Denver Dominates Game 1 of NBA Finals

The Nuggets made a statement to open the series.

There were some musings about just how ready the Denver Nuggets would be to face the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Finals. After all, they had a long time to rest. Ten days of relaxation can prove detrimental to a team’s rhythm, but not so with the Nuggets. They have played the entire season for this series. Fittingly, the Nuggets, who have been doubted throughout the season despite locking up the highest seed in the Western Conference, are facing the oft tossed aside Miami Heat, who were not going to make it out of the play-off. Then they were doomed to lose in the opening round. Then, they surely were not going to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Then there was talk about their inevitable demise at the hands of the Celtics. This is a team that has been doubted at every stage, and it would be foolish to continue doing so. However, in the opening game of the Finals, the Nuggets did not make that critical error. They came not just to play, but to dominate. Let’s talk about how they did it.

For starters, the Nuggets made a statement early: win by any means necessary. Their star point center Nikola Jokic, who is averaging 29.8 points per game in the playoffs, only attempted three field goals in the first half. The Nuggets still walked into the locker room to the tune of a 17 point lead. Jokic was clearly going to pick his spots to open the series. Instead of scoring, he did what he was born to do: facilitate the offense. The Nuggets got efficient, high scoring offense from Aaron Gordon in the first quarter. But it didn’t look like things would start off that way. In fact, it appeared as if the Heat were daring him to take as many shots as he wanted. At 10:48 in the first quarter, Denver ran their familiar pistol action they call “2.” Gordon was firmly parked in the weak side corner after setting a pin-down for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as usual. But Jimmy Butler was guarding him, and he decided to blitz Jokic when he got good paint position on Bam Adebayo. Jokic made the right play and sent the ball to Gordon, who promptly air balled. Miami showed their hand early. They were going to dare Gordon to take those shots. However, he decided he would not settle.

Gordon went to work after the miss. He started by getting a layup on Jimmy Butler with some dribble penetration. Then at 9:32, he was able to get a switch that brought 6’2 Gabe Vincent into the danger zone. Gordon’s superior size and strength made it all too easy to get a clean look at the basket, and he emphatically threw down a two handed dunk. His main attack happened in transition though. After missed shots, Gordon leaked out and looked to establish a seal deep in the paint on whoever was unfortunate enough to wander down there. He bullied a variety of bodies. The aforementioned Vincent, Max Strus, Caleb Martin. Gordon was out looking for blood, and he found it early. Even when he was denied good position, he just used his strength to get to the rim. At times, it looked like he was playing with high schoolers. AG scored 12 of Denver’s 29 points in the first quarter, and he did it by finding the Heat’s smaller players. Just take a look at this shot chart.

But AG wasn’t the only guy on the court hooping. Bam had himself a solid first half as well. He operated particularly well out of the pick-and-roll, being the recipient of pocket passes that freed him up to shoot from midrange. He also showed some nice touch on floaters and baby hooks. He really took advantage of situations in which Jokic had to cheat off of him and be the help defender. It felt like Bam was the driving force in keeping Miami alive as the game progressed. What I personally enjoyed the most from Bam was his willingness to shoot off the dribble. In the first half alone, there were a few instances where he was able to leverage his quickness against Jokic simply by making him fear a drive. If Bam dribbled and Jokic backed up, Adebayo was letting it fly. Great stuff.

Despite Bam’s efforts, though, it never really felt like the game was close. The final score is deceptive in that regard. Even when they were able to string together stops, their shooters were ice cold. Max Stus missed all of his 10 shots. Caleb Martin went 1-7. Duncan Robinson missed all but one of his attempts. Just a tough night. Obviously, if the shots are not falling your way, you have to get stops on the other end. The vaunted Miami defense never really showed its face, though there were some positives. They allowed only six offensive rebounds, which was a huge concern coming into this game. They also held the Nuggets to 29.6% from three. Despite the good, there were just some confusing moments. Early on, when Gordon took that three from the corner, he was open because Jokic was doubled. In the second quarter, around the 5:34 mark, Kyle Lowry sent Haywood Highsmith to double Jokic from the same corner. The enormous passer then hit Bruce Brown for a wide open three. Not a recipe for success in the long run.

Miami also played drop coverage on the Jamal Murray-Jokic P&R, and Murray made them pay dearly. He just wandered into quality looks. To his credit, he still had to hit the shots, but he wasn’t being forced into tough ones for the most part. All that said, I am not concerned about the defense. Miami is in the Finals specifically because of their defense. The larger concern is the offense. As I said before, Miami struggled to find their shot, but more worryingly, they were unable to find the free throw line.

Miami set an unfortunate Finals record: least free throws attempted, which is emblematic of a larger issue. The Heat did not put nearly enough pressure on the Nuggets’ interior defense. Counting floaters and dunks, the Heat attempted 12 layup or layup adjacent shots. For comparison, the Nuggets attempted 22. The whole game, it felt as if Miami just was not aggressive on the offensive end. Examine these shot charts:

Denver

Miami

The biggest eye catcher in these charts is undoubtedly the makes in the paint. Now, critical analysis of these charts reveals a strange truth: both teams took roughly the same percentage of their shots in the paint. That’s not the issue. The issue is the type of shots being taken. Notice the amount of misses in the Heat chart and where they are. High concentrations around the circle and just outside the restricted zone. Those are pullup jumpers, floaters, hook shots, etc. Now look at those same areas on Denver’s chart. So many of their attempts were much closer to the basket and came off of drives or post activity. Miami’s willingness to settle offensively is what really hurt them. Sure, hitting more shots from outside the arc would have been nice, but their inability to get to the free throw line meant they had almost no easy opportunities to stop the bleeding when Denver went on a run. So what can they do come game two?

Well, they played their zone defense excellently when Jokic was off the floor. Even when he came back in after half time, there were flashes of frustration for the Nuggets when the Heat stuck with their zone. Obviously, playing a zone against a man who was born to bust them is not a great long term strategy, but mixing more of it into the action every once in a while might help throw off the Nuggets just enough to steal a win. On the offensive end, the Heat got some excellent looks when they pulled Jokic away from Bam in P&R. Bam’s versatility off the dribble is going to be a real asset in this series and hopefully he can continue to get some more shots as things progress. He already had the most shots for Miami, so I expect them to keep going back to him. Then there’s of course Jimmy Butler. He didn’t exactly have a bad game. He did the things Jimmy Butler is supposed to: bring the hustle, play good defense, and facilitate the action. But they need more from him. Regardless of the outcome, Jimmy needs to shoot 20 shots every game. He and Gabe Vincent took the same amount of shots. By no means is that meant to belittle Vincent. I just think Jimmy needs to continue to be aggressive. I would love for him to stop settling for so many pullups and use his craftiness to get defenders in the air once he gets into the paint. The team needs him to get to the free throw line. If Jimmy is going to the line, everyone else is going to be more aggressive as well.

If you are a Heat fan, don’t panic yet. Expect Coach Spo to cook some stuff up to shock the basketball world. This team can go nuclear at the press of a button, meaning their shooting woes cannot last forever. Haywood Highsmith, Kyle Lowry, and Gabe Vincent made some Nuggets fans sit a little straighter in the fourth quarter as they refused to lay down and die. Miami went 12-20 in the fourth, even bringing the game within single digits near the end. Make no mistake, it will be an uphill battle. But the team from south Florida made it this far for a reason. Expect a big response when both teams face off for Game 2 of the NBA Finals on June 4th.