Nuggets-Heat Game 4 reaction: Jokic, Murray, Aaron Gordon seal the NBA Finals | Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. Um, your 2023 NBA champion, Denver Nuggets, has been crowned. If you watched that game and it did not look to you as if the Denver Nuggets have won a championship, I don't know what you were watching. And by the way, not in a disrespectful way, like not that they're looking past the next win that they need to get. None of the rah-rah, they sleep. No, I told y'all this entire season, Denver has been finishing their breakfast. And last night, these last two games was another example of that. Yeah. They finishing their breakfast, they not playing with their food. You go, you start off 1-1 at home and listen, that's a very common NBA Finals thing to let one get away at home. Happened with us last year. I can recall twice that that happened with us with the Cavs in our Finals runs, if I'm not mistaken. It's a very common thing to happen. 2 great teams playing in the NBA Finals. That's just what it boils down to. You can say what you want about the Miami Heat and they don't have this and they don't have that. They've beat every team that you said was great and are in the NBA Finals. So you have great teams that end up in the NBA Finals. They probably are, they're probably capable of going on the road and winning one. And so that's what happened. In Denver, in what has proven to be true Denver fashion in these playoffs, finish they breakfast. No panic. We're gonna go to Miami. We're not going to Miami to win the game. We're actually gonna go to Miami and win 2 games and take entire control of this series. Not get it back, home court, 2-2. No, no, no. We're going to go to Miami. And by the way, leave no doubt. First game in game 3, we're up 20 points, not playing well. Second game, which is game 4, Joker's in foul trouble. All the things. Jamal Murray's not having a great shooting night. Okay. Christian Braun is not having the night that he had before in game 3. Okay, fine. Joker's not having his typical dominant night. 23 and 12 is actually, and 4 assists, is very pedestrian for Joker, which is crazy to think. But that's a very, very, very pedestrian night for Joker. No big deal. And they just win, like. Like at no point were you watching that game like, oh, Denver's probably gonna lose this game. And we'll get into the specifics of how it all happened. But ladies and gentlemen, your 2023 NBA champion, the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets beat the Heat. And like I said, I told you Joker had, I thought, if you remember, I was discussing the pick and roll with you, with Joker and Bam. And initially, if you watched, Bam kept getting strung out. And when I say strung out, that means Jamal Murray is pulling Bam further and further away from Joker in the pick and roll coverage. And a couple times you see, It looked like they wanted to switch and it was kind of botched. And then a couple times you see they trap. To me, what it looked like their game plan was, was to mix it up on their pick and roll coverages and not give them a steady diet. And I can understand that. When you're playing against great players in this league, if you give them a steady diet of anything, they normally figure it out. Unless you're Draymond Green. You can perfect your coverage. And so the coverage in which I was describing, which was Bam being all the way up at the level, so Jamal Murray can't string him out, can't turn the corner, they did not do, and he started getting struck out. And then they started to switch it. And let me tell you, Jamal Murray did not like that switch with Bam. Mm-hmm. When he was getting the switch with Bam, We've discussed this before. Bam can guard guards, like, and not switch onto a guard and keep him in front. Bam can guard a guard. Like, he's very, very well capable of actually sitting down and guarding a guard, no problem. And so Jamal did not like that switch with Bam. When they start going to the switch, Jamal did not like it. And— He's a switch player.— I can't recall that— I can't recall him scoring on the switch on Bam. I can't even recall him getting a good look. They were like step backs, feet all like twisted the other way because Bam has great speed, great length, great strength. He got everything you need to be a great defender. So he has all of those things. So not only— What's up, man? Was Ja Morant not getting great looks. I mean, or getting a bucket. He actually wasn't generating great looks and his isos were bad. And I thought that was a very interesting development because that was actually something that we discussed earlier in the season, I mean in this series, which is, maybe you wanna put Jimmy there and maybe you just wanna switch it. If they're