Nikola Jokic And The Nuggets Looked As Dominant As Ever As They Kick Off The Finals By Taking Game 1

Jesse D. Garrabrant. Getty Images.

When you're about to play the first NBA Finals game in your franchise's history, I imagine that's pretty nerve-wracking. All those years building and finally you broke through and get to start the journey to an NBA title on your own floor, where you've been legitimately unbeatable. A perfect 8-0 to start the playoffs. On the other end is a Miami Heat team that could not give less of a shit about that. They'd won every single Game 1 they've played this season, all on the road. This is what they do, they punch first. All the pressure was going to be on the Nuggets to show that all that time off was for the better, and boy did they ever.

It didn't take long for the Nuggets to establish themselves once it became clear that the Heat are going to have a big time issue managing the size of Aaron Gordon. The way he can find his size mismatch and instantly make the Heat pay is going to be a huge part of how Denver scores this series. He set the tone early with 12 points

and the Nuggets were off and running. Watching them offensively is such a joy, everything looks so fluid and in sync at all times. They take great care of the basketball (10 TOs), don't ever look rushed as there's constant off ball movement. It's extremely tough to guard, especially at elevation when you're coming off an emotional Game 7 just a few days prior. Whatever the Nuggets wanted to do offensively, they did. Whether that was Jamal Murray off the dribble and in midrange

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or working his two man game with Jokic, Murray finished 11-22, only had 3 TOs, and had little trouble getting to his spots. He's a bigger guard who plays with great pace and knows how to use his size to get into his spots, and if the Heat aren't going to be able to turn him over, that's a problem.

Maybe the craziest part of this entire game though came from of course, Nikola Jokic. This is a man who took only 5 FGA through three quarters of this game and yet dominated it in a way that few players in NBA history have ever been able to do

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I know we shouldn't be surprised by now whenever Nikola Jokic does shit like this, but how could you not be. It's unreal. This game got to the 4th quarter and the Heat refused to die as they are known to do, and it was as if Jokic simply decided that was the perfect time to maybe shoot the basketball, and he finished with 12 points on 4-7 in his 9:31 4th quarter minutes to seal the win. This morning I talked about how you can't play zone against Jokic and Game 1 was the exact reason why. He is going to eat it alive. Did it feel like the Heat zone made any sort of impact tonight? When you have an offense initiator like Jokic, there's nothing you can do but pray. As soon as you go man, welcome to Aaron Gordon hell. Tonight was our first glimpse into how these teams match up, and that has to make you feel great as a Nuggets fan.

On the other side, welcome to your classic case of shooting regression. Caleb Martin, who transformed into Michael Jordan himself for this entire playoff run, finished this game 1-7 for 3 points. I don't have to remind you what he just did against the Celtics. Just a little 60/49% shooting including 26 in Game 7. That was fun to watch. Then there was Max Strus who finished 0-10 (0-9). As a team, the Heat finished 113-29 (33%) from deep and I think it's fair to say it's going to be hard for this team if they aren't maintaining a similar level of shooting as we saw in the first round and the ECF. To get nothing from those two guys was killer.

It also didn't help that Jimmy was relatively quiet. 14 shots feel like not enough for Butler, especially on a night where they weren't hitting from deep. He finished just 6-14 and was a -17 in his minutes, so that's obviously going to have to get better. The good news was Bam looked awesome with 26, but unfortunately, this was the first time all postseason the Heat lost a game when Bam hit over 20. If he can continue to hit that midrange jumper consistently, there's no reason to think he can't have a big series. His energy was great, using him as a high post facilitator had some success, and I'd say Bam was one of the few that actually showed up outside of Haywood Haysmith (18 points). He now just can't disappear in Game 2 and beyond. Tonight's Bam is the version that the Heat need the rest of the way.

In terms of the overall game, I thought it was fun as hell to watch. Frustrating for personal reasons, but in terms of a Finals game it did its job. The Nuggets look every bit for real we thought they would be, Jokic is truly a wonder to watch, and now they have the opportunity to really tighten the screws. Keep that momentum at home rolling to 10-0 and you are in a great spot as the series heads to Miami, and nothing we saw tonight suggests that isn't in the Nugget's immediate future.