Vaughn Dalzell: Well, I liked the Heat Game 1. What do you make of the Heat? I think you believed in the Heat a bit more than at least I did coming into this series. Jay Croucher: Yeah, it’s unreal, Caleb Martin substantially outplaying Jaylen Brown, who might be about to pick up a quarter of a billion dollars. Who of us had Caleb Martin for Eastern Conference MVP, because he came ‘this close.’ It is kind of shocking, I think I picked against them in every round, well, maybe not in the second round, I think I had them over the Knicks, but I’ve been surprised by this the whole way. But beyond that, no other team in the East seemed able to match that toughness. They keep attacking you regardless and they showed a mental toughness that certainly Boston hasn’t shown. But I thought they were better than they showed during the regular season, they just couldn’t hit a shot to save their lives was part of it.īut I think it speaks to relentlessness and, look, they’re committed to their system. I think, going into the season, I had them as a four or five seed, I thought that were maybe a tier below where Boston was, where I thought Milwaukee and Philadelphia were. Kurt Helin: I think they were better than we thought. Probably I wasn’t paying as close of attention to basketball in 1999 when the Knicks made their eight-seed charge, but what do you make of the Heat ultimately? Do you think that this is largely luck? Do you think that this was team was lurking all season and are actually in that same tier as the Bucks and Celtics who they’ve dispatched? Overall, just what do you make of this team? Kurt, we’ll start with you, I just want your theory behind the Miami Heat because this is the most inexplicable Finals appearance that I can recall. And today we’re going to talk about the finals matchup, Heat vs, Nuggets, just as everyone predicted before the playoffs started.

Undone by Jason Tatum’s ankle, by Joe Mazzulla’s obsession with playing drop coverage against Duncan Robinson - why’d you do it Joe? Why’d you do it? - and undone by the Miami Heat most of all. Jay Croucher: Somber tone today as we lament the Boston Celtics’ +950 ticket when they were down 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals going down in flames. The four are Kurt Helin, lead NBA writer for NBC Sports Jay Croucher, the lead betting analyst for NBC Sports Vaughn Dalzell a sports betting analyst for NBC Sports and Drew Dinsick an NFL, NBA, Tennis Handicapper with NBC Sports. You can read it here, watch it above, or check out the podcast form if that is best for you. Not the Finals we expected, but it could be an entertaining one.įor NBC Sports Bet The Edge, four analysts from the NBC Sports family came together to break down the unexpected NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat.

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