The Denver Nuggets secured a strong win over the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.
For a while, it felt like the Nuggets were on track for a massive blowout win with a huge margin.
In the end, they won by 11 points – but Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors says that is wonderful news for the Nuggets.
He says that a victory like this is just what Denver needed to prevent a reinvigorated Heat team.
“If I’m Mike Malone, I’m walking away and I’m like, ‘Perfect, perfect,'” Green said on his podcast, according to The Volume.
.@money23green breaks down Coach Malone's mindset post-Game 1 pic.twitter.com/qYbcXU4hD5
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) June 2, 2023
Green said that the emotions of teams during the playoffs are “insane” and that the emotions during the Finals are on a whole other level.
Those emotions are only elevated when one team is routed by another.
Had the Nuggets earned a big win over Miami, the Heat would have stormed into Game 2 with even more to prove.
The chip on their shoulders could have been so much bigger and that may have resulted in a very tough game for the Nuggets.
Green said that the Heat made it “respectable” in the final moments of the game.
They definitely did make the score tighter in the fourth quarter.
When compared to the margin earlier in the game, an 11-point loss isn’t too bad for the Heat.
According to Green, it’s not enough to give them a massive second wind heading into the next game.
There is no doubt that Malone is looking for any sort of win that he can get and he doesn’t care about the margin of victory or the chips on Miami’s shoulders.
But Green argues that Denver’s strong-but-not-explosive victory will help them in Sunday’s Game 2.
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