Here’s how to watch the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets in Game 3 of the 2023 NBA Finals.
The Philadelphia 76ers fell in Round 2 for the fifth time in six seasons and for the third consecutive season so now is the time to tune in to other playoff action in the league.
Two teams are left standing as the NBA Finals continue on Wednesday night. The scene shifts to South Florida as the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets continue their battle. The Heat stole a game in Denver so this series is 1-1 with the Heat now owning the home-court advantage.
While the Sixers are obviously not in these finals, this is still an intriguing matchup. It features Joel Embiid’s rival, although friendly, Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets and former Sixers star Jimmy Butler on the side of the Heat. There are reasons for fans to watch these finals.
Here’s when and where you should tune in to see the matchup:
Expect Adebayo to light it up yet again in South Beach.
Game 2 of the 2023 NBA Finals fell more or less in line with the incredible story of the Miami Heat’s entire postseason. After taking an initial punch, Miami entered Denver, shut things down in the fourth quarter, and handed the Western Conference champs their first home loss of the playoffs.
In a stunner for the Nuggets, they were forced to pick up the pieces and wonder where matters went awry. But it would be silly to envision them falling apart now. In the expected outcome for the Heat — because they truly believe they’re never out of a game — they’ve got their focus squarely on three more wins.
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The journey to a championship for both squads continues tonight as the series shifts to Miami for Games 3 and 4 (on Friday). And while these Finals are proving to be unpredictable (in the best way), here are a few bets you can count on for Wednesday.
The Miami Heat are playing in the 2023 NBA Finals right now — one of the biggest series of their careers — but you’d never know it based on their demeanor. I’m not just talking about their composed on-court approach leading them to become the best No. 8 seed ever.
They clearly have a lot of fun off-court chemistry, as evidenced by a hilarious prank Jimmy Butler played on Heat center Bam Adebayo Tuesday.
As Adebayo spoke to the media during his Finals availability, Butler appeared off to the side behind some curtains. In an effort to get Adebayo’s attention (and, more importantly, distract him), Butler pretended to pull his pants down and called for his teammate’s name repeatedly.
Eventually, in an Instagram story featured on Butler’s profile, Adebayo would give into his teammate, break his speaking rhythm at the mic, and laugh about the Heat forward getting one over on him.
These Finals are tied at 1-1 and seem destined to be a contentious back-and-forth battle that everyone will want to watch over the next approximately two weeks. You’d never know the Heat were stressed about that based on this Butler prank on Adebayo.
The NBA playoffs expanded to include 16 teams in 1984 and no 8-seeds have ever won the championship.
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First, let’s start with a caveat. The Miami Heat are not like other No. 8 seeds in league history.
Miami actually finished with the seventh-best record in the Eastern Conference during the regular season. But after losing to the Atlanta Hawks during the first game of the play-in tournament back in April, the Heat had to beat the Bulls to claw their way back into the postseason.
But they became the eighth seed and had to face the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs in the East. After upsetting the Bucks and then the Knicks and then the Celtics, they earned a spot in the NBA Finals.
The NBA playoffs expanded to include 16 teams in 1984 and no 8-seeds have ever won the championship. But even without a title, the Heat are in the midst of making history.
Miami's 13 wins are the most by an 8-seed in a single postseason.
After defeating the Nuggets in Game 2 in Denver on Monday, Miami secured its 13th win of the postseason. That officially became the most by any No. 8 seed in NBA history, surpassing the previous record (12) set by the Knicks in 1998-99.
This year’s Miami squad and the 1999 Knicks are the only two 8-seeds to ever advance past the second round. Aside from the 1999 Knicks, per Basketball-Reference, no other No. 8 seed has ever won more than seven games in a single postseason.
In fact, we have never seen a No. 7 seed win an NBA championship, either. The lowest-seeded team to win the NBA Finals was the No. 6 seed Rockets back in 1995.
So even if you think the Heat are not a regular No. 8 seed because they had the seventh-best record in the East, this is still arguably the most improbable upset run we have seen in the NBA.
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We updated our 2023 NBA Mock Draft, and we have Amen Thompson to the Portland Trail Blazers at No. 3 overall. Here is why:
“I do not think the Portland Trail Blazers end up using this draft pick and would prefer win-now pieces to play alongside Damian Lillard next year, and instead, I’d expect them to trade it to a team seeking to find their point guard of the future in Scoot Henderson.
