The Heat and Nuggets Finals Has All The Makings For A Slugfest Seeing As They Genuinely Hate Each Other’s Guts and Brawled Last Season.
I understand I used the term “brawled” verrrrry liberally there in the title. But sue me, it’s the end of the month, I’ve been on the injured list, and I can’t be getting out blogged numbers wise by guys in the chicago office.
Was that an actual brawl? No. But by NBA terms it was.
The Celtics are a fucking joke, and just put up one of the most gutless 7th game performances any of us will ever see. Tatum is not “that guy”, he’s just not, as much as we want him to be, he’s too nice, too soft, has all the talent in the world, but he isn’t a killer.
So I’m sitting here trying to talk myself into The Heat having a shot against Joker and the Nuggets next week, and making this an entertaining finals, and I think I found it.
These teams actually fucking despise each other. On multiple levels.
That fight happened last season, and if you recall, it boiled over off the court-
it lead to Butler and the Heat attempting to enter Denver’s locker room post game, and this memorable photo.
Aaron Gordon and Kyle Lowry hate each other -
Which seems like a lot of soap opera, drama shit comparatively to the NHL or even MLB. But this is a big deal for the NBA in this day in age.
Jokic is a fucking lunatic.
And Jimmy Butler is on a mission.
Don’t put it past Butler to find a way to get under Jokic’s skin early in this series, to set him off, and spark something to rally that team together and inspire them. They’re playing with house money still (they have been all month), and opened us a massive underdogs (Vegas has Denver -360 as of Monday evening). Nobody gave them a chance to beat this Celtics team. Twice. Once to start the series. And twice after having their hearts ripped out at home like they did in game 6 by Derek White. To lose like that and somehow win on the road in convincing fashion is no joke. Erik Spoelstra is a fucking genius head coach, Butler is the man, and hopefully Tyler Herro changes his tampon and suits up to give his team a shot.
Fun fact - Boston becomes the first city to lose a home Game 7 to an 8-seed in both hockey and basketball in the same season.
P.s. - back to the Celtics. Hate on Mazzulla all you want but the poor guy got thrown to the wolves this season. He had no business, or interest in head coaching this team. He’s an assistant who got thrown into the deep end wayyyyy too soon. Blame Stephens, blame the owners wife who fucked Ime, blame whoever. But Mazzulla doesn’t deserve the blame in this one. Tatum, Brown, and Smart do. Stephens mostly for thinking Marcus Smart can run an offense and handle the ball, Tatum for being a contagious turnover machine, and Brown for shrinking tonight when his team desperately needed somebody to step up. One of the most unlikeable Celtics teams in memory, vanquished by a Miami team that’s honestly really, really hard not to like and root for.