Nuggets cruise to Game 1 win against Heat to take 1-0 lead in NBA Finals

It took four rounds, but the Miami Heat is trailing in a series for the first time during its historic and magical playoff run.

After beginning each of the first three rounds with a Game 1 road win to tie the NBA record for the most Game 1 road victories during a single playoff run, the Heat couldn’t set a new record. The Western Conference’s top-seeded Nuggets cruised to a 104-93 win against the Eastern Conference’s eighth-seeded Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night at Ball Arena to take a 1-0 series lead.

The Heat’s road struggles against the Nuggets continued, as it dropped its seventh straight game in Denver. The last time the Heat won in Denver was in 2016.

“You don’t expect it to be easy when you get to this final round,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “This is a great challenge. It’s going to require more. We will get to work and see what we can do better, what we can do harder, what we can do with more effort, what we can do with more focus.”

The Nuggets used their size to overwhelm the Heat from the start, outscoring the Heat 20-6 in the paint in the opening period to take a nine-point lead into the second quarter.

Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic played as a distributor early on, taking just one field goal attempt but recording six assists in the opening frame to help facilitate a 12-point first quarter for Aaron Gordon.

The Nuggets continued to pour it on in the second quarter to enter halftime ahead by 17.

The Heat made a push to begin the second half, scoring the first seven points of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 10. But Denver responded to build its lead up to 24 points.

The Heat wouldn’t go away, though, even after entering the fourth quarter in a 21-point hole. Miami scored the first 11 points of the fourth period to again pull within 10.

The Heat eventually cut the deficit to nine points with 2:34 to play, but that’s the closest it would get. The Nuggets sealed the Game 1 win by scoring the next six points to take a 15-point lead with 1:38 left.

“Their run was to be expected,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said of the Heat’s late-game push. “That team is a really good team. That’s the best team out of the Eastern Conference. So you’re not just going to win by 20 points and they’re not going to go quietly into that good night. They’re going to be there. They’re going to scratch and claw to get back in the game like they did tonight.”

Jokic, who is averaging a triple-double in the playoffs, controlled the game with his elite passing. He closed the win with his ninth triple-double of the postseason, finishing with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists.

Jokic was one of five Nuggets players to score double-digit points, as Miami’s usually solid defense had trouble against Denver’s prolific offense at times. Jamal Murray finished with 26 points, six rebounds and 10 assists for the Nuggets.

Denver, which entered with the NBA’s top offensive rating in the playoffs, shot 51.3 percent from the field on 29 assists to only 10 turnovers in Thursday’s Game 1 victory.

But the Nuggets won despite shooting just 8 of 27 (29.6 percent) from three-point range. Denver improved to 7-8 when shooting less than 30 percent on threes this season.

The Heat’s three-point shooting also went cold to begin the Finals. Unlike Denver, Miami couldn’t overcome its struggles from beyond the arc.

The Heat, which entered shooting an NBA-best 39 percent from three-point range in the playoffs, shot just 7 of 27 (25.9 percent) on threes through the first three quarters. Miami closed the game 13 of 39 (33.3 percent) from deep after getting hot in the fourth quarter.

The Heat also took just two free throws on Thursday, setting an NBA record for the fewest free-throw attempts by a team in a playoff game. The Nuggets finished 16 of 20 from the foul line.

“We had some good, clean looks from the three-point line,” Spoelstra said. “Then we had too many possessions where we didn’t work it to get the possession on our terms. But you have to credit them with their size and really protecting the paint and bringing a third defender. Things have to be done with a lot more intention and a lot more pace, a lot more detail.”

Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo was aggressive and effective, finishing with 26 points on a career-high 25 field-goal attempts, 13 rebounds and five assists. His previous career-high was 23 field-goal attempts.

But Heat star Jimmy Butler was limited to 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field to go with seven rebounds and seven assists. It’s the fewest points Butler has scored this postseason.

“Missed some shots, didn’t get back a little bit, but overall I feel like everybody’s wind was good,” Butler said when asked about his Game 1 performance. “Everybody was moving well. We just lost the game.”

Caleb Martin was sensational for the Heat in the East finals, averaging 19.3 points on 60.2 percent shooting from the field and 48.9 percent shooting on threes. But he scored just three points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field on Thursday.

Max Strus, who entered shooting 35.9 percent on threes in the playoffs, ended Game 1 scoreless. He missed all 10 of his field-goal attempts, including all nine of his three-point attempts.

Martin and Strus combined for three points on 1-of-17 shooting from the field and 1-of-11 shooting on threes.

“They are not going to get sick at sea,” Spoelstra said of Martin and Strus. “If they are shooters, you’re not always going to be able to make all the shots that you want. Then you have to find different ways to impact the game.”

After moving Martin into the starting lineup late in the East finals, the Heat stuck with that look to open the NBA Finals. Martin started alongside Gabe Vincent, Strus, Butler and Adebayo.

This lineup was outscored by 13 points in 40 minutes together in Games 6 and 7 of the East finals after the change to the starting group was made.

This Heat’s new starting unit again produced negative results in Game 1 of the Finals. The Nuggets outscored the Heat by seven points in the first 10:01 of the game before Miami first turned to its bench and by nine points in 17 minutes together in the loss.

Veteran forward Kevin Love, who was swapped out of the starting lineup for Martin, received his third straight (did not play, coach’s decision) on Thursday. The Heat opted to use Cody Zeller as the backup center ahead of Love to start the championship series.

One of the few bright spots for the Heat in Game 1: the play of forward Haywood Highsmith, who contributed 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting on threes and quality defense in 23 minutes off the bench.

Vincent finished with 19 points and five assists while shooting 5-of-10 from deep.

The Nuggets imposed their will on the Heat from start to finish. Denver pulled ahead 8-7 just 3:04 into the game and led the rest of the way.

The Heat took some solace with the fact that it outscored the Nuggets 51-45 in the second half, feeling like it found some answers as the game went on.

The Heat will look to avoid returning to Miami in a 2-0 series hole with a bounce-back win in Game 2 on Sunday in Denver (8 p.m., ABC). The Heat, which is only the second No. 8 seed to advance to the NBA Finals in league history, is looking to become the first No. 8 seed to ever win the NBA championship.

“I definitely think they came out with a lot of physicality, and we have to be able to match that,” Butler said. “They did their job on their home floor, you have to say that, but we will be ready. Like he said, we will adjust, and we will do some things very differently and come out here and be ready to give more for Game 2.”