The NBA Finals have arrived and we have the 8 seed in the East, Miami Heat, taking on the number 1 seed in the West, the Denver Nuggets. So now, let's get into my analysis, injury update and score prediction for Game 1 between the 2 squads.
Analysis:
The Miami Heat come in after a Game 7 victory over the Boston Celtics. After going up 3-0 in the series, the Heat dropped their next 3 games, as they moved onto a Game 7, where the blew out Boston. The Denver Nuggets come off of a series against the Los Angeles Lakers, where they were able to sweep them in 4 games. In the playoffs so far, Nikola Jokic is averaging a triple-double, with 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists per game. His teammate, Jamal Murray is averaging 27.7 points, 8 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game in the playoffs. On the other side, Jimmy Butler has been averaging a 28.5 points, 7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.1 steals in each of his playoff games. He has been taking most of the load, as the guy who is 2nd in scoring (Bam Adebayo) has been averaging 16.8 points pe game in these playoffs. I expect the Nuggets to try to exploit the Heat's weaknesses of being a generally small squad. I expect Jokic to go over 30 points, and Murray to score 22 or more. If both of those happen, I think the Nuggets will win. If not, and Jimmy scores 38 or more, and gets some solid help around him, I think that the Heat may be in good shape to pull off the upset.
Injuries:
The only injury is Tyler Hero's hand injury in the 1st round of the playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks. He is going to miss Game 1, but he has a shot to play of Sunday for Game 2 of the series if all goes according to plan.
Game 1 Score Prediction:
Nuggets 104 Heat 94
You was spot on with the final score
Denver in 6