Nuggets overcome offtarget Heat

DENVER: Nikola Jokic has starred in a dream NBA Finals debut to lead Denver to a convincing 10493 win over Miami to take Game 1 of the series.

Jokic got a tripledouble and was well supported by Jamal Murray, who scored 26 points, as the Nuggets had little trouble with the coldshooting Heat yesterday.

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

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% for the game — 33% from threepoint range. Gabe Vincent scored 19, Haywood Highsmith had 18 and Jimmy Butler added 13.

Game 2 is in Denver on Monday.

Miami opened the fourth quarter on an 110 run, cutting an 8463 deficit to start the final period down to 8474. The Heat actually got within nine on a threepointer by Highsmith with 2:34 left, but no closer.

The Nuggets had all the answers at game time. Despite being the team with minimal NBA Finals experience — only two of their players have been to the title round before — 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 5942 after the first two quarters.

That was not good for Miami, as the Nuggets were in full control and Jokic had taken only three shots. But worse for the Heat was the fact they could not shoot, or at least not until Denver were too far ahead to catch.

Max Strus was 0 for 10 through three quarters, 0 for 9 on threepointers. Caleb Martin, who narrowly missed out on winning the MVP award of the Eastern Conference finals, was 1 for 7. — AAP