Finals, Heat vs Nuggets, both teams are unpromising teams this season, but both sides came to the stage of the Finals with their own unique attributes, the Heat are full of resilience and have performed miracles in the East; The Nuggets are blocked behind the scenes by Western stars and traffic because they are more powerful.
At the beginning of the game, the Heat could still wrestle with the Nuggets, and after Aaron Gordon scored consecutive points under the basket, the Heat's disadvantage began to appear, and although there were timeout adjustments, the Heat still could not limit the multi-point Nuggets, and the Nuggets scored a 9-point advantage in the first quarter.
Porter and Murray hit three points in the second quarter, Adebayo frequently scored points on the inside to help the Heat stabilize the situation, Brown's three-point and Jokic's consecutive kills inside again helped the Nuggets open the score, and at the end of the quarter, Gordon's state was still the same, Murray's continuous projections, coupled with Jokic's hook, the Nuggets led by as many as 17 points at halftime.
After swapping venues, the Heat started 7-0 directly to close the score, Murray's 2+1 helped the Nuggets stop the bleeding, and then Jokic began to make a force, and made consecutive free throws to open the gap again, Porter Jr.'s long-range shot and Brown's inside and outside bloom made the Heat difficult to parry, and the Nuggets led by 21 points at the end of the third quarter.
At the beginning of the final quarter, the Nuggets were a little slack, the offensive end was not hit continuously, the Heat took the opportunity to hit consecutive three-pointers to close the point difference, a wave of 11-0 saw the hope of a turnover, the Nuggets were not in a hurry, Jeff Green ate pie, Jokic's strong inside play helped the team stabilize the situation, and then the Heat once again set off a climax, but Jokic and Pope's mid-range and slowly passing game time killed the game, and finally the Nuggets defeated the Heat 104-93, leading 1-0 in the Finals.
The gap in talent between the two sides in this game is very obvious, especially at the beginning of the game, the Nuggets continue to use Aaron Gordon's size advantage to score and defend, while the Heat, a group of mediocre talents, in the face of a more comprehensive lineup, more overall Nuggets, looks a little inadequate, although it shows good resilience, but the final loss result can be predicted.
Martin, who performed eye-catching in the Eastern Finals, was not miraculous today, only 1 of 7 shots, Strus was 0 of 10, and Butler, as the leader and core, also looks a little excited today, although the shooting percentage of 6 of 13 can be said to be past, but Butler's presence in the whole game is seriously insufficient, he has always been known for his aggressiveness, today has no impact at all, the whole game came down with zero free throws, and scored 13 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
Of course, the Heat also have two points today, the first is the play of Adebayo, in the face of Jokic today Adebayo is not afraid, he knows that he is not dominant in terms of height, the offensive end did not fight with Jokic, but chose a large number of hooks, throws, the whole game, he shot 13 of 25, got 26 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists.
In addition, Highsmith played 23 minutes today, shot 7 of 10, and got 18 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals, as we said before, Highsmith is an important adjustment space for the Heat in the next game, and today's excellent play may allow him to play a more important role in subsequent games.
The Nuggets showed excellent teamwork today, whether it is the intensity of the core players or the integrity of the team, it is a championship-level team. Porter Jr. and Gordon faced the relatively small Heat today and contributed a lot on the defensive end, and Butler and Martin were completely limited by them.
Murray's performance today was a bit overwhelming, and he contributed almost nothing in the fourth quarter, but he played well enough in the first three quarters, shooting 11 of 22 from the field and scoring 26 points, 6 rebounds and 10 assists, which is Murray's sixth consecutive game in recent times to score 25+, becoming the third player in Nuggets history to do so.
Jokic is still the Nuggets' most important player today, especially in the fourth quarter of the game, the Heat fought back, facing the Heat's joint defense, Jokic hit several consecutive shots to help the Nuggets stabilize the situation. Fourth, Kic had a time slot to play, but when he got off the court, the Heat could immediately set off a small climax, which shows the importance of Jokic to the current Nuggets.
Jokic, who participated in the Finals for the first time, did not seem to have any discomfort today, he was willing to be a green leaf in regular time, frequently played the ball for his teammates, helped his teammates score easily, and when the team needed to score at key moments, he could also stand up and shoot continuously, and after the whole game, Jokic, who played 40 minutes, looked very relaxed, shooting 8 of 12, 10 of 12 free throws, and got a triple-double of 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists.
Scoring a triple-double on his Finals debut, Jokic became the second player in NBA history to do so after Kidd, with 14 assists, making Jokic the player in NBA history to provide the most assists in his Finals debut. Jokic also looked more relaxed after the game, "The most important thing today is that we won a game, I know I don't need to score to affect the game, we did well today, everyone contributed and it was a great win for us. Jokic said.
Jokic today, including Jokic all season, is like this, and he is comfortable on the field, and this form has been going on for a whole season. After successive losses due to injuries and inexperience in the previous two seasons, the Nuggets and Jokic are ready to win the cup this season.