A week of rest didn't slow down the Denver Nuggets.
Many were wondering about the "rest vs. rust" factor heading into the Finals, especially since they were heading into the NBA's biggest stage.
But it was their explosiveness on offense, their versatility, and their quickness that bested the Miami Heat in Game 1 in the 104-93 victory in their first ever Finals appearance in their 47-year franchise history.
A game in which the final score would have people thinking it was close was certainly not the case.
Denver led by as much as 24 points with 40.6 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, and even though the Heat made things interesting by cutting the lead down to 96-87 with 2:34 left in regulation, the Nuggets had enough breathing room to secure the win.
They trailed for all of 34 seconds in the opening stages of the first quarter.
Both teams entered the Finals being a perfect 3-0 in series openers. However, the Nuggets were a perfect 8-0 in home games this postseason.
They got their 9th home win of the playoffs thanks to a 27-point triple double from two-time MVP Nikola Jokić, who finished the game on 8 of 12 shooting, 10 rebounds, and 14 assists for his 9th playoff triple-double this postseason in his Finals debut.
The only other player to have a triple-double in their Finals debut was Jason Kidd, who did so in 2002 with the New Jersey Nets.
Jokić also became the second player in the last 25 years to have 10 assists by halftime of a Finals game, the other being LeBron James in 2017.
The Nuggets' offense starts and ends with Jokić, and tonight is no exception. He drove the offense with what they needed at nearly every given moment in time.
At the first stages of the game, it was the playmaking, dishing assists out to his guys, and nearly went the entire first quarter without shooting the ball.
After halftime, it was the scoring, especially in the 4th quarter when he put the game away for good.
Outside of Jokić, there's Jamal Murray, who was instrumental in the Nuggets' sweep over the Los Angeles Lakers when he averaged 32.5 points per game on over 50% shooting through those four games.
He finished with 26 points on the night in Game 1 of the Finals, making the first basket of the series on a layup and never looked back.
When Jokić and Murray are playing at their best, they're near impossible to stop.
And that's not even mentioning their role players, where them along with Denver's dynamic duo getting enough space to the rim and shooting from distance in making 51.3% of their shots.
Aaron Gordon added 16 points and Michael Porter Jr. put up 14, with the former scoring 12 of his 16 points in the first quarter alone.
Miami made it to the Finals in part because of their outstanding three-point shooting. They made 43.4% from deep as a whole in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics.
One big question was if that was going to continue onto the Finals. But it was not the case in Game 1.
Their outside shooting was absolutely brutal, and by the time they started hitting on their three-point shots and opening the 4th quarter on an 11-0 run, the game was already out of hand.
They did not get any closer than within 10 points of Denver in the final frame.
Caleb Martin, Max Strus and Duncan Robinson all combined for six points on 2 of 23 shooting, with Strus abysmally missing all nine of his three-pointers and all 10 of his field goals.
Strus is just the second player in the last 45 years to take that many shots without a make in a Finals game. The other? Ray Allen, who missed all 13 of his shots against the Lakers in Game 3 of the 2010 Finals.
Even strong efforts from Gabe Vincent and Haywood Highsmith of 19 and 18 points, respectively, were not enough to make up for what happened in the first three quarters.
While it's expected that there would be some regression heading into the Finals, nobody could have seen this horrendous shooting night from the trio of Martin, Strus and Robinson.
Bam Adebayo was the only Heat player that had over 20 points, finishing with 26, to go with rebounds and 5 assists on 25 shots, a career-high.
He is the third player in Heat history to score at least 24 points for the Heat in Game 1 of a Finals, after LeBron James (three times) and Dwyane Wade, but he didn't have much help.
Miami shot 13 of 39 from deep against Denver, including 7 of 27 in the first three quarters, and Jimmy Butler had an uncharacteristic 13-point, 7-rebound, 7-assist night.
Plus, they had just two free throw attempts.
Those two free throw attempts were the fewest in an NBA Finals game, both of them being makes by Highsmith.
