FIRST TAKE | Heat might need “divine intervention” to beat Jokic, Nuggets - Stephen A. mocked Perk

Analyst Corey Alexander joins us now. All right, Corey. So Nikoli Okic finished with a 27-point triple-double in their game one win over Miami. We know he cannot be stopped. But what does Miami need to do defensively to at least try to slow him down in game two? Christine, Eric Sposio has been a master of switching up his defenses throughout the entire playoffs. And I would draw some X's and O's back on this whiteboard behind me, but I don't want to bother trying to step on Spos' toes. So when you think about what he's done, he needs to find a way to continue to put pressure on Okic as a passer, but also find spots to be able to play him one-on-one and mix in that zone. So Eric Sposio knows the recipe and I think he figured out something at the end of game one that can slow Okic down. But the way he started off game one, he ripped the heat apart with his pass. All right, let's go to the other side of the ball for Miami on offense. What do you think needs to change for them in game two in order to avoid going down 0-2 in the series? I believe, of course, Miami has to make more threes, but we all know that. But it's going to start with Jimmy Butler getting downhill, attacking the paint and finding his teammates on the outside and getting to the free throw line. And one of the ways that he can do that is when he sees Okic at the rim, is try to attack him, get him into foul trouble. But one of the ways also that he can get the job done offensively is to get Kevin Love on the floor to create better spacing offensively. Now you bring Okic out of the painted area because he has to defend Kevin Love from beyond the three-point arc. And now you have more driving lanes for guys like Jimmy Butler, for Bam Adebayo to be able to get into the mix. Kevin Love did not enter into game one. However, he was significant in the Milwaukee series and as well as in New York. So I'm sure we will get to see some Kevin Love action in game two against the Nuggets. Okay, we'll see what happens. Obviously, they don't call him Hemi Buckets for no reason. But let me ask you this. What have you, what has disappointed you about what you've seen in this game? Well, I think Miami, they got great looks, right? And they're not making shots. Obviously, Caleb Martin and Max Struess. I'm a little disappointed in Eric's posture because in the finals game on the road, once he saw that those guys didn't have it going early in the game, I thought he should have leaned more on his experience, his bets, like Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love. I actually thought he should have started Kevin Love in this game, to be honest with you. It went big. Yo, and put Kevin Love on Jokic. I know we can't stop him, but you could have put Bam on Aaron Gordon. That would have took away Aaron Gordon from going early. Now, you have your identity. You have to remember, Caleb started all the way up into the middle of the Boston series, and then he took Kevin Love out of the rotation. That don't mean you can't bring him back. Yeah, that's true. How do you explain the fact that Caleb Martin has won a seven shoot from the field, at least through the first three quarters, and Max Struess was 0 for 10? Well, I'd say it's just like walking in the boxing ring when you're going against Floyd Mayweather, your first time having that mega fight. Floyd, sometimes, already done won the game when you approach, when guys approach the ring. And I always tell people, your first time in the finals, especially as a young guy, that's enough in itself. So, especially on the road. So maybe those guys had a, you know, was a little nervous and was a little overwhelmed from being in the NBA finals. I'd give them a pass. Hell, it's only game one on the road, but I feel like they won't shoot like that again. I feel you on that. What about Jimmy Butler? He hasn't had the greatest night offensively as well. And I looked at, I remember at the beginning of the game, just, by the way, Jokic has another triple-double. They have 187, 138 left. Jokic, 23 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds in his first NBA finals. It'll be his ninth triple-double of this postseason. He already had eclipsed the seven that Wilt Chamberlain did in 1967. And here he is adding another triple-double in game one of these NBA finals. Still and all, I looked at Denver. I saw a team that just seemed bigger. Aaron Gordon was muscling his way down in the hole. Jokic was obviously big. I just saw that. I thought we needed a little more from Jimmy Butler tonight. What about him? I did. I thought he came out, like, passing. In these games, you got to come out attacking. Jimmy Butler, like, he passed up wide open mid-range pull-ups that he had. You can't do that on the road. And I believe he'll be more aggressive, but we can't remind him to be aggressive. 