This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Charles Curtis.
I will be completely honest: I fell asleep during the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat battle for a title in Game 1.
I woke up too early on Thursday, but no excuses! I went to bed thinking I’d write about how boring the game was.
Then, sleep brought together a thought shrouded by exhaustion the day before: It wasn’t boring.
Because I had just (mostly) watched Nikola Jokic continue to be the best player in the world. A team that people have been bored by is NOT what you think.
It’s ballet. It’s art. Heat defenders — who have been so good throughout the postseason — like so many others have NO idea what to do with a player who hasn’t let all the praise get into his head.
When you try to double-team him with his back to the basket, he makes the pass you thought was unthinkable. Leave him open near the free-throw line — which seems like a good idea for a moment when you consider his passing prowess — and he’ll hit a simple little mid-range jumper. The range he has means you have to get up on him at the three-point line, and that’s where he has the vision and the right team around him to find the open man.
Seriously. If Jokic and the Nuggets blow out the Heat three more times, just sit back and enjoy watching the big man in his prime completely dismantle a well-coached Heat team. It’s not boring, and it’s not bad basketball.
Going forward, I’ll be staying up for it.
Quick Hits: NBA mock draft! … Go get some free donuts! … and more.
— Bryan Kalbrosky’s latest NBA mock draft is here, with some surprises at Nos. 2 and 3.
— It’s National Donut Day 2023, so here are some donut-related discounts and freebies!
