Eliminate Lakers too soon, Denver Nuggets have a headache with 9 days off before NBA Finals 2023

After a few days of rest, taking advantage of the early ending of the Western Finals series with a score of 4-0, the Denver Nuggets have officially returned to practice to prepare for the 2023 NBA Finals.

Nikola Jokic and his teammates had a total of 9 days off between their Game 4 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers (Tuesday, May 23) and Game 1 of the NBA Finals series (Friday, June 2).

It is still unclear who the Denver Nuggets will face as the Eastern finals are still in play, where the Miami Heat are leading the Boston Celtics with a score of 3-2.

Rest is an important privilege that NBA teams possess, especially in the midst of an extremely stressful Playoffs period. However, it also brings a challenge of keeping the pace of the game for the players.

“It is very difficult to keep pace when not playing. In practice you can do anything, but we can't simulate the atmosphere of an NBA Playoffs game so the players can get used to it," coach Michael Malone said of the difficulties during the long break.

After beating the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Finals, the entire Denver Nuggets team got a break on Wednesday. A number of players who wanted to practice more with their personal coaches were on the field on Thursday.

Friday is the day for the whole team to exercise and today (Saturday, May 27) is Denver's first official training session for the NBA Finals, all in Vietnam time.

"What worries me is the pace of the game, more importantly, the fitness of the players," added coach Malone.

“Everyone is getting used to the schedule of one match day and one day off, suddenly we have a break of 8-9-10 days. This disturbs the habits of the players and will be a big challenge for the whole team."

Currently, Denver still does not know who their opponent is in the NBA Finals. Taking advantage of this time, the coaching staff wanted to improve the psychological factor for the players rather than the basketball expertise.

"Not knowing the opponent allows us to focus completely on ourselves, improve our mentality and pay attention to the details of the game," defender Jamal Murray said of what the Denver Nuggets do in practice. .

“You have to be more focused, be more precise, limit turnover, run the right exercises, choose the right time to do this, that… Training sessions like these help me and my teammates a lot.

There will be no room for error in the NBA Finals, so our mentality has to be strong. Everything will start from these training sessions, so I always treat each training session like a match, so I have to be very focused."

Jamal Murray also added that these holidays are extremely important, although losing the pace of the game is inevitable. Some players with minor injuries will have a chance to recover. The pillars who compete a lot will rest and improve their physical condition.

The series of finals - NBA Finals 2023 - will officially kick off with Game 1 at 7:30 am next Friday, June 2. Game 2 will take place at 7:00 am next Sunday, June 4. The Denver Nuggets are the hosts of both these games.