NBA Finals Game 3 live updates: Heat vs. Nuggets start time, how to ...

DENVER — The empty wall first caught Thomas Evans’ eye in 2020. Located just off the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Race Street, the wall faces a 7-Eleven parking lot, and Evans noticed the space often went neglected. As a muralist, it fit his needs.

“It’s not the best place to hang out, and it’s in the alleyway,” said the 38-year-old artist who goes by the name Detour.

The building’s owners gave Evans permission to use the wall for a mural of George Floyd, which he created with spray paint. Outdoor art isn’t permanent, though, and Evans eventually repainted the wall, creating a portrait of his friend Trina Fernandes, a nurse at Denver Health. But as time went on, the paint started to chip away.

“It was annoying trying to repaint those different areas,” Evans said. “Sometimes it’s just easier to redo the entire mural rather than patching everything together every month.”

So last week, with the NBA Finals set to come to Denver, he embarked on a new project: a Denver Nuggets mural. He painted over the portrait of Fernandes, then sketched outlines of Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray. After that, his work with the spray paint began:

Read more here.

Peter Baugh·

Staff Writer, Avalanche

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A Nikola Jokić-Jamal Murray mural to see: A Denver artist and his timely creation

Because of the nature of the NBA Finals, everything is scrutinized, there are days between games, you just have so much time to think about every nook and cranny, there’s a tendency to get caught up in the moment.

But here is the fact: The last five teams to lose one of the first two games on its home floor in the NBA Finals, have gone on to win the title. And that’s because those five teams — the Warriors twice, the 2013 Miami Heat, the 2014 San Antonio Spurs and 2019 Toronto Raptors — those five teams were the better basketball teams.

That’s what the Nuggets need to settle down and realize. They are the better team, the deeper team and the more talented team. They have the best player in the series in Jokić. They have the personnel to make life difficult on the Heat.

Game 2’s postgame was fiery from the Nuggets, who were ticked at themselves for not playing as diligently as they have come to expect from themselves. On Tuesday, film session revealed 17 instances of lax defensive coverage that led to 40 Miami points. In this film session, everyone had a chance to speak. And on Monday night, the Nuggets as a team went to Jeff Green’s house and broke bread.

So, it’s been kind of a roller-coaster for the Nuggets. The key is taking Malone’s post-Game 2 comments, grasping why he was so harsh, and applying that to Game 3, while also realizing that this series has a long way to go.

Read more here.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Tony Jones·

Staff Writer, Jazz

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Three ways the Nuggets can change the momentum against the Heat in Game 3 of the NBA Finals

In April, when I was coming off a long season of covering the Utah Jazz, I received a phone call from my editor, who assigned me the Denver Nuggets throughout the playoffs. It was a funny phone conversation, one that started with an awkward silence when I heard the word Denver. Then, I shifted my feet a little.

And then I let out a laugh.

And so did my boss.

We both knew what that meant. We both knew this column could be coming at some point in the postseason. And we knew this because, at the time, we both knew the Nuggets were good enough to win the Western Conference and advance to the NBA Finals. And that’s exactly what Denver did, starting with Thursday’s Game 1 at Ball Arena against the upstart Miami Heat.

Today’s era of journalism sometimes requires you to take losses, or what we commonly refer to as L’s. It requires analysis that sometimes doesn’t age well. It requires Twitter battles with entire fan bases, who don’t agree with said analysis. One of my more memorable battles has always been with Nuggets fans over Nikola Jokić, and just how good he is.

For me and Nuggets fans, those battles have turned into arguments and back-and-forths over multiple seasons. My piece of advice to anyone reading this. Find someone who will stand by you, be loyal to you and defend you as much as Nuggets fans have defended Jokić.

Well, Nuggets fans, here is the loss I will take. I was wrong. You were right.

Read more here.

Tony Jones·

Staff Writer, Jazz

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Jones: I was wrong about Nikola Jokić. He’s the best player in the world right now

DENVER — Austin Rivers and Bruce Brown came to the Denver Nuggets at different times, but they both had the same first-day experience with the organization. As they acclimated to their new surroundings, they remembered one thing more than anything else — coaches and teammates warning about playing with Nuggets’ star Nikola Jokić: keep your hands up.

