Denver wins First game in NBA Finals Debut, leads Miami 1-0
Miami had won all their game 1’s of this postseason on the road coming into last night’s game. But they had also never won at Denver since 2016 coming into this game.
Jokic did not even record a single point until late in the first quarter, but by then, he had already gotten all his teammates involved, tallying 6 assists in the quarter. By the game’s end, Jokic had notched his 9th triple-double (27-10-14), stretching the NBA record for most triple-doubles in a postseason and Nuggets had secured the game 104-93.
Remember yesterday in the game’s preview when I spoke about Denver’s ability to guard all five positions? Last night, the Nuggets’ defense was so cold, that they only sent the Heat to the free throw line twice.
The Heat only attempted 2 free throws last night, and for context, that is the lowest ever attempted free throws in a playoff game, ever. And while perhaps the goal from Miami was to keep Jokic at bay in terms of scoring, Aaron Gordon exploited this by capitalizing on every mismatched the Heat sent to him in early stages of the game, recording 12 points in the opening period.
Bam Adebayo was exactly what the Miami Heat would need him to be to stand a chance in this series, recording a team-high 26 points along with 13 rebounds, while Gabe Vincent finished with 19.
But collectively they were not enough. Max Strus, a deadly shooter for the Heat this postseason, shot 1/10 in 21 minutes of play last night, and Duncan Robinson went 1/6 from the field for the Heat. Miami will need Jimmy Butler to be much more offensively than his 13 points with 14 attempts effort he put in last night if they are to stand a chance in this series.
Game 2 will be played on Sunday.
