By Canadian Press

Jokic gets triple-double, Murray drops 26 as Nuggets beat Heat in Game 1 of Finals

Jun 1, 2023 | 9:07 PM

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic got a triple-double in his NBA Finals debut, Jamal Murray scored 26 points and the Denver Nuggets had little trouble with the cold-shooting Miami Heat on the way to a 104-93 win in Game 1 on Thursday night.

Jokic finished with 27 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds for the Nuggets, who waited 47 years to make the finals and didn’t disappoint. 

Murray, a product of Kitchener, Ont., scored 25 points or more for a sixth consecutive game. He also pitched in 10 assists.

Aaron Gordon added 16 points and Michael Porter Jr. scored 14 for Denver, which trailed for all of 34 seconds and eventually led by as many as 24.

Bam Adebayo finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, which shot 41 per cent for the game — 33 per cent from 3-point range. Gabe Vincent scored 19, Haywood Highsmith had 18 and Jimmy Butler added 13 for the Heat.

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Game 2 is in Denver on Sunday night.

Miami opened the fourth quarter on an 11-0 run, cutting an 84-63 deficit to start the final period down to 84-74. The Heat actually got within nine on a 3-pointer by Highsmith with 2:34 left, but no closer and there wasn’t any doubt, either.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone gave his team a pop quiz in shootaround Thursday morning, peppering them with questions about the game plan and what had to be done in the most important game to date in franchise history.

They had all the answers then. Had them all at game time, too. They were the team with minimal NBA Finals experience, only two players having been to the title round before, and yet they looked right at home before the home crowd in Game 1.

Jokic became the second player in the last 25 years — LeBron James was the other, in 2017 — to have 10 assists by halftime of a finals game. He had 10 points and 10 assists by the break, and Denver was up 59-42 after the first two quarters.

That wasn’t good for Miami. Nor was this: The Nuggets were in full control and Jokic had taken only three shots.

And this part was worse: The Heat just couldn’t shoot. At all. Or at least, not until Denver was too far ahead to catch. Max Strus was 0 for 10 through three quarters, 0 for 9 on 3-pointers. Caleb Martin — who narrowly missed out on winning the MVP award of the Eastern Conference finals — was 1 for 7.

TIP-INS

Heat: Miami fell to 1-6 all-time in Game 1s of the NBA Finals. The Heat lost the series opener in each of their title years — 2006, 2012 and 2013 — and the only win came in 2011, a series they eventually lost to Dallas. … Adebayo’s 25 shots were a career high. He became the third player to score at least 24 points for Miami in a Game 1 of a finals. James did it three times for the Heat and Dwyane Wade did it in 2006.

Nuggets: Jokic became the eighth player to have a triple-double in Game 1 of a finals. None of the others were accompanied by 27 points; Dave Cowens had a 25-point triple-double to open the 1976 finals. … Bruce Brown, who played his college ball at Miami, scored 10. … Denver got to the foul line 20 times to Miami’s two.

CELEB WATCH

Among those in the sellout crowd: Grammy winner H.E.R., NFL legend and former Denver quarterback Peyton Manning, current Denver quarterback Russell Wilson, Broncos coach Sean Payton and actor-comedian Ken Jeong.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press