The NBA Finals are Set After the Heat Embarrass the Celtics

Last night we saw one of the least entertaining game 7's in NBA conference final history when the Heat utterly dismantled the Celtics at TD Garden. After rallying back in the series, winning three straight games to send the series to a game seven in Boston, the Celtics embarrassed themselves in the final game, losing by nineteen points. This win from the Heat sends them to the NBA Finals, making them the second 8-seed in NBA history to go all the way and matching them up against the buzz-saw Nuggets. With that being said, let me give you my predictions for the Finals before they get started on Thursday.

pc: Getty Images

I want to cover the Heat first, because if I'm being totally honest I think they have a lot to fix if they want to stand a chance in this series. They nearly blew a 3-0 lead to a Celtics team that has played awful throughout the entire playoffs, and they're about to match up against the most consistently good team in the playoffs. I will say that their role players have played fantastic. Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent have been some of the best role players in the playoffs, while Max Strus and Duncan Robinson have also been very solid. The issue with the Heat is that their star players have been way too inconsistent. Bam Adebayo has been straight up bad at offense throughout the playoffs, and even though his defense has been great it's not going to matter against Nikola Jokic. Jimmy Butler has had moments where he's looked like the best player in the playoffs, but he's also had stretches where he has looked like the fourth best player on his own team. I don't think they are consistent enough to win a seven game series against a team as good as the Nuggets. I do believe Erik Spoelstra is a good enough coach to get this team to play up to their competition, but they have a lot of work to do.

pc: Charles Krupa/AP Photo

Now onto the Nuggets, who are very clearly the favorites to win this series. Denver has been the best team in these playoffs, easily beating a Suns team that many had winning the whole thing and then sweeping a Lakers team that most picked to win that series. Now they've had a long break to rest before the Finals while the Heat were trying to finish off the Celtics. There are only a few questions I have about this Nuggets team. Who's guarding Jimmy Butler? My mind immediately goes to Aaron Gordon, who is bigger and stronger than Butler but who I still don't think is capable of really stopping Jimmy. Then is Jokic going to be able to keep Bam at the level he's been at so far in these playoffs? If Bam doesn't play better on offense in this series the Heat stand no chance, but he has a major athletic advantage against Jokic. I do trust the rest of the Nuggets to slow down the Miami role players, which I think is what will win them the series.

At the end of the day I don't think the Heat have much of a chance in this series. I don't see anyone on the Heat stopping Jokic, and I don't think the Heat as a team is capable of stopping the Nuggets offensive machine. On the other hand, I do think the Nuggets' defense is good enough to slow down the Heat. Jimmy Butler will have to have the best series of his career to win this series, and he just hasn't been consistent enough to do that in my opinion. The only way the Nuggets lose this series is if they have an all-time collapse, and I just think they have too many weapons for that to happen. So obviously my official pick is the Nuggets. The series starts on Thursday and I am very excited to see a Finals with two teams that we aren't used to seeing, and I will do my best to blog throughout the series.

pc: via NBA