The Nuggets knew they had to win heading into yesterday’s match. It would have been understating the obvious to argue that Game Three of the National Basketball Association Finals was pivotal to their cause; they lost at home for the first time in the 2023 Playoffs, and they could not afford to give the Heat, already with an abundance of confidence bordering on the irrational, even more fuel for self-assurance with yet another setback. They were the overwhelming favorites at the start of the best-of-seven affair for a reason, and they needed to once more show all and sundry why.
The good news is that the Nuggets did exactly that in front of 20,019 hostile fans at the Kaseya Center. It didn’t matter that they were burning rubber in one of the rowdiest confines in the league, or that the Heat resolved to greet the opening tip with purpose. They, too, exhibited the focus that was sorely lacking in Game Two; from the get-go, they gave the opposition respect, and played every moment in the set-to the right way: as if it were the last, with the outcome on the line.
If the Nuggets came away with victory at the final buzzer, it was precisely because they didn’t let up. They capitalized on their strengths throughout, enabling them to withstand the best the Heat could throw at them in the first half, and then pulling away in the second once they established their superiority. And, needless to say, foundational pieces Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray led the way. In fact, so definitive were the performances that the Dynamic Duo became the first to post 30-point triple-doubles in the history of the NBA.
The Nuggets know the work is far from done, to be sure. There is no quit with the competition, and they would do well to prep themselves for an even more sustained effort from the Heat tomorrow. Yesterday, they wound up with more of the so-called 50-50 balls, highlighting their capacity to match the physicality and relentlessness of the black and red. Tomorrow, they need to do the same. And should they again prove true to prognoses, they’ll be just a step away from meeting their date with destiny.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
