NBA Finals

Why Draymond is picking Nuggets to beat Heat in Finals

Draymond Green spent nearly 10 minutes on his podcast breaking down the NBA Finals matchup.

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For the third time in the last four seasons, Draymond Green will watch the NBA Finals as a fan.

With the Warriors eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals, Green has worn his analyst hat for the last few weeks, and he did so again hours before the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat tipped off Game 1 at Ball Arena in the Mile High City.

In a special episode of "The Draymond Green Show," the Warriors' star forward spent nearly 10 minutes breaking down the matchup between the West's top seed and the East's No. 8 seed.

Then, at the end, Green explained why he's picking the Nuggets to vanquish the Heat for the franchise's first NBA championship.

"I think Denver has the best player in the series," Green said. "With all due respect to Jimmy [Butler], Jimmy's incredible, been playing incredible. We all can agree that Nikola Jokic is on some all-time great-type stuff right now. Constantly getting better. Makes everyone else better. Playing absolutely incredible. So, they've got the best player in the series."

While the Heat had to overcome steep odds to beat the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics en route to the NBA Finals, the Nuggets cruised against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round, beat the Phoenix Suns in six games in the second round and swept the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.

How each team reached the Finals played a part in Green's prediction.

"One key thing that Denver has done that's made me say that Denver's ready to win a championship in this league: They have not f--ked around in any of their series," Green said. "They've had opportunities to close, they close, they're getting it done.

"They're ready to win a championship. They're not messing around with these other teams. They're ready to win a championship. And so I teetered with this whole thing. Denver in five? Denver in six? But they're ready to win a championship. I got the Nuggets in five."

While Denver looks to win its first NBA title, Miami will try to bring the Larry O'Brien Trophy back to South Beach for the first time since 2013.

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