Pat Riley the genius has built a duplicate 2006 roster to beat Jokic/Dirk

[elementally morale]

Both players were white non-athletic 7 footers who play more on the perimeter/top of the key than downlow. Both were non post-up bigmen. Both very good shooters, both good passers and facilitators . Both play bad defensively.

That is plenty comparison enough

Both are white and tall who can shoot and not great on defense. That's where this comparison ends. Dirk was a scorer first, pass second type of player and Jokic is the opposite. I'm not sure what games you are watching but Jokic is involved in many post-ups both in the high and low post. He is also a more efficient player than Dirk and he has way more effect on the outcome of a game. Dirk could hurt you as a shooter and that was basically it. Jokic is a walking triple double.

[Heat_chips]

And both are pretty slow

[tpols]

The game is a 3pt contest. The Nuggets lost by 1 bucket in a game the Heat went nuts from 3. And it wasn't like they lost on horrible defense if you watch the tape and see the shots guys like Duncan Robinson were making to bring the Heat back. That guy makes contested 3s better than wide open ones... case in point game 6 of the ECFs.

Pat Riley didn't build this team to beat the Nuggets. They had to worry about the Bucks and Celtics before that who play totally different.

Miami is just a good basketball team on a mission.

[elementally morale]

And both are pretty slow

Jokic isn't slow. He just looks clumsy which he is also not. He plays the game at his own pace but he beats most big men down the court. He looks tired in the 3rd minute of the game but it is deceptive. His first step is very quick. I have a feeling you will disappear sometime in the next 10 days.

[Heat_chips]

Pat Riley's genius comes where he was able to build a similar team to 2006 but with better shooting. The current Heat have way more players that can shoot the basketball, and this isn't some recent phenomena, as they were one of the best 3 point shooting last year, and over the final 20 games of the regular season this year the Heat shot 39% from 3.

Just a continuation into the playoffs, it's been happening for 4 months now, very sustainable

For any > favoring the 2006 Heat team, one can argue that it's negated by the fact the Heat are just loaded with good shooters on this 2023 team.. If one goes cold, it's easy to insert another shooter, and if he's cold, insert another, shooter and on and on and on she goes.. the heat just have so many shooters placing great stress on opposing defenses because you cant guard them all well with the great actions the heat create on offense

[Heat_chips]

Jokic isn't slow. He just looks clumsy .

He's slow.

Another similarity is both will lose in their first finals appearance to a very smart and savvy Miami defense.

The Heat defense held the nuggets to just 106ppg in the 2 games on denvers home floor (where the nuggets play far better than on the road), and that was with a huge rest advantage for the nuggets, a huge preparation time advantage, altitude advantage, and the Heat not having any legs in game one coming off a 7-game series with lots of travel and no rest (games 5, 6 and 7 vs Boston were only 2 days apart with the ADDED travel before each of those 3 final games).

And with a hobbled Jimmy Butler.

Nobody in the media or on this board predicted miami would hold the nuggets to just 106ppg through games 1 and 2 in Denver considering all those circumstances ... because Miami is better than you think they are

[iamgine]

lol Mourning played like 10 minutes a game against Mavs.

[HoopologyPhD]

DWhistle was as good as 2 players, if the Heat have the refs on their side, easy win

[Duffy Pratt]

Shaq was not high level in 2006, he wasn't near the player he was in 05 and 04

In the finals, Shaq put up the 3rd most minutes, led the Heat in rebounding, was 3rd in scoring while shooting 61% from the field, with high games of 18,17,17 and 16. At the same time, you extoll Mourning as a guy who can score 20 on any given night. He averaged 4.3 points in the finals, managing 11 points in his best game, and playing less than 1/3 of the time that Shaq did. All you do is try to twist facts to suit your narrative.