It wasn’t advice on how to protect themselves in a fight, but rather guidance on how to protect themselves from out-of-nowhere passes from Jokić.

“They told me the day I got there, right away,” Rivers said of that day in 2021. “You gotta have your hands ready.”

Added Brown, who signed with Denver in 2022: “That’s literally the first thing I heard.”

That first-day advice has prepared many Nuggets to be on the finishing end of some of the prettiest plays in the NBA, as Jokić has gone over, under and between opponents to create scoring opportunities. The advice is also a reminder to avoid having the Wilson logo of the NBA ball tattooed on their face.

“In practice, he would throw it, and if your hands aren’t ready, it will hit you in the face,” Rivers said. “It happened all the time, because he zings it.”

Read more here.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Jason Quick·

Staff Writer, Trail Blazers

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Nikola Jokić’s passing and the warning given to all new Nuggets players: Keep your hands up

Game 3: Tonight, 8:30 p.m. ET

Game 4: Friday, 8:30 p.m. ET

Game 5: Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET

Game 6: Thursday, June 15, 8:30 p.m. ET

Game 7: Saturday, June 18, 8 p.m. ET

The Athletic Staff

Any handwringing and pearl-clutching over the NBA Finals’ TV ratings without traditional big-market teams involved has proven overblown so far.

Denver’s 104-93 Game 1 victory on June 1 averaged 11.58 million viewers on ABC while Miami’s 111-108 upset on Sunday night averaged 11.91 million. Both games won all the coveted advertising demographics, as expected.

Sunday’s broadcast peaked at 15.25 million viewers, ESPN said (the network handles sports and PR for ABC, since both are owned by Disney).

This matchup was always going to get extra ratings scrutiny because Denver is new to the finals, Miami isn’t the LeBron James-led title chasers of 2010-14, and neither franchise has been a TV draw like Golden State or the historic (if dusty) Celtics–Lakers rivalry.

Both the Nuggets and Heat have stars and devoted fanbases — one a mile high on the edge of the mountains, one nearly at sea level next to the ocean — and they’ve played fun basketball so far.

Read more here.

Bill Shea·

Senior Writer, Sports Business

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Those NBA Finals, Stanley Cup ratings fears? Overblown, so far: Sports on TV

The Nuggets are a better team than the Heat. A much better team. But, the Boston Celtics were a much better team than the Heat. And so were the Milwaukee Bucks.

However, the home-court advantage at Ball Arena — playing at altitude — will be gargantuan. The Nuggets are the bigger team. The Nuggets are the more athletic and skilled team. The Nuggets have two of the three best players in the series, and then probably the fifth, sixth and seventh best players in the series. And before Monday night’s Game 7 win over Boston, the Heat looked as if they had dead legs. The list goes on and on.

By almost any measure, the Nuggets should be prohibitive favorites in this series.

Still, Denver should have a healthy respect for everything Miami has accomplished to get to this point. Jokić has been the best player in the league during the playoffs, but Jimmy Butler has probably been the second best. The Heat are as good as any team in the league at dragging their opposition into the mud with junk defenses and a resilient mentality.

In the playoffs, the Heat role players have been inexplicably good to the point where it just seems unsustainable. Seriously.

Maybe most importantly, Spoelstra is probably the best coach in the league. He’s handily won all three of his coaching matchups in the playoffs.

What does it all mean? It means this series isn’t going to be played on paper, and basketball not being played on paper is the reason Miami is in the finals. To win an NBA title, the Nuggets will have to play great hoops. This won’t be a cakewalk for Denver, no matter what NBA Twitter seems to think.

Read more about the matchup here.

(Photo: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

Tony Jones·

Staff Writer, Jazz

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NBA Finals business tale of the tape: How the Heat and Nuggets compare

Mike Breen and his wife, Roseanne, held each other as they took in a most devastating sight. They’d had countless phone calls and a cross-country flight to digest the news of their house burning down. They’d already felt the relief of knowing all lives were spared and knowing they have the means to rebuild.

Still, seeing it hits differently. The gable roof completely gone. The interior reduced to char. The yellow siding and white trim darkened by soot. The two-car garage hollowed out, both white doors reduced to rubble. Where there was once so much value suddenly there was so much void. The scorched facade facing the street was all that remained of their home.

