Nuggets strike first in final
Well aware of their opponent's penchant for fast starts, the Denver Nuggets treated their first-ever NBA Finals game as if everything were on the line.
Even with the Game 1 urgency, Nuggets star Nikola Jokic never panicked, finishing off another triple-double with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists as the Nuggets rolled to a 104-93 victory Thursday against the visiting Miami Heat.
Game 2 of the best-ofseven series is scheduled for Sunday in Denver.
Jamal Murray scored 26 points and handed out 10 assists, Michael Porter Jr. added 14 points and 13 rebounds and Aaron Gordon had 16 points as the Nuggets won the series opener without having to lean heavily on Jokic, even as he ended up leading the way.
"Right now, the most important thing is to win a game, and I'm trying to win a game in any possible way," Jokic said on the ABC broadcast. "I don't need to shoot and I know I don't need to score to affect the game, and I think I did a good job today. Everybody contributed."
Jokic wound up 8 of 12 from the field after taking just five shots through three quarters. He extended his NBA single-year record with his ninth triple-double of the playoffs.
Denver, the Western Conference's top seed, shot 59.5 percent from the field in the first half and 50.6 percent for the game while improving to 9-0 at home in the playoffs. The Nuggets were sharp, even after a nine-day wait between their conference-final sweep and the start of the NBA Finals.
Bam Adebayo amassed 26 points and 13 rebounds for the Heat, but Jimmy Butler was held to 13 points on 6-of14 shooting. The No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference failed to win the opener of a series on the road for the first time in four tries.
"I reminded our group, if they didn't know, that Miami went into Milwaukee (in the first round) and won Game 1," Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said. "They went into the Garden in New York City (in the second round) and won Game 1. They won Game 1 up in Boston (in the Eastern Conference finals). So we did not want them coming in here, taking control of the series on our court."
MORANT IN HOT WATER
Ja Morant’s punishment is coming, all right. It just wouldn’t be right to announce it now.
So says NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Morant, the superstar guard with the Memphis Grizzlies, already had been regarded as the foremost fomenter of firearm foolishness in pro sports, before his latest incident of gleeful recklessness with a gun went public last month, via a social media video.
Only three months ago, in March, the NBA suspended Morant for eight games for a similar incident in which fans around the world saw video of him proudly brandishing a handgun inside a Colorado night club.
Silver — at his annual state-of-the-league news conference Thursday, just prior to tipoff of Game 1 of the league’s championship series — said he could have announced Morant’s punishment by now. But the timing would be all wrong.
“We’ve uncovered a fair amount of additional information, I think, since I was first asked about the (latest) situation,” Silver told reporters Thursday. “I will say we probably could have brought it to a head now, but we made the decision — and I believe the players association agrees with us — that it would be unfair to these players and these teams in the middle of the (NBA Finals) to announce the results of that investigation.”
So we’ll all have to wait a couple more weeks to see just how severely the league will suspend Morant this time.
NURSE HEADS TO SIXERS
The Philadelphia 76ers officially moved from a Doc to a Nurse on Thursday when Nick Nurse was introduced as the team’s new coach. Doc Rivers had previously been fired after the team fell short in the playoffs again.
Nurse began his media conference in Philadelphia by thanking the Raptors and the city of Toronto for “10 great years” before discussing why he chose the Sixers as his next stop.
“This team could be playing tonight,” Nurse told reporters ahead of the NBA Finals, speaking to the team’s talent, before adding he hopes free agent James Harden will opt to stay. “Winning has to be the sell,” Nurse said about his pitch to Harden.