NBA Finals preview and tips: Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets - Game Five
- George Dempsey
- 12 June 2023
Denver Nuggets could secure their first NBA Championship with a game-five win over Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
Back-to-back wins at the Kaseya Center in Miami have left Denver on the brink of making franchise history in game five of the NBA Finals.
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Heat @ Nuggets - Game Five verdict
Denver secured back-to-back wins in Miami, 109-94 and 108-95, to take a 3-1 NBA Finals series lead over the Heat.
One more win would hand them the coveted Larry O'Brien Championship trophy and
SX.bet have made Denver a -9 favourite on the spread.
When a team leads an NBA series 3-1, they've gone on to win 94.5% of the time, posting a 226-11 record, with teams who win game three when tied 1-1 winning the series 78% of the time.
Maintaining home-court advantage was always going to be tough, but we expected Miami to at least put up a serious fight in games three and four. Denver weren't at their best across the two games but got the job done.
Miami's three losses in the series to date have come by double digits but we can only assume that Miami will give everything they have til the very end.
The main issue for Erik Spoelstra's side in game four was their role players offering very little, but Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo did score 45 points between them.
Fellow starters Kevin Love, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent produced 14 between them, nearly all of which came from Love. Miami were forced to use the bench.
Strus didn't make a single shot, attempting just four. Vincent scored two points on one for six shooting. Miami's backcourt was essentially invisible.
Miami really were in the game until the final quarter but didn't get enough from that bench. Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson played 25+ minutes but contributed 13 or fewer points.
Denver played their starters for a combined 181 minutes to ensure they got the job done, but they also got 21 points from Bruce Brown Jr coming off the bench.
Nikola Jokic was hardly vintage with 23 points, 12 boards and some foul troubles. Aaron Gordon scored 27 on the night and Jamal Murray dished 12 assists to go with his 15 points.
A real focus for Miami has to be getting their role players involved and contributing tonight. Butler and Adebayo will do what they do, but they need support to close the gap.
Miami have shot poor numbers for two consecutive games and they're struggling from three-point range, which usually coincides with a loss.
It's now or never with the Championship on the line so not only are we backing Miami for one last push, but we also think the game will sneak over the total.
Bet on Miami Heat +9 against Denver Nuggets at Planet Sport Bet in game five of the NBA Finals and consider a bet over the total.
