Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon suggested the Nuggets won’t overlook the Heat, despite the fact they had to fight their way to the Finals all the way from the play-in tournament.
“They fight. The scrap. They have no quit in them,’ Gordon said, via Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports. “They play fearless. They’re disciplined. They’re well-coached…we’re not looking at their seed or the story around it. All those guys have game, and we respect it.”
The Nuggets enter the Finals as favorites, but coach Michael Malone added the only thing that matters is what happens on the floor. Predictions and guarantees are meaningless.
“For those thinking that this will be an easy series, I don’t know what to say to you people,” Malone said, via Wind. “This is going to be the biggest challenge of our lives.”
- Gordon will be matched up with Heat star Jimmy Butler during the series. “Jimmy does everything. He does all of the intangible things,” Gordon said. “He plays the game within the game.”
- The Nuggets will have had more than a week off by the time the Finals tip off Thursday. “I’m surprised at our focus,” guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope told reporters. “Our focus is tremendous.”
- What’s the biggest challenge presented by the Heat in the Finals? Mark Kiszla and Mike Singer of the Denver Post break it down here.
- Malone said he heard from former Nuggets great and ex-coach Dan Issel during the Western Conference finals, adding that Issel “implored them to keep running,” via Singer.
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