Before tonight, the Lakers had a record-low five free throw attempts against the Philadelphia 76ers, back on May 26th, 1983.
Game 2 of this series will be on June 4th at 8:00 PM ET/6:00 PM MT. I will continue to have coverage of the Finals @DatYinzerAlec on Twitter Spaces.
Injuries
Nuggets: None.
Heat: Tyler Herro will be eligible to return to the Heat lineup in Game 2. He has been out since Game 1 of the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks with a broken hand. Victor Oladipo is continuing to recover from patellar tendon surgery on his left knee, and still has no timetable for return.
Series Openers
With the loss, the Heat have now fallen to 1-6 in series-openers in the NBA Finals.
They have lost the opening game of the Finals in each of their championship years, those being in 2006, 2012 and 2013. Their only win came in 2011, a series which they lost to the Dallas Mavericks.
Triple Double History
Jokić is now the 8th player to record a triple-double in Game 1 of an NBA Finals. He is the first to do so while scoring at least 27 points. Dave Cowens had a 25-point triple-double to open the 1976 NBA Finals.
Spot the Celebrity
Among those in the crowd at Ball Arena for Game 1 of the Finals were former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, current Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, Broncos head coach Sean Payton, former NBA players Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and Grant Hill, actor-comedian Ken Jeong, and Grammy winner H.E.R.
Scoring by Quarter
1st Quarter: Nuggets 29, Heat 20—Nuggets lead 29-20
2nd Quarter: Nuggets 30, Heat 22—Nuggets lead 59-42
3rd Quarter: Nuggets 25, Heat 21—Nuggets lead 84-63
4th Quarter: Nuggets 20, Heat 30—Nuggets win 104-93
Box Score
Denver Nuggets
Nikola Jokić: 27 points (8/12 FG; 1/2 3PT; 10/12 FT), 10 rebounds, 14 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 40:26
Jamal Murray: 26 points (11/22 FG; 2/7 3PT; 2/2 FT), 6 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 44:04
Aaron Gordon: 16 points (7/10 FG; 0/1 3PT; 2/2 FT), 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 0 fouls, 36:06
Michael Porter Jr.: 14 points (5/16 FG; 2/11 3PT; 2/2 FT), 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 0 fouls, 43:04
Bruce Brown: 10 points (4/7 FG; 2/3 3PT; 0/0 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 1 foul, 20:45
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: 7 points (3/8 FG; 1/3 3PT; 0/2 FT), 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 36:27
Jeff Green: 4 points (2/3 FG; 0/0 3PT; 0/0 FT), 1 rebound, 10:57
Christian Braun: 0 points (0/1 FG; 0/0 3PT; 0/0 FT), 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 8:11
Miami Heat
Bam Adebayo: 26 points (13/25 FG; 0/1 3PT; 0/0 FT), 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 39:58
Gabe Vincent: 19 points (7/14 FG; 5/10 3PT; 0/0 FT), 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover, 37:42
Haywood Highsmith: 18 points (7/10 FG; 2/4 3PT; 2/2 FT), 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, turnover, 2 fouls, 23:24
Jimmy Butler: 13 points (6/14 FG; 1/2 3PT; 0/0 FT), 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 38:01
Kyle Lowry: 11 points (4/8 FG; 3/6 3PT; 0/0 FT), 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 25:34
Duncan Robinson: 3 points (1/6 FG; 1/5 3PT; 0/0 FT), 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 21:10
Caleb Martin: 3 points (1/7 FG; 1/2 3PT; 0/0 FT), 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 fouls, 24:34
Nikola Jović: 0 points (0/1 FG; 0/0 3PT; 0/0 FT), 1 rebound, 0 fouls, 0:33
Ömer Yurtseven: 0 points (0/0 FG; 0/0 FT), 0 fouls, 0:33
Cody Zeller: 0 points (0/1 FG; 0/0 3PT; 0/0 FT), 3 rebounds, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 7:29
Max Strus: 0 points (0/10 FG: 0/9 3PT; 0/0 FT), 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 fouls, 21:03
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