But until a trade is made, I’m going to act as if Portland is indeed making the pick. In that case, be open to the possibility that the Trail Blazers may be unafraid to take an unconventional route and select Amen Thompson. As he told Casey Holdahl:
“Everybody says there’s a clear-cut top 3. I feel like that’s kind of doing the draft a disservice … It’s more than three, for sure, and if there’s three … I’m one of them.”
Just look at who they drafted in the lottery last year and you can learn a bit of what they may value. Shaedon Sharpe was considered a “wildcard” after not playing in college but he is also one of the most athletic players in the world. Frankly, so is Amen. Both players are 6-foot-6 or taller and they would be an unreal duo in the same lineup.”
Jimmy Butler is thriving with the Miami Heat, but the Chicago Bulls shouldn’t feel bad about trading him.
The Chicago Bulls have fielded some solid teams throughout the years, but before the current iteration of the squad, they were stuck in a rebuild. But before that rebuild, there were the Jimmy Butler-led Bulls, who continuously fought for the playoffs. However, that all ended when Chicago traded Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Now, Butler is on the Miami Heat and in the NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons. It’s caused some Bulls fans to reflect back on the trade and wonder what could have been if Butler had stayed in Chicago. Could they be in the Finals right now with him at the helm? To put it bluntly – no.
Trading Butler when they did was absolutely the correct decision, and that’s not a knock on Butler. At the time, Butler was an All-Star, but the Bulls weren’t making any progress in putting pieces around him. And they actually got a great haul in return for the star.
The fact that LaVine turned into an All-Star makes the trade a solid one, as oftentimes, trades that send out stars yield a middling return.
Plus, what would have happened if the Bulls kept Butler? More years of hovering around the middle of the pack with no results? Chicago’s rebuild failed in the post-Butler years, but at least they tried. Keeping him would have just delayed the inevitable.
And in all honesty, a huge part of Butler’s success story should be credited to Miami. Not because he wouldn’t have been great without the Heat, but because they are a match made in heaven.
It may be frustrating for Bulls fans to watch Butler thrive elsewhere after Chicago traded him away, but all in all, it was a move that needed to be done, and they got some solid assets in return.
We’d love to see the Nuggets win the NBA Finals, but we’re also rooting for Jimmy Butler, a good friend of late Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas.
The Denver Nuggets fell to the Miami Heat 111-108 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals at Ball Arena on Sunday evening. The series is now tied 1-1 going into Wednesday’s game in Miami.
While most Denver Broncos fans are also fans of the Nuggets, many Broncos fans are rooting for Heat small forward Jimmy Butler, a good friend of late Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas.
Before the NBA Finals started, Brandon Krisztal of KOA Radio asked Butler about his friendship with Thomas and playing in the Finals against Denver.
“That’s my guy, my brother forever,” Butler said last week. “I miss him so much. I spent so much time here with him, watching him be great. He motivated me, because his story is really, really incredible through everything that he’s been through to make it and do what he did for the Broncos. I actually have a lot of love for this city. I miss that guy.
“I wish he was here to sit courtside and watch me do my thing, because we talked about this all the time. Maybe not Denver vs. my team, but just being able to watch me win a championship like he did.”
Butler scored 21 points while adding nine assists and four rebounds on Sunday.
While we’re rooting for the Nuggets to win the series, we’re also supporting Butler.
Former Philadelphia 76ers star Jimmy Butler leads the Miami Heat past the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 to tie the finals.
A former Philadelphia 76ers star continues to put up big playoff performances for the Miami Heat.
Jimmy Butler, who played for the Sixers in the 2018-19 season, had 21 points, nine assists and four rebounds to lead the Heat to a 111-108 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2. Butler scored eight points in the final frame to help Miami close out the Nuggets.
Gabe Vincent led Miami with 23 points while Bam Adebayo had 21 points and nine rebounds, Max Strus had 14 points and six assists, and Duncan Robinson had 10 huge points off the bench for the Heat.
Butler and the Heat overcame another classic Nikola Jokic game for the Nuggets. Jokic had 41 points and 11 rebounds, but he wasn’t able to get the same help from his teammates as in Game 1.
The series shifts to Miami for Game 3 on Wednesday as the Heat look to take advantage of the home-court advantage now.
Chicago Bulls fans didn’t like Gar-Pax. That much is clear. But they did nail the Jimmy Butler pick. They just traded him away too soon.
The Chicago Bulls are in a very weird spot. The core of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic isn’t quite good enough to guarantee a playoff spot, but they will almost certainly avoid the bottom of the conference. Teams stuck in that range may be in a worse spot than any other teams in the league.
