that I made. Everybody doesn’t want to sacrifice.Wade shot against Paul Pierce in 2012 in Miami.Scott Cunningham/NBAE, via Getty ImagesI’ve been able to be a star. I’ve been able to be Robin. I’ve been able to be part of the Larry, Curly and Moe, like, whatever. I’ve been able to be successful and great in all those areas.It’s easy to say what you would do if you have a certain talent on your team, but you have to play with that talent. And that’s the hardest thing to do — to play with talent in different generations and different styles, which I was able to do.What is it like to watch old highlights of yourself now that you’re 41?I just got done watching a 2005-2006 edit. I think it was 45 minutes. I watched about 15 minutes. I walked away from that edit, and I was just looking at the way I played the game and I hooped.Nowadays, we’ve got the kids. And I love what development is going on, but kids are working on their moves. I just reacted to defenders. My moves came from just reacting, and those are the moves that are being worked on and are being highlighted now. I just played the game of basketball just like I was back in Chicago playing with my uncles and my dad and my family.So I love watching old highlights of myself because, just being honest, I haven’t seen a lot of people with my game and with my style. And so it was unique. And I’m thankful to have one of those games that no one can really understand how good I really was.Ike Abakah for The New York Times More

    • 113 Shares119 Views

      in Basket

      The Boot Camp for NBA Analysis and Hot Takes

      by

      Alan Williams was the first person to brave the anchor desk, tucked away on a chilly set at the University of Southern California that was darkened, save for the spotlight on Williams in his black suit and blue-striped tie. Almost involuntarily, he lifted a hand from the desk’s shiny surface and nervously scratched his face.Williams, a former N.B.A. player, read from a teleprompter, his deep voice booming robotically in the nearby control room, where U.S.C. students monitored his volume and made sure the camera was level. He bobbed his head up and down, much like the aliens inhabiting human bodies in the 1990s movie “Men in Black.”“Hi, everyone!” he said as he looked into a camera. “Welcome to ‘Sports Extra.’ I’m Alan Williams. The Miami Heat have evened the series against the Denver Nuggets. The Miami Heat’s tough-mindedness is really led by Coach Erik Spoelstra. And their identity truly proves Heat culture. Goodbye.”The camera stopped rolling, and Williams loosened his shoulders.“Oh god, did I go too fast?” Williams muttered. He looked around the set. Five other current and former professional basketball players quietly lingered in the corners. After a woman off to the side reassured Williams that he was fine, he responded with relief: “Man, I was about to say. Silence?”Norense Odiase, left, said broadcasting allowed him to tap into his skills beyond basketball.Alan Williams, left, and Norense Odiase, top right, are seen in the monitors during an exercise with Rob Parker, an analyst at Fox Sports.This drew laughter from the set and scattered applause from the players, who, like Williams, were wearing crisply pressed, stylish suits. Williams did another, smoother take, prompting one of the suited men to yell, “That boy good!”Williams, 30, and the men were at U.S.C.’s journalism school this month for a two-day N.B.A. players’ union camp called Broadcaster U., now in its 15th year. They learned how to host a studio show or podcast, do color commentary and rapidly dole out hot takes for an on-camera sports debate. Former N.B.A. players like Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson and Shaquille O’Neal have gone through the program.Willow Bay, who once hosted “Inside Stuff” with Ahmad Rashad, addressed players during the camp. She’s now the dean of the U.S.C. Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.While superstars typically compete for more than a decade, the average N.B.A. player lasts only a handful of years. Dozens of players will get their start at the N.B.A. draft on Thursday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but most of them will eventually have to find a new way to make a living. Crossing over into film and television has proved to be a viable, and often lucrative, alternate path, even for players who weren’t big stars.With a new television deal looming for the N.B.A., and streaming services and social media changing how fans engage with the game, there will likely be more opportunities for players to cash in.Williams played for the Nets and the Phoenix Suns from 2015 to 2019. Last year, while playing in Australia, he occasionally provided color commentary for the National Basketball League there.“I know that my time is coming to an end soon,” Williams said. “I want to be as prepared for the next step as possible.”Brevin Knight, a former N.B.A. point guard who went through the program in its inaugural year in 2008, is now a color commentator for the Memphis Grizzlies.“When you are done playing, you would like to take a little bit of time just to take a deep breath,” Knight said. “But I’ll tell you: The spending habits keep going and you always need something coming in.”Some camp attendees have already undertaken pursuits beyond the court. Norense Odiase, 27, plays in the NB.A.’s developmental league, the G League, and has a self-help podcast called “Mind Bully.” Will Barton, 32, has been in the N.B.A. since 2012 and has released several albums for his singing career under the name Thrill. Craig Smith, 39, spent six seasons in the N.B.A. and has written a children’s book.Will Barton, right, working with Jordan Moore, co-host of the “Trojans Live” radio show.Gerry Matalon, a talent performance coach and former ESPN producer, talking with Craig Smith.Smith was next up at the anchor desk after Williams, and he bounced in his seat. The words on his teleprompter were in all capital letters, though they were not supposed to be read that enthusiastically. Someone must have forgotten to tell him.