The surprise team from Florida had only qualified for the play-off via the play-in of the Eastern Conference – and very narrowly. The Heat still has fond memories of the nail-biter of April 15th. With less than three minutes to go, Miami trailed the Chicago Bulls 87-90 in the play-in but then went for the final push and won 102-91. “I knew that my players would give everything to reach the play-offs and keep the dream of the title alive,” said coach Erik Spoelstra afterwards.
A month and a half and three playoff series wins later, his team is still chasing the dream. The top seeded Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated, as was the second-best team, the Boston Celtics, in the semifinals. Miami lost a 3-0 lead in the series, but retained the upper hand in the seventh and decisive game. In between, the New York Knicks also fell.
“We still have four wins to go”
“I have such great faith in myself and in this team. I know what great players we have and how good we are as a team,” said Jimmy Butler. “We still have four wins to go.” Butler is the outstanding Heat player, averaging 28.5 points per playoff game. The 33-year-old, who was selected to the NBA All-Star team six times before this season, could crown his excellent career, which has also been marked by intermediate lows, with the “Larry O’Brien Trophy”.
It would be a typical American underdog story because Butler had a difficult childhood. After an argument, his mother kicked him out, whereupon the then 13-year-old took turns sleeping with friends. The father left the family early on. Strong performances on the school teams saw Butler make it into the NBA, where he teased, provoked and dished. Neither teammates nor coaches were immune to his whims.
It was only in the preseason that there was a heated argument between Butler and Coach Spoelstra during a game, in which teammates had to hold them back. “Not everyone gets along with Jimmy’s style. He can be tough, even fierce,” Spoelstra said after things had calmed down. “But not everyone gets along with the Miami Heat. So this is a perfect relationship.”
Rested nuggets are favorites
As erratic as Miami’s path to the final was, Denver’s seems stringent. The winner of the Western Conference hardly had any trouble in the play-off either, knocked out the Los Angeles Lakers 4-0 in the semifinals and is accordingly rested in the final series.
The Nuggets have been credited with immense potential since 2018 – also because of the Serbian superstar Nikola Jokic, who was voted the most valuable player in the league (MVP) in the last two seasons. But in the crucial moments, the team from Colorado was often unable to access the potential attributed to it. This season, however, everything is going differently – at least so far.
“The opportunity to write club history is the greatest motivation for us,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone. He vehemently contradicted the statement that his team would probably have an easy game against the outsiders from Miami: “Everything that has happened so far in the season no longer counts in the final. It’s going to be an incredibly tough fight.”
NBA-Play-off 2022/23
2023-06-02 04:24:19
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