With a triple-double by Nikola Jokic, Denver beat Miami in its NBA Finals debut

Denver nuggets had a dream debut this Thursday in the former NBA Finals of its history: with a Nikola Jokic triple doubledefeated with authority Miami Heat Of 104-93 at home and took a 1-0 lead in the series, which will have its second chapter this Sunday.

Far from proving their inexperience here, the Nuggets were vastly superior to the Heat who came in with the right numbers and only had two days off, after shutting out Boston Celtics in seven games for the Eastern Conference Finals. Conversely, Denver had nine days off following a 4-0 run Los Angeles Lakers by LeBron James.

The great figure of the meeting was Jokic, the leading figure of the Colorado franchise. The Serbian pivot closed with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. In this way, it has become, together with Jason Kidd in 2002, the only player to achieve a triple-double in his Finals debut.

The team led by Michael Mallone It also featured a great performance by Jamal Murray, who converted 26 points and dished out 10 assists. While, Aaron Gordon contributed 16 points e Michael Goalkeeper Jr. scored 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

With 26 points and 13 rebounds, Bam Adebayo was some Heat’s most outstanding player who suffered a bad night of its big star, Jimmy Butlerwho converted 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Also they had a game to forget Caleb Martin and Max Struswho completed a terrifying 1-of-17 shooting from the field and 3-pointers between them.

The second game of these finals will be played from 21:00 (Argentina time) this Sunday in Denver, where the Nuggets have not yet known defeat in these playoffs.

NBA Finals: the chronicle of the triumph of Denver against Miami

There was much talk in the preview about how Miami would stop Jokic, but it was Gordon who revealed the Heat’s significant defensive shortcomings early on.

With muscle, enormous power and relentless attacking towards the basket, Gordon has become a giant in the field with 12 points in a first quarter in which “little” Gabe Vincent, Strus and Martin could not put up any resistance.

Jokic started with a first quarter that was the trademark of the Serbian genius: he shot for a basket only once -and scored it-, reached 4 points with free throws and, despite this, managed to dominate the match by dishing out no fewer than 6 assists.

Butler and Adebayo got off to a good start with 15 separate points, but the Nuggets, with 20 goals in the box, opened the way without wasting time (29-20).

The triples by Murray and Porter Jr., against the Miami area, supported the locals in the always delicate minutes on Jokic’s bench.

Back on the field, the center punished both against one of the Heat, always finding the free player and extending the lead of some very solvent Nuggets and with the duel under control (50-37 with 3.21 for the break). Adebayo put his face to the visitors with 16 points in the first half.

But without Butler at the top level (7 points), with a serious problem from the triple (4 of 17) and no news of Strus and Martin unrecognizable (0 points between them with a painful 0 of 12 shooting) the Heat began to lose Earth.

Thus the Nuggets, without having to put fifth gear or force the car, started with a +17 at halftime (59-42) at the hands of a sensational Murray with 18 points, an excellent 59.5% shooting and four players over 10 points.

One of these was Jokic, who quietly went into a double-double in the first half with 10 points (3-of-3 shooting, 4-of-4 free throws) and 10 assists.

An 0-7 start perked up the Heat briefly, but the Nuggets, without a hint of nerves or doubts in their Finals debut, struck back without hesitation.

Murray and Jokic continued to play their part as a lethal duo, Porter Jr. and Caldwell-Pope pierced the soul of Miami off the triple and Bruce Brown joined the party with a field goal to break the 20-point barrier ( 81-60 with 2.08 precise).

With very little argument to orchestrate an epic comeback, the Heat reached the fourth quarter with their tongues out (84-63) and even so they were proud to seal a surprising 0-11 in under three minutes.

Seeing each other with ‘only’ +10 awakened the Nuggets from their relaxation, who remained entangled in Erik Spoelstra’s area and who, despite a decidedly lackluster last quarter (20-30), closed the victory using Jokic as executor in the second quarter. minutes.