Smoke was still rising when Breen, 61, arrived. They couldn’t go in yet. The house was still cordoned off as the fire smoldered tauntingly beneath the debris. The Hall of Fame broadcaster, the iconic play-by-play man for the Knicks and the NBA Finals, the voice of the biggest stage, didn’t have words for what he witnessed.

“It’s hard to process,” Breen said. “because you’re a little bit in a state of shock as you look at it and there’s nothing left. There’s just — it’s all gone.”

Fire is one of nature’s destructive forces. It can be consuming — relentless and mighty enough to become a living, breathing force. But for Breen, something even more powerful emerged in its wake. Because some elements are flame resistant.

That’s why this isn’t a tale about loss, but instead about gain. The last thing Breen wants is pity.

He’s an NBA icon in his own right. The Curt Gowdy Award winner rubs shoulders with legends. He’s featured on the soundtrack for a generation of basketball brilliance.

Jamal Murray recently exemplified Breen’s place in NBA culture. The Nuggets star guard hit a big 3-pointer against the Lakers, mouthed “Bang!” and pointed to Breen.

He’s nearing his 100th NBA Finals game called, which is far and away the most of any broadcaster. He’s finely compensated for his talent, too, with perks that include a front-row seat to hoop history, a connection with some all-time greats and respect among his peers.

That’s why he is quite emphatic about belonging way, way in the back of the line of poor unfortunate souls.

Read more about how Breen got through the fire.

Marcus Thompson II·

Senior Columnist, Bay Area

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Thompson: Love and support got Mike Breen, voice of NBA Finals, through the fire

MIAMI — Jimmy Butler has some classic new material for the Miami Heat’s infamous Championship Alley once this magical postseason run ends.

There’s the image of him screaming at the Miami crowd during his sensational 56-point barrage against Milwaukee in the first round. There’s the moment he went forehead-to-forehead with Grant Williams of Boston in Game 2 of the conference finals. Butler also went viral for his mocking timeout signal toward Al Horford in the next game against the Celtics.

But if there’s one image that encapsulates “Heat Culture” and how it has led Miami back to the NBA Finals, it isn’t the Heat’s emotional leader beating his chest during a moment of triumph.

It is Butler and Gabe Vincent smiling on the bench in the final seconds of a blowout loss to the Celtics in Game 4.

To much of the basketball world, something shifted that night. After falling behind 3-0 in the series, the Celtics picked up something in the second half that gave them a victory and new life.

Despite having the glory of a conference finals sweep ripped away, Butler and his teammates were unfazed.

They weren’t angry or tense or distressed. They were about as unfazed as anyone can be amid a 17-point loss.

That defiance, or downright stubbornness, when adversity hits is what “Heat Culture” is all about, especially in this new phase with Butler at the forefront.

Read more about Miami's identity here.

(Photo: Justin Edmonds / Getty Images)

William Guillory·

Staff Writer, Pelicans

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What is ‘Heat Culture’? The truth about Miami’s identity, according to those who live it

Who’s going to win the NBA title, Nikola Jokić’s Denver Nuggets or Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat?

To answer that question, we once again turned to a panel of experts. We asked a scout, a coach and a team executive to predict the outcome of the 2023 NBA Finals. We granted our experts anonymity because their employers did not give them permission to discuss other franchises publicly. Anonymity also allowed them to be completely candid in their assessments.

Let’s acknowledge something right off the bat: The experts we spoke with for our previous articles in these playoffs have underestimated the eighth-seeded Heat. Leading into the second round, a scout, coach and executive all predicted the New York Knicks would eliminate Miami. Right before the Eastern Conference finals, all of the experts said the Boston Celtics would dispatch the Heat.

Will their latest predictions come true? See here what the experts had to say about the finals.

The Athletic Staff

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NBA Finals 2023 predictions: Anonymous scout, coach, exec pick Nuggets-Heat winner

Forever and ever, an undercurrent of insecurity has rippled through the NBA. A league that has put so much stock into likes and follows on social media, that banks on star power and generates so much of its sizzle through transactions and rumors has always seemed to put an outsized emphasis on the who and the where over the what.

