Draymond Green and Steve Kerr have won four championships together at the Warriors, so they are definitely qualified to dissect the adjustments of the Heat and the Nuggets in this Finals series.
Kerr is a nine-time NBA champion as a coach and a player and was a guest on Green’s podcast after Game 2.
The pair discussed how Miami were able to win in Game 2 Denver – a victory nobody expected since Miami haven’t beaten Denver there since 2016.
Adjustments made by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, including adding Kevin Love into the lineup and changing their approach to Jamal Murray was key to their success, Kerr says.
“You mentioned them starting Love,” Kerr said on The Draymond Green Show.
“That allowed Jimmy Butler to guard Murray. I haven’t talked to Spo or anything like that, but I can see them in their coaching meeting saying, ‘Murray is the head of the snake, not [Nikola] Jokic.’
“He’s gonna dominate no matter what we do. So we got this guy [Murray], this is the head of the snake. I think they just decided, ‘Murray is the guy we gotta stop,’ so you start Love, put Jimmy Butler on Murray. And then you saw they were blitzing Murray quite a bit and really tried everything to take him out of the game.”
With Butler guarding Murray, he finished the night with 18 points, four rebounds and ten assists but was far less impactful, as he shot 7-15 from the field and only went to the free throw line once.
Compare that to Game 1 where he totalled 26 points on 11-22 shooting from the field. Restricting Murray is definitely key.
Miami now have the upper hand as the series shifts to their home court and they will look to take a series lead in Game 3.
Game 3 of the Nuggets-Heat series will take place on Wednesday, June 7 at 8:30PM ET at Kaseya Center.
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