“Hi, everyone!” Smith nearly shouted. “Welcome to ‘SPORTS EXTRA!’ I’m Craig Smith! Just about 24 HOURS until Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals!”He even stomped his feet a few times.Smith said he has been inspired by the many players who have started podcasts and especially by LeBron James and Stephen Curry, who have used their fame to create production companies.“It influences me a lot because I feel like we have a real voice and I feel like we have power that comes with it, being that we’re more than just ‘shut up and dribble’ players,” Smith said. “We have meaning and people want to hear what we have to say.”Hours later, Rob Parker, a Fox Sports host and an adjunct professor at U.S.C., gathered the players for what might be called Hot Take O’Clock to show them how to throw verbal bombs. He shared directives like “Don’t stay in the middle of the road” and “Make stuff that you can pull out — ‘Meme-able.’”“It’s OK to be wrong,” Parker said, adding that if they could be right all the time, they “would be in Las Vegas making money.”Parker frequently debates Chris Broussard, a Fox Sports host, on their radio show “The Odd Couple.” Williams asked Parker if he had ever disagreed with Broussard just for argument’s sake. Parker said no, and that he and Broussard discuss topics before their show. They use the ones they disagree on.“If we all agree that LeBron is the greatest player ever, what conversation are we having?” Parker said. “Do you know what I mean? There’s nothing going on here, and no one’s going to watch it.”Parker led the players in mock debates, as if they were on ESPN’s “First Take” or Fox Sports’s “Undisputed.” Those are among the most-watched programs at their networks and have turned their hosts into household names.Barton, center, taking notes during the broadcasting camp.Odiase and Smith argued about whether the Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler needed to win a championship to get into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Odiase said no; Smith said yes.“How many guys have taken a team of seven undrafted players, the eighth seed, to the N.B.A. finals?” Odiase said.“Is it Jimmy or is it Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley?” Parker interjected, referring to Miami’s longtime coach, Spoelstra, and its president and former coach, Riley.Odiase paused.“I’m sorry,” he said. “Before Jimmy got there, did they win without LeBron?”“Yeah, with Shaq and D-Wade,” Smith retorted, referring to O’Neal and Dwyane Wade, who won a championship in 2006 with Riley as coach.This rebuttal, undercutting Odiase’s argument, elicited laughter from the control room. Parker ended the segment and complimented Odiase and Smith for having a lively debate.“I do not believe nothing I’m saying,” Odiase told Parker afterward. Later, in an interview, Odiase said he felt “very uncomfortable” arguing a point he did not support, though he believes it happens “a lot” in sports media.The players receive reels of their best moments to show with networks in hopes of getting hired.For current and former players, taking part in hot take culture means having to critique players in ways they might not like if the comments were directed at them.Barton said that he gets frustrated sometimes when analysts “go too far on a player, especially if you haven’t played or you don’t really know what the guy’s going through.”He continued: “I feel like a lot of guys try to do that so they could go viral or feel like they’re a bigger asset to whatever company they’re working with because it’s entertainment.”The players also pretended to be analysts for an N.B.A. finals game. Jordan Moore, the radio voice for U.S.C. men’s basketball, did play-by-play. But first, he had advice.“Worst broadcast is if I go, ‘Oh, what a shot by Jimmy Butler!’ And you go, ‘Man, what a shot!’” Moore said.He added: “You all played in this league. You played with these guys. You have advance knowledge. That’s what you need to tap into. I could never get your job.”Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson, who have worked for ESPN, and Shaquille O’Neal, an analyst for TNT, are among the former players who have gone through the program.The most earnest session was about podcasting. In 15-minute chunks, the players exchanged stories about their lives: playing on the road, dealing with fans, growing up.Shelvin Mack, 33, who played in the N.B.A. from 2011 to 2019, asked Robert Baker, a 24-year-old in the G League, what it was like to play for Harvard. Baker recalled a game against Kentucky.“My nerves was cool,” he said. “Tip off, I was warming up well. I was hitting shots, and then they played the intro type of song, I said, ‘Oh.’”Mack said, “You froze up?”“Yeah, bro,” Baker said, adding, “Tough day.”The players receive reels with their best moments from the camp that they can send to networks in the hopes of getting hired. Williams said the potential financial rewards of broadcasting appeal to him, though he’s “comfortable” financially. Odiase said this alternative career is a way to tap into his other skills and interests beyond basketball.“It’s learning all aspects of yourself to grow after the game,” he said. 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