However, the Bulls have come a long way. Arturas Karnisovas is determined to compete, and at least he’s been more active than the preview regime of John Paxson and Gar Forman, commonly known as Gar-Pax. Chicago wasn’t a huge fan of Gar-Pax, but Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times recently gave the pair some credit.
First and foremost, Morrissey spoke about Gar-Pax’s decision to trade Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He admitted that the choice was a brutal one.
“Gar-Pax’s decision to trade Jimmy Butler in June 2017 is a hot topic of discussion again, thanks to the eighth-seeded Heat’s improbable run to this season’s NBA Finals, led by the former Bull,” Morrissey wrote. “The debate is whether trading Butler and a first-round pick to Minnesota for Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and a first-rounder that became Lauri Markkanen was the worst deal in Chicago sports history. That discussion is more than fair. Butler stayed great, while the Bulls never got traction with LaVine and the rest.”
However, he also said that Gar-Pax deserves credit for drafting Butler in the first place.
“Paxson and Forman are still getting ripped for trading the physically talented, mentally tough Butler, who eventually landed in Miami,” Morrissey wrote. “But who had drafted Butler six years earlier? That would be Gar-Pax, whose names at some point were combined and abridged for ease of derision.
“This is where the lack of fairness comes in. Paxson and Forman get almost no love for taking Butler with the 30th overall pick in the 2011 draft. Here are some of the players who were drafted before him: Enes Kanter, Jan Vesely, Bismack Biyombo, Jimmer Fredette, Alec Burks, Iman Shumpert, Chris Singleton and Norris Cole, whom the Bulls drafted with the 28th pick and traded to Minnesota.”
Bulls fans don’t have to like Gar-Pax, and they likely never will, but at the very least, they made a great draft pick when they selected Butler. (They just didn’t keep him long enough.)
The 2023 NBA Finals will begin tonight between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat. The most talented player on the floor will be two-time league MVP Nikola Jokic, who grew up in Serbia. Denver’s star point guard Jamal Murray is also an international player from Canada. However, the rest of the expected starters for both teams played at least some of their high school basketball in the United States.
Here’s where all 10 of them are coming from.
Miami Heat
PG Gabe Vincent: St. Mary’s (Calif.)
SG Max Strus: Amos Alonzo Stagg (Ill.)
SF Jimmy Butler: Tomball (Texas)
PF Caleb Martin: Oak Hill Academy (Va.)
C Bam Adebayo: High Point Christian Academy (NC)
Denver Nuggets
PG Jamal Murray: Grand River (Ontario, CA)
SG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: Greenville (Ga.)
SF Michael Porter Jr.: Nathan Hale (Wash.)
PF Aaron Gordon: Archbishop Mitty (Calif.)
C Nikola Jokic: Mega Basket (Serbia)
The Nuggets were supposed to be here after posting the best record in the Western Conference during the regular season (53-29). They swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals. Meanwhile, the Heat will continue playing the Cinderella role, having upset three straight opponents after squeaking into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
According to BetMGM’s latest odds, Denver is considered an 8.5-point favorite for Game 1. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
But is it the best-ever individual play by one player taking his team to the NBA’s championship series? ESPN’s Jay Williams seems to think so, based on a recent endorsement of Butler. The analyst claimed he’s never seen someone like Butler play so well to take a team like these specific Heat to the brink of a title.
And, at face value, such an opinion doesn’t seem all that ludicrous.
“I’ve never seen a man carry a team like this to an NBA Finals”
What might get lost in the shuffle is that Miami still has excellent pieces, despite its status as the Eastern Conference’s lowest seed.
Bam Adebayo might be one of the NBA’s better big-man defenders. Caleb Martin lost the East Finals MVP to Butler by one whole vote. And Erik Spoelstra, the man pulling all the strings for a well-disciplined squad that almost always plays all 48 minutes, is arguably the league’s best coach by a mile.
That said, the Heat seemingly had every obstacle placed in front of them this postseason. They barely survived a play-in game against the Chicago Bulls. Then, over the course of two months, they took out three East heavyweights in the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks, No. 5 seed New York Knicks, and No. 2 seed Boston Celtics. After an inconsistent year where they proved more unreliable than anything, no one saw this meteoric run coming.
A lot of that is squarely on Butler’s shoulders, even if his team is better on paper than a typical No. 8 seed.
NBA fans took to Williams’ “never seen” praise of Playoff Butler, wondering where his spring stood in context, if the success is more about the other Heat players, and how it compares to other great heroic runs to the Finals.
