The Denver Nuggets started their first campaign in the NBA Finals, with a dominant victory over the Miami Heat 104-93 to take a 1-0 lead in the series of confrontations, supported by a new “Triple Double” for its Serbian star, Nikola Jokic.
The best player in the league twice scored 27 points with 10 rebounds and 14 assists, to lead the Nuggets, who will try to double their superiority in the series when they host the second game, next Sunday.
Canadian Jamal Murray scored 26 points and provided 10 assists with six rebounds for Denver, who advanced by 24 points in the third quarter and fended off a Heat rebellion in the last quarter.
Jokic and Murray became only the second teammate to score 25 points and 10 assists each in an NBA Finals game, joining Magic Johnson and James Worthy of the Lakers in 1987.
“We just wanted to take the first shot,” Jokic said. “In the first three rounds, they won their first game when they traveled away and we didn’t want that to happen. I think we did a good job.”
At Miami, Bam Adebayo scored 26 points in the lead, Nigerian Gabe Vincent added 19 points, substitute Haywood Highsmith 18, while the star of the team, Jimmy Butler, had only 13 points.
Miami entered the fourth quarter late by 21 points, scoring 11 consecutive points to narrow the difference to 10 points, then to nine points after a hat-trick from Highsmith, two minutes and 34 seconds before the end of the match.
But just like the start of the game, the Nuggets bounced back smoothly with the tactics of Jokic, Kentavius Caldwell-Pope and Aaron Gordon. And then, the 19,528 crowd at Denver Stadium began to celebrate.
“Everyone contributed. It’s a great win for us,” Jokic said.
The Serbian was satisfied with playing the role of coordinator in the first quarter, if he provided six assists, and the Nuggets succeeded in imposing his rhythm quickly, despite the ten-day gap since they eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Region Final.
Gordon scored 12 of his 16 points in the first quarter. Jokic didn’t hit a shot until the final seconds of the quarter, when he stripped Cody Zeller of the ball and hit a layup that put Denver ahead 29-20.
Meanwhile, the Heat, who traveled directly to Denver from Boston after eliminating the Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern District Final, last Monday, could only score nine attempts out of 26 in the first quarter.
“Their rhythm is very good, especially in that first half,” Miami coach Eric Spolstra said.
“Our style, the versatility and the determination in the second half were much better. But you’ve reached this level, so your games have to be perfect.”
Denver maintained a steady pace in the second quarter, as Murray scored 10 points and the Nuggets hit 60 percent of their shots.
Four Denver players scored at least 10 points in the first half. Adebayo had 16 points before the break for Miami, but Caleb Martin failed in five attempts and Max Stross in seven.
Jokic’s 10 points and 10 assists before the break made the Serb the only player besides LeBron James in the past 25 years to reach at least ten points and ten assists in any half of the NBA Finals.
“We try to win in any way we can,” Jokic said. “I don’t need to shoot, I don’t need to score to affect the match. I think I did a good job today.”
2023-06-02 08:09:00
#NBA #Finals #Denver #tames #Miami #opening #confrontations #Arabs