Perhaps more than any other domestic league, the NBA is dominated by discussions about markets more than teams. “Market” is a buzz word that reduces analysis to a geography lesson, used to justify dismissing or outwardly ignoring pockets of the league in a golden age for the depth of talent from sea to shining sea.

Every league would probably prefer to have its most popular teams and its biggest cities playing for championships, allowing them to tap into the large fan bases that follow the Dallas Cowboys or the New York Yankees or the Chicago Blackhawks. But the NBA seems to obsess over it, worry about it and lament when it doesn’t happen more than most.

Now that this season’s championship series is set, pitting first-timers from Denver (the 18th-largest television market in the United States) against the Miami Heat, which may be in a glamorous location but is still just 16th in terms of market size, the handwringing is sure to begin. The worrying about who will tune in, about how to sell these NBA Finals without LeBron James or Stephen Curry or the Los Angeles Lakers or the Golden State Warriors.

This is the first time in 33 years, as The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov pointed out, that an NBA Finals matchup does not have a single player from either team who was voted to the All-NBA First Team. Nuggets fans, this is where you can start yelling loudly or chortling in disgust, whichever you prefer.

That may be worrisome for the casuals on Madison Avenue looking to capitalize on audience size, or for the league as a whole as it nears the expiration of their existing television rights deals and look to cash in with a huge new one. This may not be the NBA Finals that advertisers dream about. But it’s the NBA Finals the league needs. It’s time for this league to embrace the game over the glitz.

Read more here about why.

Jon Krawczynski·

Senior Writer, Minnesota

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Nuggets-Heat may not be the NBA Finals advertisers dream about, but it’s what the league needs

As the Nuggets pick themselves off the mat following that Game 2 defeat, one thing they must ask themselves is how they can better handle this constantly shapeshifting Miami zone defense. The Nuggets shredded zones during the regular season, which made many pundits (like me!) think the Heat would be reluctant to deploy their patented zone defense in this series.

Instead, the Heat strength beat Denver's strength, in large part because Miami's zone is less about rigid positioning and more about overloading their opponents' most dangerous spaces. Last series, it was about stopping Boston's perimeter players from driving. In this series, it's about preventing Nikola Jokić from getting the ball easily in the middle of the floor. Either way, it's working. Denver simply must solve this defense.

And the Nuggets must do so in large part because of all the downstream effects that not doing so causes. Most notably: the zone allows Miami to keep Duncan Robinson on the floor, rather than having him be exposed defensively. With Robinson on the floor, Denver has one more shooter to cover on the other end, something it did extremely poorly in the fourth quarter of Game 2. So that's one more reason for Denver to solve this zone problem. Get Robinson off the floor, and suddenly the Heat become easier to defend.

(Photo: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

Mike Prada·

Staff Editor, NBA

DENVER — The Nuggets are like the dynastic Golden State Warriors insofar as they apply enormous pressure on the team trying to guard them.

It may look different than the way the Warriors did it, but the strain on the faces of the Miami Heat when they talk about trying to stop a 7-footer who can bomb 3s, pass as well or better than anyone else in the NBA, put the ball on the floor, and bowl his way to the rim, looks exactly how it used to look when the Cleveland Cavaliers or Toronto Raptors were trying to stop Golden State.

Because, of course, it isn’t just about stopping Nikola Jokić. Jamal Murray runs the pick-and-roll with Jokić and can put a guard into a grinder, or cross up a big on a switch. And he can catch and shoot and, of course, create his own shot.

This is to say nothing of the capability Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon have to burn a defense if given the smallest of spaces to operate. Double Jokić or Murray at your own peril.

“This is complex,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra explained. “Basically every other huddle we’re talking about what it’s going to require and all those extra efforts and physical plays without fouling, just making winning plays. … They force you to have to compete at a super-high level, but you have to do it with a brain and you have to do it with discipline.”

The irony here is the biggest change the Heat made from one game to the next in this finals wasn’t about brain power, but a brain fart.

For all the complexities involved with trying to stop Jokić, the tangible adjustment between Game 1 and Game 2 was to take out the undersized forward (Caleb Martin), and replace him with the bigger guy (Kevin Love), who had been the Heat’s starter at the 4 position for most of the playoffs anyway.