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Basket

      The Miami Heat’s Secret Weapon for a Title? Zone Defense.

      by

      The odds are against the Heat in their N.B.A. finals matchup with the Denver Nuggets. But the maligned zone defense may be their secret weapon.One of the catchiest chants in the N.B.A. is an acknowledgment of one of the game’s most thankless tasks: “De-fense!” Clap. Clap. “De-fense!” It rained down this week as the Miami Heat coped with the nearly impossible challenge of slowing two of the league’s most fearsome players — the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray — during the N.B.A. finals in front of their home crowd.The most exalted defensive matchups in the N.B.A. are typically one-on-one clashes, as opposing stars come face to face. But that is hard work. Really hard. Maybe you can stop an explosive scorer like Jokic or Murray for a possession or two. But every time down the floor? For 48 minutes? With an undersized roster that has endured the long grind of the postseason?Good luck. For over 50 years, the N.B.A. refused to let teams do it any other way. It was man-to-man defense or bust. But now, teams can be more creative in how they go about trying to put the clamps on their opponents. And no team is more creative than the Heat, who play more zone defense — a scheme in which defenders guard areas of the court instead of individual players — than any other team in the league.On Wednesday in Game 3, that meant having two players trap Denver’s inbounds pass, two more at midcourt and one protecting the basket at the far end — a 2-2-1 zone press — early in the second quarter.The Nuggets are willing passers, making them harder to defend.Sam Navarro/USA Today Sports Via Reuters ConBy the time the Nuggets managed to get the ball upcourt, just 14 seconds remained on the shot clock, and the Heat’s defense had morphed into a halfcourt zone — a 2-3 set, with two players up top at the perimeter and three along the baseline. Murray, the Nuggets’ point guard, missed a 3-point attempt from the left corner, and the Heat raced away for a game-tying bucket.Unfortunately for the Heat, that was about as good as it got for them in their 109-94 loss to the Nuggets, who took a 2-1 series lead ahead of Game 4 on Friday in Miami. Murray and Jokic both finished with triple-doubles for Denver, which, for one game, at least, was largely unfazed by Miami’s shape-shifting defense.“We didn’t offer much resistance,” said Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra, who bemoaned his team’s lack of effort but considered it an anomaly. He added: “I think the thing that we’ve proven over and over and over is we can win and find different ways to win.”And one of those ways is with their zone defense. There is a talent disparity in this series: The Nuggets have more of it thanks to their array of expert shooters and the all-around wizardry of Jokic, a two-time winner of the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award. So, in an effort to slow the pace of play and compensate for their lack of size, the Heat are occasionally abandoning their man-to-man defense by mixing in some zone.This is nothing new for them. Miami played zone on a league-high 19.7 percent of its defensive possessions during the regular season, according to Synergy Sports, a scouting and analytics service. The Portland Trail Blazers, who played zone 14.9 percent of the time, ranked second, and the Toronto Raptors (8.4 percent) were third.Jokic’s size makes him difficult to defend.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports Via Reuters ConMore important, the Heat — even amid the regular-season struggles that nearly kept them out of the playoffs — used their zone to great effect, limiting opponents to 0.937 points per possession. By comparison, opponents averaged 1.009 points per possession against their man-to-man defense.Miami is playing slightly less zone defense in the playoffs — zone has accounted for 15.7 percent of its defensive possessions ahead of Game 4 — but no other team has come close to using it that often. And the Heat have had some success with it, holding opponents to 0.916 points per possession versus 1.003 points per possession with man-to-man defense.