going to beat you one-on-one, you may have to live with that. Haven't quite seen that yet, although they went to it a little bit. We haven't quite seen them go to that yet. And so, and just going back to last game adjustment and what I thought, which is putting Bam at the level of that screen, almost into a contained blitz. So Jamal is not turning the corner. I think they could have used it and they didn't. And then they started adjusting their coverages. And at that point, you're kind of battling uphill. But let's really get into these performances. Aaron Gordon, 27 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 for 4 from 3. Aaron Gordon, 3 for 4 from 3. I'm sorry, there's nothing you can do about that. Aaron Gordon started hitting 3s. Good luck. One thing that I have thought is very interesting is, number one, give Aaron Gordon his credit. When he see one of those smaller guys on him, he is putting his head down and going to the rim. No questions asked. I got a small, Gabe Vincent, you name it, head immediately goes down, I'm to the rim. Give him credit because I can't recall many times where he actually had a small on him and his head didn't drop going to the rim. And that is, that's game plan discipline because that is something that they've discussed in their game plan. Uh, Coach Mo, Aaron, when you get a small on you, we want you attacking every single time. And for him to actually do it, like attack every single time they get a small on him, it has put so much pressure on Miami's defense that they really don't have an adjustment for that. You know, like, Yeah. And it's not like if you're Denver, you're getting all outside of yourself or outta character with telling Aaron Gordon when he got a small on him, just put your head down and go to the rim. Because quite frankly, Denver keeps the floor space. Joker's spaced, Jamal's spaced, Michael Porter's spaced. Aaron Gordon would be the one that's not spacing and he actually has the ball in his hand. And of course KCP is spaced. So when he put his head down and drive, it's not like the spacing is thrown off. The spacing is actually there for him to just put his head down and drive. Oh, and if you help, the guy that you would say that is our worst shooter of these next 4 guys that's on the floor, be the 4 guys that I named, would actually be Joker, who's actually shooting the highest percentage of all of these guys from 3. Yeah. Is that like 50-some percent from 3? At one point it was 57% from 3 in the playoffs. I don't know if he's still there. Don't really care if he's still there. I know he's shooting the lights out. And so which one of those guys are you gonna help off of? The one who's struggling the most with their shot is, I mean, on a given day it's been KCP or Michael Porter Jr. Good luck just going to help off those two guys because all they need to see is one of 'em go in. Yeah. And then an onslaught of threes can come. So what are you actually going to do to stop that? To stop Aaron Gordon from putting his head down and driving and getting to the rim every time? Insert Kevin Love. They've done that, but they only play Kevin Love so many minutes. So the moment that Kevin Love goes off the floor, Aaron Gordon head goes down. Aaron Gordon is living at the front of your rim and your paint. I thought that was very interesting. I can respect him making a concerted effort that he has made to do that and it's paid dividends. 27 points last night. Absolutely amazing. Now, another interesting thing that I thought has been incredible is Jamal Murray as a playmaker. That's been great. We all know Joker's an incredible playmaker, but Jamal Murray, has made it in this series to where his shooting has not mattered. In the games that he has shot well, great. But there's been a couple games now in this series that he has not shot the ball well. And it doesn't matter because he's been so incredible as a distributor that, like, how do you guard that? Remember we discussed them wanting to make Joker score and not allow him to pass, and they went a heavy dose of Jamal Murray in the pick and roll, and he's making the plays. He is making the play. 10+ assists in all 4 NBA Finals games. Listen, I've played against Jamal Murray, and if y'all out there knew this, and maybe you're much smarter than me, but I did not know Jamal Murray had in his bag to go 10 assists in a row. Yeah. And 4 NBA Finals games. And to do it within the offense, like to do it with making simple plays. Not, you know, you get guys in the NBA that hold the ball, hold the ball, hold the ball, hold the ball until something pops open and they can get an assist. It ain't that. It's, I'm coming off, up, you take that away. I got this read, here it is. Delivering the ball on time, on target passes. And