How would the Denver Nuggets fare physically after a nine-day break between games? Refreshed and racing out of the blocks, as Aaron Gordon had 12 points in the first quarter and that infectious energy set the tone en route to a welcome series-opening win at home against a Miami Heat side struggling quite badly with their three-point shooting but defiantly still lingered dangerously late on.
First blood to Denver, showing no signs of rust in Game 1
- Nikola Jokic (27 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds) has the most assists in a Finals debut, while becoming the first player with a triple-double on their first Finals appearance since Jason Kidd with New Jersey Nets in 2002
- He and Jamal Murray (26 pts, 10 ast, 6 rebs) become second teammate duo with 25 points and 10 assists each in a Finals game since Magic Johnson and James Worthy did so with Lakers in 1987
- “We respect them a lot, they fight, we just wanted to get the first punch… holding them to 93 points is really good and I don’t need to shoot or score to affect the game,” Western Conference Finals MVP says postgame
- 28-year-old declares focus is the biggest adjustment needed after Heat’s 11-0 run to start fourth saw their commanding lead cut to single digits
There are many possessions, specific plays or moments you could use to illustrate how Denver were victorious in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, this representing their first trip to the postseason’s pinnacle in franchise history.
Yet one in particular stands out. Five seconds left in the first quarter, Cody Zeller rebounds a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope miss from distance. Or, at least he thought so.
Nikola Jokic emerged from the big man’s blindside, swatting the ball from his grasp, and before there was a chance to recover, he was watching Aaron Gordon assist the two-time league MVP for an easy layup – increasing their healthy lead to nine.
It was his first shot of the game, and he had already impacted this encounter in so many different ways that you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
Six assists, four points, a steal and rebound, he was finding his teammates as the Serbian so often does: with devastating ease. Gordon’s brief half-time TV interview said all you needed to know, as far as the collective unit were concerned.
“I like our communication on defence and offense, we’re talking to each other, Jokic is a maestro so you just have to remain open and available because he makes it easy, we’ve gotta continue doing that to help him.”
Denver had 32 paint points in the first-half, while Jokic had 10 of their 18 assists as a team. Miami could only conjure up 42 points in the first 24 minutes and Gabe Vincent was involved in three of their four three-point makes (4-of-17 3PM) at that stage.
Their defence was shaky in parts, passive elsewhere as Denver players repeatedly got to their desired shooting spots. The lead would’ve been even bigger, had Michael Porter Jr drilled any more than his two three-pointers (2-of-11, 5-of-16 total).
Yet that inefficiency didn’t matter. The small forward surprisingly led all players in blocks after a pair on the defensive end early on Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin, as Denver were engaged across the board and everyone had touches.
Miami wasted Bam’s big game, and can’t afford another
Miami players not named Bam Adebayo were stuck in a funk they couldn’t wake from fast enough, unable to hit the target from deep nor many jumpshots as the deficit increased. It wasn’t as though they got free points at the free-throw line, either.
Meanwhile their big man showed just how dangerous he can be when offensively aggressive, racking up 26 points on 13-of-25 shooting, alongside 13 rebounds and five assists as the responsibility heightened with Butler and others not firing.
Among those was their revelation from the Boston series in forward Martin, who had more rebounds (4) than points (3) for the third time this postseason.
They ultimately won in the other two instances, but desperately needed his creative potency here. Starting shooting guard Max Strus kept trying to find his rhythm, but went 0-for-9 from distance and was scoreless on 10 attempts in 20 minutes.
“I love the looks, and I think we’ll get more. I think this was kind of a figure-it-out game, well, figure it out half. Started to figure it out the second-half, but the looks that we got… shots that we missed, it’s kind of laughable. We’re much better shooters than we shot tonight.”
- Martin’s post-game comments on Miami’s shooting struggles, per ESPN
Gabe Vincent (19 pts, 7-of-14 shooting, five ast) didn’t disappoint elsewhere, before Haywood Highsmith’s bench contribution (18 pts, 7-of-10 FGM) and Kyle Lowry (11 pts, five reb and ast) got them within touching distance of a comeback in the fourth.
It all began with Highsmith pickpocketing Murray under the basket at an inbound pass, then making the layup. 84-65 the scoreline read at the time, so no harm done.
Well there certainly was a few crowd murmurs of apprehension when Lowry cut it to 10 with a three-pointer after rebounding a Jokic miss, or when Butler assisted Highsmith for their fourth three of the quarter with 2:34 left, down nine.
Every possession counts. Jokic answered Highsmith’s hot streak with consecutive baskets, before playmaking for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s slick pullup shot as the 2020 NBA champion followed it up by stealing from Lowry 13 seconds later.
That typified a frustrating game for Miami, who truthfully had lost long before Lowry’s late turnover, but refused to roll over – heavy deficit or not – while you’d expect Erik Spoelstra makes adjustments countering Denver’s defensive schemes to limit Butler.
The Eastern Conference Finals MVP finished with 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting, alongside seven rebounds and seven assists in 38 minutes. That’d be a commendable statline for a role player, not the star who got you to this rarefied air.
Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday night (Monday, 1am BST) and I’ll be sure to have more coverage as the NBA Finals continues, so stay tuned to moandsports.com for that as this year’s postseason nears its conclusion.
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via ABC TV broadcast
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