16 field goal attempts, that can't happen. And I thought also... 14, yeah. 14, I'm sorry. Yeah, that can't happen. And also, as I say, he got to catch the ball in position that he's going to be able to be effective. I thought, oh my God. Yes. Turn around by Jokic. The touch is just sublime. It's just something special. It's just something special. I'll tell you something right now. If I'm Miami, I might have to play that kid Hyde Smith a little bit more, too. I might think about playing him. Every time he comes in, he seems to make things happen. I'm not sleeping on that kid's potential. What about you? No, I'm with you. High motive, high energy. He's long, athletic. He gives them what they need, and he's earned the right to play. He didn't earn minutes. I thought when he came in, in the Boston Series, he was great for them. I think Eric Sposio leaned more towards him. Look, Cody Zeller, he cannot play this series. Eric Sposio got to completely go away from him and play Tampa Love. But I got to give credit to the devil. No, Jamal Murray is something special. He's something special. No doubt. He's got 26 or 50% shooting. Jokic's got 27. Vincent's got 19 on 50% shooting. And out of bio, Bam out of bio showed up and played. He had 26 points. Jimmy Butler didn't show up in this game. Kayla Martin and Max Schuster didn't show up in this game. Duncan Robinson. He hasn't done much in this game. I'll say it like that. And like you talk about Cody Zeller. Let me tell you something right now. Any man that's lost more hair than me, and so flagrantly so, and on top of it all, the hair that he has is all gray, should not be assigned to go on the court and defend against Nicola Jokic. I just think there should be a law against that. I'm going to tell you something. The positive for Miami is that Bam finally got going offensive. That's true. He did finally get going. Listen, you got going. I saw you on NBA Today. I don't understand why Richard Jefferson got a short with his, all his shirt and all his buttons on his shirt unbuttoned. I don't know what the hell he's looking for. Maybe a roll of Chippendales or something, but we'll talk about that another time. It's 104-93, Denver wins game one by 11. Yeah, well, there's not much of an adjustment you can make on Jokic, but the heat actually went into this game, Kevin, with the idea that they were going to make Jokic a scorer. As Alan just said, he had 10 assists and no turnovers in the first half. It didn't work. So in the fourth quarter, they did something that they didn't want to do, which was play zone when Jokic was on the court. They were afraid of Jokic in the zone because the way you beat a zone is get the ball to the middle with the playmaker. Well, he's maybe one of the best middle playmakers in the history of the sport. So they didn't go to the zone in the first half. The fourth quarter, they went in zone and after only taking five shots in the first three quarters, Jokic was forced into seven. I don't say forced because he was still making all of them. He was forced into shooting more and not passing the ball as much and the heat actually won the fourth quarter. That said, had it actually gotten to a close game, the Nuggets are the number one home clutch team in the league. So they'd have been comfortable there. But the Heat's game plan fell apart in their hands in the first few minutes of the game because of the Nuggets size and Jokic's greatness. And so look for them to, you know, roll the dice a little bit and play more zone with Jokic out there starting on Sunday. You know, one of the things that really stood out when you're watching that game play out is something that was different from the Eastern Conference Finals. Okay, Caleb Martin wasn't there and he was not helping the team, but we didn't see Jimmy Butler go to the free-throw line. A stunning thing. We didn't see the Heat players and their starters go to the free-throw line. When you watch this and you watch playoff basketball, this is stunning, guys. Two free-throw attempts in game one, the fewest in a playoff game in NBA history. Meanwhile, the Nuggets committed only eight personal fouls. That's four fewer than any other team in Finals history. So if you told Eric Spoelstra, hey, you're going to hold the Nuggets to 104 points. Bam Adebayo is going to give you 26 and 13. You're feeling really good. But then if you tell him you're going to the free-throw line and two free-throw attempts, did that stand out on how this game was called or just the Nuggets had a pretty clean game? Yeah, I would go pretty clean game. This didn't look like a game where you're going, wow, they're letting a lot go. Wow, this is a real physical game. They're just not calling anything. It was more or less that the Heat were staying on the perimeter that most of their open shots were on the perimeter and a lot of times they have, they have lived off of that. They have done a great job in making those open shots on kickouts. They were not doing that in this game. That was the struggle for them. When you look at some of these shots, that's an open look. Yes, the contest comes late, but it's an open look and this is what they've lived on. They have thrived and see relocate. That's a great shooter. That's Duncan Robinson. I believe and he just knocks that knocks that one a little to the left. Max Strews, by the way, you know, we all had to feel for him and go for 10 you over time from three. That's just a rough night. These are clean looks. They were 5 for 16 on what's considered wide open shots. No defender within six feet or more in this game in the Celtic Series. They shot 48% on those shots. So was this just a one game thing?