The Denver Nuggets on Thursday launched the first NBA Finals campaign in franchise history with a dominant 104-93 victory over the Miami Heat, propelled by yet another Nikola Jokic triple-double.
Two-time Most Valuable Player Jokic scored 27 points with 10 rebounds and 14 assists to lead the Nuggets, who will try to double their advantage in the best-of-seven series when they host Game 2 tomorrow.
Jamal Murray scored 26 points, handed out 10 assists and grabbed six rebounds for Denver, who led by 24 points in the third quarter and repelled the resilient Heat’s fourth-quarter challenge.
Photo: Kyle Terada-USA Today
Jokic and Murray became the second pair of teammates to have 25 points and 10 assists each in an NBA Finals game, joining Magic Johnson and James Worthy for the Lakers in 1987.
“We just wanted to get the first punch,” Jokic said. “In the first three rounds they won their first game when they traveled on the road and we didn’t want to have that to happen. I think we did a good job.”
Bam Adebayo scored 26 points to lead Miami. Gabe Vincent added 19 and Haywood Highsmith scored 18 off the bench, but Heat star Jimmy Butler was limited to 13 and Miami made it to the free-throw line just twice all night — a record low for an NBA playoff game.
Trailing by 21 entering the fourth quarter, Miami used an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 10. Highsmith’s three-pointer got the gap to nine points with 2 minutes, 34 seconds to play, but as they had all night, the Nuggets seamlessly pulled away.
Jokic fed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for a jump shot, Caldwell-Pope came up with a steal and Aaron Gordon made two free throws as the Nuggets rebuilt the lead.
Jokic added a pair of free throws and a turnaround jump shot, and the ecstatic crowd of 19,528 at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, could start the celebrations.
“Everybody contributed,” Jokic said. “It’s a great win for us.”
Jokic was content to play facilitator in the first quarter, handing out six assists as the Nuggets clicked quickly despite the 10-day gap since they finished off their sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
Gordon scored 12 of his 16 points in the first quarter. Jokic did not take a shot until the waning seconds of the period, when he stripped the ball from Cody Zeller and made a layup that put Denver up 29-20.
Meanwhile the Heat, who flew straight to Denver from Boston after finally polishing off the Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday, connected on just nine of their 26 attempts in the first quarter.
“They are in a pretty good rhythm, especially in that first half,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Our disposition, the multiple efforts, the resolve in the second half was much better, but you get to this level, it has to be complete games of that kind of disposition.”
Denver kept up the relentless pace in the second quarter, Murray scoring 10 points in the period as the Nuggets connected on 60 percent of their shots.
Four Denver players scored in double figures in the first half. Adebayo had 16 before the break for Miami, but Caleb Martin went none-of-five and Max Strus none-of-seven.
Jokic’s 10 points and 10 assists before the break made him the only player besides LeBron James in the past 25 years to reach double digits in both categories in any half of an NBA Finals game.
“We’re trying to win a game any way possible,” Jokic said. “I don’t need to shoot, I don’t need to score to affect the game. I think I did a good job today.”
The Heat quickly sliced the deficit to 10 points at the start of the third quarter, but Denver had the answer to every adjustment they made.
“They did their job on their home floor, you have to say that, but we will be ready,” Butler said. “We will adjust, and we will do some things very differently, and come out here and be ready to give more for Game 2.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS