NBA Playoffs: Nuggets vs Heat all tied up after 2

Chuckie Brown, an NC State legend and a fellow soccer fan. We don't have to talk soccer here, Chuckie. Let's talk about the NBA Finals because you and I would love to talk to you about the beautiful game another time. But let me get your take on the Finals. There were a lot of people who thought we were headed for a sweep and then the Miami Heat showed up again.

What's your read on two games of the NBA Finals? Nah, I know. First of all, how you doing? And I apologize for coming on late. You're good.

Sometimes administrators don't know when to cut off what they're saying and get to the point. But anyway, we're gonna go there. But my read on the first two games, I never thought it was gonna be a sweep. I actually said Denver in six. Miami's just too too good. I mean, too, too tough of a team to talk about sweeping them.

But I do think that Denver is the better team. And Miami just like, you know, they got just like they did last night, like some dudes have to show up, you know, like the first game. They didn't show up and like supposed to do the great thing by playing Kevin Love.

I was wondering what Kevin Love was in the first in the first game. Yeah. And also, I think we're supposed to got to do too is just what he did last night.

Go ahead. You know, Jokic's gonna get his, but he can't. He can't get the assist to make sure those other guys don't kill you. So that's what he did. And now Denver has to make the adjustment to what they did. Yeah, what's interesting is in the post game, Spolstra was asked that question about basically making Jokic a scorer as opposed to a facilitator.

And he brushed it off as the love to the untrained eye. But it was pretty obvious that because that guy is such a good passer that he that he that he can run their entire offense, that if you make him a scorer, it'll it doesn't eliminate it, but it changes. It changes the the the Nuggets game. That's that's just good coaching, no?

Yeah, I think that's great coaching because, you know, yeah, he's going he's going to get his. But what you can't have is the double teaming and then, you know, you get contagious called where Pope, he gets off. Michael Porter, he gets off.

And then you'll have some guy that wasn't supposed to get off will also get off because you leave it leaving him alone. And you got to remember, these guys are pro athletes like a pro player. You give them an open shot.

They're going to make open shots. Yeah. So, you know, you just that was a good adjustment by sports.

I like it. Chucky Brown is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. I also saw for much of the at least the third and fourth quarters and certainly in the fourth quarter. It wasn't Bam Adebayo guarding Nicole Jokic. It was at times Gabe Vincent.

Caleb Martin took a turn. They were letting, I mean, he was, Spolstra was putting guards or small forwards on Jokic. What did you make of that? Yeah, I thought, I mean, I thought it was a good move. You make it like that, like they wanted to do. They wanted to make them into a score.

They made them into a score. Now, now, and if you do, it was a good, good move also, because if you do decide to double, you're coming with a big guy to double like Bam would be coming to double right. Probably out of that double team, the smallest guy would leave out of the double team. So that was a, that was a good move, you know, and Denver's going to have to figure out what they're going to do because they got to get, you know, like, cause Jamal Murray didn't really get off last night. You know, Michael Port, none of them other guys really got off.

But then Jokic had like 46. You know what they lost. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, so now Denver has to make the adjustment now and see what they're going to do.

Did, did you, Truckee Brown is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. Did you get the sense that Denver's defensive energy was not great? Cause that's what Mike Malone was really mad at after the game. Yeah, I thought they, I did think they had low energy. I think like things came so easy game one is sometimes as players, you know, you may think, Oh, we got these dudes.

You know what I'm saying? We got them. Well, Miami will probably was a little tired too in game one because they had no legs to make those shots. Cause they did get some wide open looks.

They just kept taking them and kept missing them. So I do think that like Denver's defensive energy was, was not there. I totally agree with Mike Malone on that.

A couple of more questions for Chucky Brown, who is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. When you watch Jokic play, does he remind you of anybody that you played with or against in your career? You know, he's kind of a unique guy, man, because like I was just trying to compare him to like, like Kevin McHale, like Kevin McHale. But I'm not saying his moves are as good as Kevin McHale. I'm just trying to think of a non athletic guy that was killing. So I mean, he's sort of a unique guy. I think, you know, he's kind of, kind of awkward, you know, cause he's not athletic whatsoever. So he doesn't really remind me of anybody. Like I hear the announcer sometime, maybe saying some crazy stuff like rebounds, like Moses and passes like magic. They can throw that out.

That's not true. But he is, he is definitely a unique guy. And I don't, I've not seen it, you know, it'd be so big and he brings the ball up, you know, I mean, he's, he's a different kind of guy. He's a different kind of guy. I can't think of anybody that he reminds me of. He's a unicorn.

I mean, there's just what I really, I was talking to somebody last night. Like I'm not taking anything away from him. He is, he might be the best player on earth right now. But I would love to have seen a series where he and Giannis had to go at each other for seven games, because Giannis has the size and the athleticism to at least bother Jokic defensively. If Milwaukee were to do something like that, that would have been a matchup for the ages. Yeah, I think, I think Giannis could, I think Giannis could probably get the bet on him, because like you said, Giannis has the size and then Giannis has the athleticism. The only thing Giannis would have to do is not go for the ball face and the pump face and stuff like that.

And he'd be fine as far as like, I think, I think he could guard it and probably guard it the best, like one-on-one. And finally for, for you, Chucky Brown, is, is Jimmy Butler stuck in a different era? I know he's a good, he's a capable, I wouldn't call him a good three-point shooter. I would call him a capable three-point shooter, but it looks like his game belongs like in the mid-90s.

Yeah, I think, I think Jimmy Butler is a, he's a throwback. And I, like, I don't consider him a three-point shooter. I think he's a mid-range guy. He's a mid-range guy.

That's who he is. He can make threes, but that's, that's not his shot. You, if you're playing against him, you want him to take those shots. But if you're, if you're coaching him, you're like, Hey Jimmy, what you doing?

You'll get to your spot. But yeah, I think he's a, he might be a guy that might could be caught in the time warp because he's a tough defensive guy, a two-way guy. And I don't think there are a lot of two-way guys playing today. I think there were more, I think the game has become more offensive. So, and you know that, I mean, that's a good thing for the fans.

I mean, it's good for the game. But yeah, Jimmy Butler, he's a, he's a throwback guy. I love watching the play. Chuckie Brown, before I say goodbye, when you brought up Kevin McHale earlier, I remember growing up as a Knicks fan, I could not stand Kevin McHale because I swear, I swear that they were all travels, but I know they weren't, but he just kept, he just kept going back and forth, left and right, back and forth, spinning this way and that way. And then all of a sudden it's a, it's a layup and you go, how did that happen again? But it always happened.

Right. Kevin McHale was tough, man. I remember getting matched up on him a couple of times and I was just like, well, I'm just going to stay down and just let him shoot it over.

I'm not going to go for the pace. Kevin McHale was tough, man. He was an amazing player. Chuckie Brown, I appreciate your time, my friend. I'll talk to you soon. All right.

Thanks man. You got Chuckie Brown here on the Adam Gold show for those people who didn't see Kevin McHale play as, as I say to my son, Google him, just Google him. And you tell me if that wouldn't be frustrating to watch as a fan of the other team, like that had to be a travel, right? Right. So I look at the whole McHale is, he was an amazing, amazing player. He is in fact, a hall of Famer.