guys are finishing shots, making plays, making it happen. Gotta give a lot of credit to Jamal Murray. Like I said, normally when, or in past times, we see Jamal Murray struggle with his shot and it just looked like, man, he can't get it going. You have not thought that one time with his shot because of how he's making plays, how he's making plays with the ball in his hand, getting other guys involved. As I said, we all know what type of playmaker Joker is, one of the best in the league. I think a very underrated thing in Joker's playmaking and in Jamal Murray's playmaking is Aaron Gordon has like high-level elite hands. If you be comparing his hands to a wide receiver, It's like Larry Fitzgerald. When Larry Fitzgerald got his hands on the pass, you could forget about it. He was catching the pass. Aaron Gordon, he gets his hand on any ball that comes near him from Joker or that comes from Jamal Murray. Even if it's a tough pass to catch, he get his hands on the ball. Not only is he coming up with the ball, he's finishing every single one of them. Joker had to pass over top yesterday. And he kind of caught it in front of him and just flipped it backwards. That's a common play for them. Like, and let me tell you, that's not an easy play to convert. Hey, you're passing it to a guy on the same line as you. What do I mean by that? That means if I'm at the free throw line, it is very tough to throw a pass that turns into a lob for a finish with Aaron Gordon, who's on a straight line path with me. That is a very, very, very tough thing to do. They're finishing those like nobody's tomorrow. Aaron Gordon catches the ball underneath the rim, it don't matter who down there, he getting a layup or dunk. Very underrated thing in Joker's assist and Jamal Murray's assist is Aaron Gordon as a receiver and a finisher. He is incredible at that. Elite. Once he get the ball in the painted area, in the restricted area, whether it's off a lob, a bad lob, a good pass, a bad pass, he is elite at finishing that. He's been doing it all year and it has showed up in a major way in this series, all throughout the playoffs. But in this series, um, we spoke about Christian Brown stepping in for Bruce Brown and Bruce Brown not having the game. Mm-hmm. That the Denver Nuggets need them to have. And I told you all, I am of the mindset that Bruce Brown is no longer adding to how good you play. Like, oh, if Bruce Brown plays well, that's a bonus. No, Bruce Brown have to play well. Bruce Brown has played well and he had a great bounce back game last night. I am actually of the mindset if Michael Porter Jr. plays well, If Michael Porter Jr. shoots well, that's your bonus. But Bruce Brown have to play well. He's proven that he's gonna play well. He's actually proven almost to be the, like, the Nuggets' third option. Because if you think about it, when Jamal Murray goes outta the game, if Joker's not handling, who's handling the ball? Who's making the plays out of pick and roll? It's actually Bruce Brown. And so Bruce Brown to me has proven to actually be like the third option of the Nuggets. And which is why you're not like, it's not like, oh, you just get to play. Like if you play good, great, that helps us. If not, don't. No, he had one bad game and Christian Brown stepped up. But Bruce Brown has to play well. And just like I thought, Bruce Brown played extremely well. Extremely well. 21 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, and a huge 11 points in the fourth quarter. Wow. Now, if you didn't watch the game, or if you did and you missed this, that is when Joker was in foul trouble. Joker picked up his 4th foul, I think with 10 minutes left on the clock. I mean his 5th foul, excuse me. He picked up his 5th foul, I think with, they were up 10 points. I can't remember exact time on the clock. But I know they were up 10 points. And due to Bruce Brown playing the way he's playing, or played last night, Aaron Gordon playing the way he played last night, when Joker came back in from that long extended day at break, they were no longer up 10. Sorry, they were up 9. So within that, Miami, Cover one point with Joker on the bench. I'm sorry, but it will be impossible to beat Joker if you can only cover ground and make up one point when Joker's not in the game. It's just not gonna happen. Because when Joker's in the game, he's getting them into everything that he wants to get them into. And if all else fails and I'm trying to get these guys into something, then I'll just go score the basketball. And that's what he's doing. So how, how can you combat that if you can't cover ground when he's on the bench? And it wasn't just like that in the, in the fourth quarter. They stood pretty well when Joker was out the game in the first half as well. And so I