“I think it’s effective,” Heat point guard Gabe Vincent said, “because it’s different.”Jim Boeheim, who recently retired after 47 seasons as the men’s basketball coach at Syracuse University, was so renowned for his 2-3 zone defense that he became synonymous with it. But in his early years at Syracuse, he actually coached more man-to-man defense.“We had a zone and we’d practice it, but not all the time,” Boeheim said. “But then we would be having trouble with somebody, and you’d put the zone out there, and they couldn’t score!”Most teams did not practice it, and they seldom faced it in games.“It can just screw somebody up,” Boeheim said. “And if your opponent is only going to one or two guys on offense, you can kind of cheat toward those one or two guys, and it can cause problems.”The zone remains a bit of a novelty in the N.B.A., which essentially banned it for the first 50-plus years of the league’s existence. Before the advent of the shot clock in 1954, the worry was that too many teams would pack the area around the basket with defenders and slow the game to a crawl at a time when the league was desperately trying to grow its audience.Later, critics considered the zone a gimmicky way for teams to camouflage poor individual defenders, especially as the league continued to glorify one-on-one matchups. The lowly zone was stigmatized. But over time, offenses stalled and scoring decreased as games devolved into a seemingly nonstop series of isolation sets, with players stationed on the weak side of the court to draw defenders away from the ball.Ahead of the 2001-2 season, the N.B.A. had seen enough and eliminated its illegal-defense rule, which meant that teams could play zone — or use any other type of defense that suited them. The twist was that the change was designed to spur spacing and passing on offense.The zone, though, remains fairly uncommon for several reasons. N.B.A. rosters are brimming with long-range shooters, and when passes zip from side to side, zone defenders are often too slow to react, leaving opposing players with open looks from 3-point range. Also, defenders are prohibited from camping out in the lane whenever they aren’t guarding an opposing player — otherwise known as the defensive three-second rule.“And that changes everything,” said Alex Popp, the head boys’ basketball coach for IMG Academy’s postgraduate team in Bradenton, Fla. “N.B.A. coaches are still reluctant to play zone because you can’t just stick a guy in the charge circle and protect the paint.”For the Heat, the zone has value. If it was initially born of necessity — as a way for Spoelstra to match up against bigger teams and hide some of his weaker defenders — it has become an asset. For long stretches of the Eastern Conference finals against the Celtics, Boston seemed flummoxed by Miami’s traps, and often settled for (errant) jump shots rather than attacking the rim.Now, whenever the Nuggets bring the ball upcourt, they must do a mental calculation: What sort of defense are they about to see? The zone adds an element of unpredictability.“I think it’s something that can work,” Boeheim said, “especially in short windows.”Miami’s Kyle Lowry guarded the Nuggets’ Bruce Brown man to man.Megan Briggs/Getty ImagesKyle Lowry, the Heat’s backup point guard, recently recalled a formative period of his childhood when his coaches taught him about the zone press, traps and the basic 2-3 formation. As he was asked about those experiences, he knew where the line of inquiry was headed.“If you’re getting into the question of our zone, it’s pretty cool,” Lowry said.OK, what makes it cool?“It works sometimes,” he said.Miami’s zone is not static. It changes from game to game and even from possession to possession, with dozens of permutations based on which opposing players are on the floor — or even Spoelstra’s whims.Bam Adebayo, the team’s starting center, said they drill the zone “to the point where we’re tired of it.”Spoelstra would rather walk on hot coals than discuss his schematic choices at the N.B.A. finals, but his players have acknowledged the zone’s amorphous nature.“Spo does a great job preparing us all year to be ready for situations like this, to be able to switch in a timeout, switch a scheme, switch a defense,” Heat guard Max Strus said before Game 3.For Game 4, Miami is likely to unveil a new scheme or a slightly different look. It may not matter — “I think Denver is too good,” Boeheim said — but the Heat have been in tough spots before. Their zone has helped. 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