The Denver Nuggets are heavy favorites to beat the Miami Heat in this year's NBA Finals and in game one, they proved why that is the case. The Nuggets beat the Heat 104-93 Thursday night, but the final score does not reflect how the game actually went. In Denver's first NBA Finals appearance, the stars showed out and got help from some role players as well.
Denver's two-time MVP and superstar center Nikola Jokić became the second player in NBA history (along with Jason Kidd in '02) to drop a triple-double in his finals debut as the Joker went for 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. As he usually does, Jokić got his triple-double with great efficiency as he went 8-12 from the field.
Jamal Murray, who has been critical for Denver throughout these playoffs, also stepped up big as he went for 26 points and 10 assists. Role players that stepped up for Denver in game one included Aaron Gordon, who had 16 points and Michael Porter Jr., who went for 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Denver definitely has quite literally every single advantage in this series and the lethal duo of Murray and Jokić is why many people believe they will win. The Nuggets shot 50% from the field as a team compared to 40% for the Heat.
Although Miami is expected to lose this series, there are some obvious things they can do better to give themselves a shot against the Nuggets. Miami's role players have to play better in the later games of this series in order for it to be competitive. Max Strus and Caleb Martin shot a combined 1-17 from the floor and gave Miami three points total. Duncan Robinson was also just 1-6 from the field.
Bam Adebayo played a great game and Miami will need him to continue to play like this, but if Denver can limit Jimmy Butler to just 13 points and Miami's role players can't knock down shots, there is nothing Adebayo can do alone to help Miami in this series. Expect game two to be a little more competitive as Miami should play better as a team overall.