The Denver Nuggets host the Miami Heat in this year’s NBA Finals.
The 2023 NBA Finals matchup is set, and for just the second time in history, it will include a No. 8 seed after the Miami Heat, who avoided becoming the first team in history to blow a 3-0 series lead with a Game 7 road victory over the Celtics to close the Eastern Conference finals on Monday.
Miami will now face the Denver Nuggets, the West’s No. 1 seed who will have had more than a week of rest by the time Game 1 arrives on Thursday.
Do the Heat have a chance to become the first No. 8 seed to win a title? We’re not sure, but it seems they are not being given much chance to win Game One this week.
Ahead of Thursday night’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals, ESPN Analytics released its Matchup Predictor.
Nikola Jokic and the top-seeded Nuggets have a 77.7% chance of taking a 1-0 Finals.
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Denver is an 8.5-point favorite to kick off their first-ever NBA Finals appearance after they swept LeBron James and the Lakers out of the Western Conference Finals.
Nikola Jokic has a 10-2 career record against Bam Adebayo and many experts believe he makes easy work of him just as he had a good time against Anthony Davis in the previous round.
Tyler Herro’s return will be much talked about, but his presence could help the Nuggets more as it would give them another weak defender on the floor.
Despite the computers and back-and-forth talking, the players still have to play the game.
