THE KEVIN LOVE FACTOR
Kevin Love may not be the scorer he used to be, but he can still rebound his ass off, on top making a timely 3 at least once a game. When he was traded to the Cavs, it's like Lebron sorta sonned him, but prior to that he was the alpha of the cursed Timberwolves for six seasons, averaging something like 20pts and 12 rebounds. And there's always people out there who be like 'it's easy to be the star of a garbage team'. Um, no it isn't, or else every starter on a garbage team would be a star, which is far from the case.
And let me remind the world that I did suggest the Heat start Love in Game 2, after not playing him at all in Game 1, in my last post. Spoelstra followed that advice, playing him only 22 minutes, but Kevin the second highest +/-, at +18, in the entire game. And who was at number one? Gabe "Lil Homie" Vincent.
TF IS YOU DOING?! (MICHAEL PORTER JR.)
Believe or not, there's people out there in the world actually on their knees praying to grow past their natural height in the name of being a better basketball player. Then you have someone like Michael Porter Jr. with that natural gift - wasting it on three-pointers. Meanwhile there's little dudes, like Seth and Jamal, who can do it a lot better than he can. In other words, play to your advantages, son.
I can think of four solid reasons why Porter has developed the habit of lingering out at the perimeter. One, he has a frightening injury history, and staying out on the perimeter decreases his chances of being hurt . Two, they don't really need him downlow like that with two better post players, Jokic and Gordon, on the roster. Three, it takes less effort (i.e. work) to shoot jumpers than to drive the lane. And lastly he is mad tall, meaning that it's virtually impossible to block one of his jump shots.
But maybe that's what the Nuggets need in this series. Gordon has always been an exceptional post player, but sometimes that aspect of his game disappears. And I've been saying for the longest that Nikola, as good as he may be, needs a consistent presence down there with him. I always meant that more defensively, but now these days against Miami, like the last thing Denver needs is Michael taking 75% of his shots from outside and then missing most of them at that.
DOES MIKE MALONE REALLY KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING?
Mike Malone is considered one of the better coaches in the NBA, but it ain't like he turned around a garbage team or works for a braintrust that is inept. Denver has been well-coached with a competitive roster, throughout the entire 21st century as far as I can remember. Now they have a really-good roster that's also healthy, and in these cases you really have to ask whether it's the players, the coach or both that is the source of the squad's success.
For instance, for whatever reason Malone he refuses to play DeAndre Jordan, Ish Smith, Reggie Jackson(!) and Thomas Bryant(!!). Earlier this season, Jackson was a starter for the Clippers and is one of the most experienced PGs in the NBA to never make an allstar team. Meanwhile, Bryant was one of the better backup Cs when he was playing for the Lakers. Ish Smith also, btw, ain't no slouch, and Jordan occasionally has his moments also. And these moves, i.e. benching quality rotation players, look brilliant when you're winning. But once you start losing it's definitely a point of scrutiny, running an eight-man rotation without bringing any true bigman, or PG for that matter, off the bench.
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