“I didn’t have the foresight (to start Love in Game 1), I didn’t,” Spoelstra said. “That’s on me.”

Read more here about the decision to start Love over Martin.

Joe Vardon·

Senior Writer, NBA

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Miami Heat’s big NBA Finals surprise? Turning to Kevin Love for defense

MIAMI — There is no singular descriptor for Udonis Haslem’s impact on South Florida.

The three-time NBA champion’s regional legacy spans over a quarter century, dating back to his dominance at Miami Senior High School. There, he led the Stingarees to consecutive state titles (1997 and 1998) as the school capped a three-peat under coach Frank Martin. After journeying from Gainesville, Fla., to Chalon-sur-Saône, France, Haslem’s basketball path led him right back home to Miami, where, over time, he joined Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) and Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks) as the only NBA players to spend 20 seasons with one team.

Haslem’s main ambition is to make South Florida feel like home to anyone within his orbit — family, friends, teammates, coaches, locals and all else between. Though such energy would partially explain his success as a championship starter, role player and locker room presence for the Heat, it also has fueled essential community work.

Over the latter decade of his hoops career, Haslem, Miami’s all-time leader in rebounds, prepared for life after basketball by growing his business portfolio. Like most pro athletes, he was the financial buffer for family and friends who fell on hard times. But for Haslem, who made just over $366,000 on his first NBA contract, it was hard to sustain such support without replenishing resources — so, he learned to provide jobs.

“Some people made mistakes with brush-ins with the law — whatever you wanna call it,” Haslem told The Athletic. “But that doesn’t define who a person is. I knew many people who needed opportunities and just needed jobs.

“As any young fella, I started out giving money here and there, and I just realized that was crippling. It’s like a shot of whiskey: It’ll help them for a bit of time before they come back for another shot. So, the idea was to provide jobs. I never thought about, on the back end, what I could benefit — only how I could help these people.”

Read more here about Haslem's philanthropy.

James Jackson

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Udonis Haslem’s love for South Florida keeps him focused on bigger picture

The Nuggets are road favorites for Game 3 and The Athletic's five experts are all picking Denver to win on Wednesday. Why?

By finishing 17-for-35 (48.6 percent) from beyond the arc on Sunday, the Heat, who finished the regular season 27th in the NBA in 3-point percentage at 34.4 percent, have now shot better than 44 percent from 3-point range on 30 or more attempts in six games this postseason. They did that just four times total between the regular season and play-in tournament.

So, projecting ahead, you could say that Denver is still well-positioned. Even on a night where the Heat scalded the nets to such a degree, the Nuggets were inches away from Jamal Murray burying a last-second 3-pointer that would have completed a 12-point comeback in the final 3:39 of regulation and forced overtime.

Read more about the series odds here.

(Photo: Justin Edmonds / Getty Images)

The Athletic Staff

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NBA Finals odds, expert picks for Heat vs. Nuggets Game 3

DENVER — When Philadelphia brought Haywood Highsmith up for his first NBA stint in January 2019, he was locker neighbors with another relatively new 76ers player: Jimmy Butler, whom the team had acquired two months earlier. Highsmith instantly noticed Butler’s competitive fire, and he asked his All-Star teammate about his workout routine and offseason approach.

“Me and Jimmy go way back,” he says.

Fast-forward four years, and they’re teammates on a No. 8-seed Heat team that has clawed its way to the NBA Finals. Highsmith still remembers the lessons Butler imparted to him in Philadelphia.

“Working out twice a day, three times a day, which he would do sometimes,” he says. “Also understanding your body, not pushing it too far where you’re feeling not the best. Maintaining good diet as well.”

That helped him maximize his talent and become what he is now: a capable role player who dropped 18 points in a finals game. Miami fell 104-93 in Game 1 on Thursday, but the 6-foot-5 forward’s play was a bright spot for the team.

Read more here about Highsmith's journey and role with the Heat.

Peter Baugh·

Staff Writer, Avalanche

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Haywood Highsmith’s unlikely path to becoming one of Miami’s ‘hidden gems’