Kevin Love missed Miami’s trip to Denver for Game 5 of the NBA Finals. He had the best possible excuse.
Love and his wife, Kate Bock, became parents on Saturday. Love traveled to Denver on his own, arriving just in time for the team photo shoot and media responsibilities on Sunday.
Game five is on Monday, and the Nuggets Heat lead 3-1 in the series. Love plans to play.
“Definitely need to get some rest right now, get some sleep,” Love said in Denver during the media session on Sunday afternoon. “Everyone is happy and healthy.”
The Heat will attempt to become only the second team in history to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals. The other was the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers – the team that Love also played for.
Defense wins
Even in this era of more scoring — the average of 114.7 points per game by teams in the regular season was the highest in the NBA in 53 years — make no mistake: The defense still wins.
Especially in the NBA Finals.
Miami 0-3 in this Finals when he scored less than 100 points, continue the trend. Teams that haven’t scored at least 100 points have now lost 14 straight games in the NBA Finals, including all four losses to Boston against Golden State last season.
The last team to score under 100 and win the Final was Cleveland, who beat Golden State 93-89 in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals.
Triple crown?
No player has ever led the NBA in total points, rebounds and assists in the same postseason.
Nikola Jokic of Denver may be the first. That is, unless Miami’s Jimmy Butler bests him by just two points throughout the rest of the NBA Finals.
Jokic has 572 points, 253 rebounds and 186 assists in these playoffs. The overall rebound progression has been largely taken away; Miami’s Bam Adebayo is 38 rebounds behind Jokic. Same goes for total lead assist; Nuggets teammate Jamal Murray stands at number 52, behind Jokic.
But the points race is very ready. Butler has 571 points so far in the playoffs, just one fullback from Jokic. It should be noted that Butler’s total score does not include 52 game play points; The NBA does not include those in its official “postseason” totals.
Too many games, part one
If he plays in Game 5 — and there’s no reason to believe he won’t — Miami’s Max Strus will appear in his 105th game of the season.
It’s been a long time since a player has participated in so many competitions.
The last season in which someone appeared in 105 games was 2009-2010, when five members of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics — Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar for the Lakers and Rajon Rondo for the Celtics — all played. in many competitions.
If the Heat-Nuggets streak goes to Game 6 and Strus will be the first to appear in 106 games since Boston player Paul Pierce in 2007-08.
And if that title streak goes the distance and Strus reaches 107 games, he’ll be the first to do so since Tayshaun Prince in Detroit in 2004-05. Prince did not miss a game that season; Strauss has missed two games this season.
Game 5 will be a landmark for Bruce Brown of Denver and Bam Adebayo of Miami, too. Both are set to play in their 100th match of the season.
The only other player to hit 100 this year is Boston’s Derrick White, who hit 102.
Too many games, part 2
Game 5 will be Miami’s 107th game of the season, and will be the second most in NBA history.
Boston played in a record 108 games in 2007-08. New York played 107 games in 1993-94, and Detroit played 107 games in 2004-05.
Miami’s total was helped slightly by the two game plays the Heat only had to endure going into the postseason. The previous franchise record for most games played in a season was 105, made during the Heat championship years 2005-06 and 2012-13.
Game 5 will be Denver’s 102nd game of the season, tying Boston for second in the league.
quotable
Miami’s Jimmy Butler, on losing 3-1: “We didn’t come this far to stop playing now. No matter the odds, the analytics, when we get out there, we just have to compete. We have to win one, then we have to win another, and then we have to win one.” To win another.”
Nikola Jokic from Denver, in Toronto hired fellow Serbian Darko Rajaković as a coach: “I think that’s a lot of respect for him and his work.
Quick hits
Denver is one point from tying their franchise record for most points in a season, including the playoffs. The 1984-1985 Nuggets scored 11,671 points. This Nuggets team has 11,670. (Miami has already broken its franchise record for points in a single season. The Heat reaches 11,587 going into Game Five.)
The 30 teams in the league have shot a total of 78.3% from the foul line this season, including all games. It would be an NBA record, off 77.8% from two seasons ago. That 0.5% margin may not sound like much, but the Heat and Nuggets would have to shoot 0-for-344 together from the streak to get it below record pace.
– Good omen for Miami: Roode’s teams are 11-5 all-time in the NBA Finals games played on June 12.
– Good omen for Denver: The Heat are 0-3 all-time in NBA Finals games played June 12.
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