Nikola Jokić would record his ninth triple-double of the playoffs in his finals debut, Jamal Murray scored 26 points and the Denver Nuggets would not have much of a struggle on their way to a 104-93 victory over the Miami Heat, in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.
Denver shot their worst percentage from the three-point line (29.6%) since a 10-point victory over the Phoenix Suns a month ago, that was the Western Conference Semifinals; they did shoot 50.6% overall from the field over Miami though.
“I think that’s what the beauty of this team is, we have so many different weapons and so many different looks. You’ve got to guard everybody. … Free-flowing, and it’s a lot of fun,” Jamal Murray said.
The Heat were undefeated in series openers in the 2023 playoffs up until Thursday night, each Game 1 victory coming on the road. There could be a legitimate reason why that streak came to an end though, the Denver Nuggets have not lost a single game at home in the postseason. According to history, Game 1 winners in the NBA Finals have almost a 70% chance of winning the championship.
High probabilities have never really deterred the Miami Heat this postseason or even historically. Miami actually has been in this position before; the Heat fell to 1-6 all-time in Game 1s of the NBA Finals on Thursday. Miami lost its series opener in each of their title years in 2006, 2012 and 2013. Their only series opening win in the finals came in 2011, where Dallas eventually ended up winning the series. It’s a best-of-seven series and one game won’t define the finals for Miami according to their track record.
“That was one of my last messages to the group before our game, I reminded our group, if they didn’t know, that Miami went into Milwaukee and won Game 1. They went into the Garden in New York City and won Game 1. They won Game 1 up in Boston. So, we did not want them coming in here taking control of the series on our court,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Nikola Jokić was the one in control in Game 1. The NBA’s two-time Most Valuable Player of the Year finished with 27 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds for the Nuggets, a franchise that waited 47 years to make the finals and savored every moment of a series opening victory.
He also became the second player in the last 25 years to have 10 assists by halftime of a finals game, the other was LeBron James with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017.
“The most important thing is to win a game, I’m trying to win a game in any possible way,” Jokic said.
Aaron Gordon scored 16 points, while 10 of his points came in the first quarter and Michael Porter Jr. scored 14 for Denver, which played from ahead all but 34 seconds of the game; the Nuggets led by as many as 24 points in the third quarter.
Bam Adebayo finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, meanwhile Jimmy Butler had an uncharacteristic night with 13 points and only took three shots in the second half.
Miami settled for mostly mid-range jump shots and three-pointers during Game 1, which led to a record they didn’t want to break. The Heat went 2-for-2 at the free throw line, which set a record for the least number of free throws made and attempted in an NBA Finals game ever.
“We’ve got to attack the rim a lot more, myself included,” Jimmy Butler said, while Bam Adebayo sarcastically added “We made history.”
Adebayo’s 25 shot attempts were a career high. He became the third player to score at least 24 points for Miami in any Game 1 of a finals. LeBron James did it three times for the Heat and Dwyane Wade once in 2006.
Miami shot 40.6% from the floor, in addition to 33% from beyond-the-arc; while Gabe Vincent scored 19 points, and Haywood Highsmith added 18 of his own off the bench.
“It’s a long series,” Vincent said. “First to four wins. Adjustments will be made. And we will learn from this loss.”
Miami opened the fourth quarter on an 11-0 run, diminishing an 84-63 deficit to start the final period down to 84-74. The Heat pulled the deficit to within nine points on a three-pointer by Haywood Highsmith with 2:34 left in regulation, it was too little too late as Denver would continue to trade baskets with Miami till the end of regulation.
“We were ready,” Denver guard Bruce Brown said, who scored 10 points in Game 1 and played his collegiate ball at the University of Miami.
Meanwhile, it seemed as if two of Miami’s starting players were not “ready” for the moment.
Caleb Martin, who had a very compelling case to win the MVP award of the Eastern Conference finals, he shot 1-for-7 on Thursday night. Max Strus, he was 0-for-10 overall, including 0-for-9 from the three-point line.
Between only one trip to the foul line, Strus and Martin’s shooting woes and Jimmy Butler only taking three shots in the second half; Miami certainly has adjustments they need to make moving forward in this series after dropping what was a winnable game. One of those adjustments, the expected return of Tyler Herro.
“I didn’t even look at the box score yet, but like I said, I think the disposition, the efforts were more appropriate in the second half, but that’s not enough. It has to be for a full game, and you also have to make some plays when you’re beat,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Game 2 is in Denver on Sunday night; tipoff is set for 8:00 P.M. EST on the ABC Network.
