Dub Nation HQ Rooting Guide: Denver Nuggets (1) vs Miami HEAT (8), plus open thread

virtually the only Finals matchup where I don't care who wins

You can also read the complete Dub Nation HQ Rooting Guide for Other Teams.

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STEPH CURRY IS EATING POPCORN

Denver Nuggets (1) vs. Miami Heat (8)
• Game 1: Nuggets vs. Heat | Thurs., June 1 | 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
• Game 2: Nuggets vs. Heat | Sun., June 4 | 8 p.m. ET (ABC)
• Game 3: Heat vs. Nuggets | Wed., June 7 | 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
• Game 4: Heat vs. Nuggets | Fri., June 9 | 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
• Game 5: Nuggets vs. Heat | Mon., June 12 | 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC) *
• Game 6: Heat vs. Nuggets | Thurs., June 15 | 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC) *
• Game 7: Nuggets vs. Heat | Sun., June 18 | 8 p.m. ET (ABC) *

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Miami HEAT

Ex-Warriors

• None.

Friends

• Jimmy Butler. Famously couldn’t get along with the Minnesota Timberwolves management, couldn’t get the most out of Andrew Wiggins through tough love, and caused so much chaos that it forced trades and moves that put MIN in such a dreadful position that MIN had to make a desperation move to keep Karl-Anthony Towns from leaving: the glorious trade of Andrew Wiggins and the 2021 Top 3 protected 1st round pick (#7 Kuminga) for KAT’s pal D’Angelo Russell. Thanks, Jimmy.

• Kevin Love. Childhood pal of Klay Thompson. Legendary near-trade target for Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes. The #2 free agent whom LeBron grabbed for his Superfriends 2.0 (v 1.0 in CLE), who became a scapegoat for all CLE’s problems.

Unrequited Love

• MIA have a few players that Dub Nation has fantasized about getting for years: Dewayne Dedmon, Omer Yurtseven, Kevin Love.

  • Dilly writes: I believe that Dewayne Dedmon had his own little meltdown on the Miami bench & threw something & was waived and/or traded & waived and was later picked up by Philly. I think.

Warriors Villains

• None yet.

Petty Rivalries

• Udonis Haslem. Raised a whole fuss about Draymond picking the Celtics to advance.

Team Grudges

• None really. They did have the annoying LeBron / Wade / Bosh Super Friends team, but that one horribly underperformed so much that it provided some entertainment. Dwyane Wade has been pretty cool in retirement, and they also got dumped by LeBron after he strip-mined the town, so it’s hard to hold a grudge. They also gave the Lakers a scare in the 2020 Disney Cup despite a rash of Heat injures, and also got within one shot of upsetting the Celtics in 2022.

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Denver Nuggets

Ex-Warriors

• Current DEN head coach Mike Malone was an assistant coach for the Warriors from 2011-2013 under Coach Mark Jackson. He did a great job, getting honors as the best-regarded and best-paid assistant coach in the league, and lots of praise from Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.

Warriors Villains 

• No one is a real villain.

Petty Rivalries

• Nikola Jokic. The dazzling playmaker who plays like a guy at the YMCA made a deal with the devil. He’s beat out Steph Curry for MVP in recent years. But there is massive mutual respect between Draymond Green and Jokic.

• DeAndre Jordan. Now in his declining years, he was part of the Lob City Clippers, but was the least annoying prominent face. We studied that rivalry throughly before and found Dub Nation mostly didn’t care about DAJ. Past efforts by the front office to get DAJ resulted in stupid cap moves including losing Jeremy Lin. He also encouraged KD to leave the path of light to form the Jugger-Nets.

Team Grudges

• DEN has played GSW surprisingly tough in the Dynasty years. Last year, the injured Nuggets (no Jamal Murray, no Michael Porter Jr.) put up a fight but ended up going quietly.

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