After the conclusion of the three rounds of playoffs and play-in tournaments, the NBA Finals will begin. The best team that came from the Eastern Conference is the 8th seed Miami Heat. The best team that came from the Western Conference was the 1st seed Denver Nuggets. This matchup was one of the very few outcomes to come true due to the fact the Miami Heat were the last team to make it into the playoffs.

The Denver Nuggets were the best team in the NBA regular season in the Western Conference due to the contributions of their back-to-back MVP center of the 22 and 21 season, Nikola Jokic. Also their All Star point guard, Jamal Murray who has been coming back from a devastating leg injury that made him sit out for nearly two seasons. Although the players are the ones who do the work on the court, their coaching staff is also a big reason why they are headed to the NBA Finals. They are led by head coach, Mike Malone, who has been with the team since 2015 and has been chasing the dream of making it to the NBA Finals as a head coach. The Denver Nuggets have been making it look too easy in these NBA Playoffs as they haven’t let an opponent get more than two games against them in a best of seven series. They have recently swept Lebron James and Los Angeles Lakers to make it to the NBA Finals.

The Miami Heat were mediocre when playing in the NBA regular season and still managed to find a final spot in the NBA Playoffs as the 8th seed. They were challenged all throughout the playoffs as they played the Milwaukee Bucks, who won the NBA Championship in 2021, and have just beat the Boston Celtics who went to the NBA Finals last year. In simple terms the Miami Heat have been the underdog story this entire season and playoffs. This is mostly because of their coaching, Erik Spoelstra is the Miami Heat head coach and has been with them since 2008. His development in players is what got them into the NBA Finals. The starting five for the Miami consist of three undrafted players, meaning that those players were seen as “not good enough”, but the Miami Heat took a chance on them and now are in the NBA Finals. The Miami Heat’s leader is their coach of course, but their leader on the court is Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler has been amazing these entire playoffs as he is the team’s leading scorer and has been leading this underdog team to many upsets.

Overall this matchup between these teams seems amazing as many players will receive their first ring whoever comes out on top out of seven games. However, I do believe the Denver Nuggets will come out victorious and win the franchise’s first NBA Championship. I certainly think this is due to the fact that Miami is criminally undersized and when the opponent’s best player is a back-to-back MVP as a center, it is going to be hard to stop them.