Finals will be epic with East vs. the Nuggets
At press time, we were still waiting on the Eastern Conference finals to wrap up with a winner-take-all Game 7.
But no matter who comes out of this series between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, we are all winners. We’re getting a historic NBA Finals regardless.
On one hand, we’ll get the Miami Heat who would’ve absolutely put together one of the most impressive postseason runs we’ve ever seen. Miami would be the second No. 8 seed to reach the NBA Finals in league history and the first to do it since the Knicks went in 1999.
On its way, Miami would’ve knocked off the teams with the two best records in the NBA in the Bucks and Celtics as a No. 8 seed. Those 1999 Knicks did the same thing.
That feat, alone, would be pretty epic. But then you take into account the historic playoff run Jimmy Butler has had and it gets even better.
But let’s talk about the Celtics, though. It goes without saying that Boston quite literally has to make history to make it to the NBA Finals.
The Celtics tied the series after losing the first three games of the series to the Heat. And, well, it looked like our chaotic fever dream might actually come to pass? The Celtics could be the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-0 deficit.
If they make it to the NBA Finals, that’s the greatest comeback in NBA postseason history. Teams are 150-0 when falling down 3-0 in a best-of-seven playoff series. History was literally against Boston – it doesn’t matter that they’re playing a No. 8 seed. That’d still be impressive.
The Nuggets are just there waiting. They’ve got a center who has done things that only Wilt Chamberlain has done in his NBA career on their team in Nikola Jokic. He’s one of the most skilled big men we’ve ever seen on an NBA court.
Oh, and, by the way, the Nuggets are trying to win their first championship in team history. No big deal or anything.
Regardless of what happens, we have a lot to look forward to talk about when it comes to the 2023 NBA Finals. Don’t listen to any of that talk about how bad the ratings might be or how there’s no interesting things about any of the teams there. That’s simply just untrue.
Exciting basketball is on the horizon.
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
Speaking of interesting basketball, everyone keeps talking about how the Denver Nuggets aren’t interesting at all. And that’s simply not true.
I actually took the time to prove it by writing about nine compelling storylines to follow surrounding the team. It took me, like, 15 minutes to come up with these. That’s quite literally how easy it was.
One of the more compelling stories was how good Jamal Murray has been:
“Not only has he shattered the notion of Murray only having big performances in the NBA Bubble, but he’s also outplayed
all-time greats on the biggest stage of his career so far.
Jamal Murray averaged 32.5 points through four games in the NBA Conference Finals while shooting at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3point range and 90 percent from the freethrow line.
He did that while outdueling both LeBron James and Anthony Davis.”
We’ve literally been watching this dude ascend into stardom. And that’s not interesting? Please. There’s plenty more where that came from.
Shootaround
The NBA has opened an investigation into veteran referee Eric Lewis over the potential use of a burner Twitter account that responded several times to messages that had been critical of him and other NBA officials, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY Sports’ Jeff Zillgitt. The person requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
The account in question, @CuttliffBlair, had been momentarily deleted after the potential link to Lewis had been discovered, but it was then active once again as of May 29. The link came to light May 25 after a Twitter user found the Blair Cutliff account and then posted screengrabs that showed the account responding to messages in defense of Lewis and other NBA referees.
The NBA investigation is likely looking into the violation of a rule that prohibits referees from publicly commenting on officiating matters without proper league approval. Lewis could face discipline from the league.
Lewis, 52, is in his 19th season as an NBA referee. He has officiated more than 1,000 games and nearly 100 playoff games. He officiated his first NBA Finals game in 2019, in the series between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors.
Since then, he has officiated in Finals games in 2020 and 2021.