think Denver has found something with their matchups or what they're, what they're willing to go to when Joker's outta the game. Whereas they had Jeff Green like up at the top catching the ball and making plays. They've switched that and moved Jeff Green to the wing and they got Aaron Gordon making the plays. So now you're not helping off Aaron Gordon crowding the spacing up. They can kick to Jeff Green and knock a shot down, but it opens the floor up for everyone else when Joker's not in the game and it keeps, it's keeping the floor space. They're running the Spanoulis action out of it. Draymond Green hit a huge 3 when Miami was trying to make a comeback off the Spanoulis action. We talked about the Spanoulis action before. Man, I don't, ah. Your 2023 NBA champion, Denver Nuggets. Now again, I always watch press conferences after the game. I wanna know what people thinking and, Coach Mo speech after the game, number one, they were chopping it up and it was long. So it was a long speech that Coach Mo had after the game. But if you listen to him, it was pretty much, listen, fellas. It was like, what I read his speech as was like, he's excited, they're excited. And so I'm not, you know, most coaches will come in and be like, yo, we're not done yet. We got one more game, let's move on, let's get it done. He didn't try to contain their excitement. He didn't even try to contain his excitement. You can feel their excitement through the TV screen. When you were watching his press, his postgame speech and they were chopping it up, you can feel the excitement from him. You can feel the excitement from that team buzzing through the TV. And like I said, It wasn't like a, let me try to dim this, let me try to tone it down. No, he was cool with being excited. He was cool with them being excited. But the message was, I'm not pushing his energy down. We need his energy going back home and close this thing out. But the message was, but we still have to go win one more game. This is great, played incredible. Came out here and won 2 games. Got the job done, fellas. Now let's go home and take care of home court. And I can appreciate that. I can appreciate that. Nah, feel those emotions. Enjoy it because it's a part of the journey. Enjoy the emotions. One thing that I noticed actually during the game, and then I— once I saw, um, Coach Moe's press conference. I actually have on my notes because I take some, a few notes during the game of important things that I see that I may wanna speak to you about. And I said, Denver smell that championship. Them boys are showing emotion. It looked like a one shining moment on those replays before break. It's like Joker doing this twice. Yeah. Jamal Murray, like, it looked like, for those of you who don't know what I mean by one shining moment, if you are a fan of the NCAA tournament at all, Coach Izzo's sell was always to us like one shining moment. Like, there's no feeling like standing in that arena after the national championship game, looking up at the jumbo, trying out those highlights, confetti falling down, and one shining moment playing. FYI, I've never experienced that. Got one game away, it didn't quite work. But I am a huge fan of the NCAA tournament and I watch One Shining Moment every year. Like after someone, when like you're looking forward to One Shining Moment, it's a staple. And Denver looked like a One Shining Moment video. Over the last couple series, Joker is like showing emotion. And in this series even showing, I mean Joker had probably 10 fist pumps last night. I remember like Joker wouldn't like just wouldn't show emotion. Like drop you off and just run back. Like, huh? Like the emotion that he's showing is making it okay for everybody else to show that emotion. And they're thriving off that. Like you can see in their body language. And so when I said to you, and there's your 2023 champions, ladies and gentlemen, Denver Nuggets, that's actually where that mindset came. Like that's where that thought came from is that these guys know, they smell that championship. They know. Yeah. Like they know like, oh no, this is ours. We got it, we won. And yes, we still have to go finish the job. No disrespect to the Miami Heat, but this is ours and we're NBA champions. It's just a date now. Getting to the date that they can be NBA champions. I told you all before this series that I had the Denver Nuggets in 5. I don't see that changing. Denver's been finishing their breakfast. Mm-hmm. I got Denver going home and getting it done. And your 2023, 2022, 2023 NBA champion, Denver Nuggets. That's a wrap from this episode of Draymond Green Show. Peace. What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel below. So you don't miss any more of this great content going forward. Thank you.