Game 1 is in the books.
Denver Nuggets takes the lead in their first finals appearance in the NBA.
Coach Malone and Co. are just 3 wins away from making history. Playing in front of their home crowd, the team gave them a glimpse of what will it feel like winning the title.
MIA 93 – 104 DEN
The first game, team’s get a feel of each other, try to establish dominance, use a roster and then improvise based on the game situation.
From this roster improvisation sometimes a player pops out that can play a huge role in the series, who earlier was not even taken into consideration.
Tonight, N. Jokic scored a triple double to seal the game. He played with finesse and utilised his turn and hook-shot with such ease that it seemed almost impossible to stop him.
He had 27 Pts, 10 Reb and 14 Ast.
Both teams struggled from behind the 3Pt. line. The Heat played hands-on defence but still weren’t able utilise the missed shots.
From the Heat squad – C. Martin, Max Strauss and Duncan Robinson struggled to make almost any shots. Without their shooting power the heat was unable to convert the missed opportunities.
Despite that Bam Adebayo, Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry stepped up and kept them in striking distance all game to stage a comeback.
Butler started off the game with confidence but gradually lost touch and didn’t even attempt any 3P shots except for 2 the whole game.
H. Highsmith came off the bench to score 18 Pts, 7-10 FG, 50% 3Pt. in 23 mins.
He was the player that showed a spark of that player who might have a huge impact to keep the series level moving forward, if the Heat’s go-to guys are unable to make an impact moving forward.
Nuggets improvised and started attempting more plays from inside the paint.
Coach Malone ran a few plays back to back. He used Jokic on High centre pivot as receiver & passer who can navigate a play, with the ability to shoot if the play fails to form, and used Murray plus Gordon interchangeably to screen each other leaving one player on any occasion to make a run towards the ring or dish it to the wingman cutting in.
Denver made the most of Heat’s lack of wingman to cover the D, when Bam had to reach out, leaving a lot of space for an Alley-oop or a drop. There were many occasions when they wasn’t anyone covering for Adebayo when he was drawn out.
Despite this, the game went back and forth, heat almost made a comeback when they had a huge run cutting the 21 pt. deficit to 10 points.
But that’s the closest they could make it.
Aaron Gordon was phenomenal, he had a hand in everything, making plays, defending Butler, and making the heat pay on multiple occasions with a slam dunk, making a statement, when the heat were more focused on the play formation instead of covering the guy with the ball.
Based on stats,
It’s easy to point the areas Heat need to cover – Points in paint, convert the turnover points, and improvise on shooting from mid-range if the 3Pt shots are not falling.
Team Stats :
MIA :
FG – 40.6 %
3P % – 33.3 %
OREB – 11
Points in Paint – 38
Fastbreak points – 4
Fouls – 15
DEN :
FG – 50.6 %
3P% – 29.6 %
OREB – 6
Points in Paint – 46
Fastbreak points – 9
Fouls – 8
Player Stats –
MIA :
J. Butler – 13 Pts | 7 REB | 7 AST
G. Vincent – 19 Pts | 5-10 3Pt. | 5 Ast
K. Lowry – 11 Pts. | 3-6 3Pt. | 5 Ast | 5 REB
DEN :
J. Murray – 26 Pts. | 10 Ast | 6 Reb
Bruce Brown – 10 Pts. | 4-7 FG | 2-3 3Pt. | 5 REB
Who’s gonna take game 2?
Based on tonight’s game, Nuggets will take this series in 4 games.
Let’s see what happens.
Game 2 @DEN on 5th June 5:30 a.m. (IST)
Watch on NBA tv.
#JOPO 