NBA Finals Game 1: Miami Heat @ Denver Nuggets 6:30 MT

[GBG]

So, I fulfilled a basketball dream I’d been waiting for since 1984 (when I went to my first Nuggets game). Seeing an NBA Finals game in Denver is almost a surreal experience.

The only memories I have to compare to it in the basketball realm were the games I saw in Pauley Pavilion of the UCLA Bruins coached by John Wooden. I was there during the last season of the Walton era, and saw Bill, Keith Wilkes, and David Meyers play during their NCAA record 88-game winning streak, which stands to this day. I saw Marques Johnson and Richard Washington lead UCLA to its tenth national championship in 12 years in John Wooden’s final season of 1975.

Last night was as good if not better than those experiences. The game itself was not that incredible. Nuggets weren’t on their A game as they were rusty with shooting 3’s. But the defense was at peak level, and I thought MPJ could have been the defensive chain winner. He didn’t shoot well, but was great on boards, on D, and had a couple early blocks.

The noise level was 10/10.

And Rocky made his shot.

[Coach Sticky]

[famicommander]

I was told Jokic doesn't play defense

[rock]

Incredible

[famicommander]

Jokic these playoffs
29.8 points, 13.1 rebounds, 10.5 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.9 blocks, 54.2% FG, 47.5% 3PT, 78.9% FT

13-3 record.

[rock]

Jun 2, 2023 13:56:12 GMT -5 famicommander said:

Jokic these playoffs
29.8 points, 13.1 rebounds, 10.5 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.9 blocks, 54.2% FG, 47.5% 3PT, 78.9% FT

13-3 record.

All nba second team

[game]

3 more.

[famicommander]

Best Jokers:
1. Nikola Jokic

2. Mark Hamill:


3. Jack Nicholson:


4. Cesar Romero:


5. Joaquin Phoenix:

[JB]

100% agree with Joaquin Phoenix last.

it's bad enough marvel movies have cannibalized cinema, we now have to suffer through some art school dropout along with Joaquin Phoenix suffocatingly pretentious overacting turn a clown comic book villian into some patron saint of the incels.

Joker is not a somber take on the human condition. Joker is a gangster in a purple Steve Harvey suit that fell into a vat of wacky acid which turned him mental. that is his level.

[famicommander]

Jun 2, 2023 14:33:12 GMT -5 JB said:

100% agree with Joaquin Phoenix last.

it's bad enough marvel movies have cannibalized cinema, we now have to suffer through some art school dropout along with Joaquin Phoenix suffocatingly pretentious overacting turn a clown comic book villian into some patron saint of the incels.

Joker is not a somber take on the human condition. Joker is a gangster in a purple Steve Harvey suit that fell into a vat of wacky acid which turned him mental. that is his level.

Meh, I still had Phoenix ahead of Ledger. I think he was a fine actor and it sucks he died, but I think if he hadn't died when he did his performance wouldn't have been remembered as anything special. And I don't like any Christopher Nolan movies, straight up. I think he's the definition of pretentious. His Batman trilogy is just as stupid as every stupid Marvel movie, but it's entirely self-serious whereas Marvel is way too jokey but still occasionally hits the mark.

And Jared Leto will always be in last place. In life and as an on screen Joker. 

[rock]

No one talking about our Jack Nicholson?

Ken jeong!

[JB]

strongly disagree on Nolan. the man has bangers in his catalog.

I appreciate Ledger's Joker. he didn't go overboard with his performance like Phoenix and the police interrogation scene in particular was amazing. having Joker as an agent of anarchy is perfectly reasonable in a comic book context. what I don't want is for my comic book villain to be suffering from mental illness which could be treated if he had access to health care. have the courage to make that movie outside of a Batman setting.

[game]

I think it's Ledger and Hamill in a class of their own. I respect what Nicholson did as well, but those two are the two versions of Joker that will never be topped in live action/animation. The Nolan/Ledger combination was Michael Jordan comic book stuff not only in its greatness, but in the dime store impressions it has inspired in damn near every DC movie made for a decade-plus since.

The newest version of Joker does nothing for me. It felt like a script that nobody would make, so they made a deal with DC to slap some beloved comic book IP into a movie I don't think it has any business being in. It felt manipulative and gross, to me. I thought it had the emotional intelligence and depth of an AIM away message.

[famicommander]

Jun 2, 2023 15:01:08 GMT -5 JB said:

strongly disagree on Nolan. the man has bangers in his catalog.

I appreciate Ledger's Joker. he didn't go overboard with his performance like Phoenix and the police interrogation scene in particular was amazing. having Joker as an agent of anarchy is perfectly reasonable in a comic book context. what I don't want is for my comic book villain to be suffering from mental illness which could be treated if he had access to health care. have the courage to make that movie outside of a Batman setting.

None of Nolan's movies hold up to a basic thought experiment as far as plot consistency and as he has gotten older and more famous he has disappeared farther and farther up his own ass. The police interrogation scene you reference is well acted but insanely dumb in the context of all the ridiculous plot contrivances and characters acting with knowledge they couldn't possibly have had that had to take place in order for it to happen. Even by stupid comic book movie standards. In response to complaints about the infamously unintelligible dialogue in his movies due to poor audio mixing, he responded that he does it intentionally because he wants people to "feel the dialogue, not hear it" and he believes people will be forced to pay closer attention to his movies. 

If Nolan were as good at making films as he pretends he is, he'd be about 1/50th of Denis Villeneuve. 

[game]

Back to Nuggets commentary:

Miami will hit more shots, but the Nuggets literally shot worse from 3. So I can't help but laugh at the notion that shooting variance screwed Miami.

Expect more of a punch from Miami on Sunday. I think the Lakers series prepared the Nuggets to take it, stay in the fight, and outlast them. I'm not sure you can rope-a-dope quite like you could with LA who predictably ran out of gas late in three straight games, but the resilience is how you win in the playoffs.

[rock]

Seems like every round starts like this.

Big home win in game 1

Game 2 ends up being much tougher and the nuggets have to comeback. Rather not get down 10 in game 2 though.

Herro is returning and the heat will shoot better. The nuggets must respond in kind. Scoring 104 isn’t enough.

I also expect a lot more butler drives and fts.

If we play like we did in game 1 we won’t win. This series is far, far from over

[famicommander]

The Heat can't adjust to be 3 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier across the board. They can't cover us in man to man. They can't cover us in the zone. They can't hedge. They can't double. They can't switch, they can't get around screens. They can't stop us in any fashion for any extended period of time.

[funky]

Herro is coming back from a broken hand injury. He WON'T bring any lights out shooting, trust me.

[nuggetshipster]

Jun 2, 2023 11:41:43 GMT -5 @mik said:

Jun 2, 2023 11:30:25 GMT -5 JB said:

not bad for the worst fans in the NBA.

Because I'm a bandwagon fan?!





















Just kidding

Weird joke

[rock]

Jun 2, 2023 16:18:41 GMT -5 famicommander said:

The Heat can't adjust to be 3 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier across the board. They can't cover us in man to man. They can't cover us in the zone. They can't hedge. They can't double. They can't switch, they can't get around screens. They can't stop us in any fashion for any extended period of time.

If they shoot 40% from 3 it won’t matter who’s bigger