578: Nuggets in 5 as Jokic Gets His Ring - All Around the NBA: Playoff Edition w/ the Guru, Gabe Goldfield - The Roundup Podcast

The Roundup Podcast

On today’s show, it’s a wrap, with another NBA Finals in the books, and the 2022-2023 season ends with Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets as our NBA champions. The Nuggets’ Playoff run was impressive, with only 4 total losses as they rolled through the postseason with never a series in doubt, and today we’re looking at what makes them a deserving champ. With the spotlight shining brightest, Nikola Jokic was dominant throughout, and regardless of the chatter, he’s dominant whether he scores OR passes, as evidenced by his 30 point near triple double average in the series, but what the numbers don’t show is how the entire flow of the Nuggets offense runs through him and how he anchors the defense down low. And we have to mention Jamal Murray, largely forgotten while injured over the past few years, we saw once again how this guy can impact a Playoff series. As for the Heat, hard to knock a team that wasn’t even supposed to be here. This was the first series this Playoffs that the Heat were ever down in and they were never able to recapture the magic that got them here. Jimmy Butler carried as much of the load as he could on an injured ankle, and did a respectable job but we never got to see Playoff Jimmy this series. In his stead, Bam stepped up and had a few huge performances, but ultimately, star power can’t carry the Heat like it does the Nuggets. This series hinged on the role players for Miami and when the threes are falling, the Heat can be almost unstoppable, but as we saw, they weren’t, and by the end of GM 5, after four more desperation misses from deep as the game slipped away, I think even Miami had to admit that Denver was the better team. In an authoritative title run, an MVP gets his ring, a franchise gets it’s first title, and I think most reasonable people could agree that we have a worthy champion. So sit back, it’s the NBA, all NBA and nothing but the NBA, Finals Edition, and we’re breaking down how it’s all unfolding, next on the Roundup Podcast so let’s get rolling . . .